MA Creations

After completing my BA(Hons) Decorative Arts degree I chose to go straight on and complete my Masters Degree. I was accepted on an MA course in Birmingham and spend a further year developing my skills. I again specialised in textiles and explored different methods of constructing, printing, sewing and weaving. I chose to develop my tapestries further for my final project and made them into individual pieces of art. Below are a selection of those.

The following five images are close up sections of different pieces. I explored the theme of contrasts and the differences between living in a coastal town with open spaces, lots of trees, seaside, birds, etc and the urban environment I was living in, the feeling of claustrophobia, enclosed spaces, structure and urban decay. I mixed these elements together by using natural forms within the tapestries and adding the structure with the wire, paper and enclosing them in glass cases.

Flotsam twigs woven in dyed nylon filament:

2. Feather woven in nylon filament, wire tapestry and handmade paper on a wire mesh:
3. Parakeet feathers woven in nylon filament, wire tapestry and handmade paper:
4. Coloured wire tapestry set in handmade paper on a wire mesh:
5. Hand painted flotsam wood, woven in wire and encase in a wire mesh with handmade paper:

Below are the final outcomes encased in their display cases:

Next time I will post some of my work from sketchbooks, exploring the images, media and techniques I use to inspire further work. Hope you enjoyed looking at the work above.

Till next time.......

Degree Show Work

In the final year of my degree I chose to specialise in textiles. More specifically mainly hand woven tapestries encapsulated in hand-made paper.

Most of my tapestries are woven on a miniature scale - with the largest ones being approximately 5" x 12" and the smallest about 1.5" x 1.5". I used a mixture of wool yarn, embroidery threads, metallic sewing thread, wire and nylon filament. Even weaving a few sections with invisible nylon thread.

I chose to explore further the theme of Passage of Time, exploring themes of archaeology, myth, and re-discovery. Especially the way civilisations are preserved in fragments by the earth and time, only to be re-discovered in tantalising pieces to be pieced together.

Once the tapestry is woven I then make different handmade papers and encapsulate the warp ends of the tapestry in the paper during the making process - trapping them securely. Sometimes paritally covering the tapestry with the paper, again adding to the feel of re-discovery and fragility. Machine stitching is then applied to the paper to pleat and distort the surface, representing ripples in time.

I also applied folding techniques I was taught many years ago now, just after completing my A-Levels, on a Btec Foundation Diploma in Art & Design. We had a paper workshop with Paul Jackson, who does amazing things with paper and I have taken much inspiration from the techniques he taught us. See his work here: http://www.origami-artist.com/

Below is a selection of work from my Degree Show:

Starting Out

Don't you just love ICT.........When it works!!

Well I set up the basics of this blog at what seems such a long time ago, then I hit problems with my laptop. I am fine when they work, but as soon as they start to play up, I have not got the background knowledge to fix it. Thank goodness for some good friends who came to the rescue!

Now it is all working again I can start to share my art and passions with others. Art has always been a major part of me and who I am and I am first going to share some of the work I did as part of my Degree in Decorative Arts.

I chose to do BA(Hons) Decorative Arts at Nottingham Trent University and had a great three years there before moving on to the next adventure. This degree is made up of modules in various art disciplines including ceramics, glass, woodwork & metalwork, textiles, to name a few. One of my favourites was learning the art of Tapestry - no this is not cross stitch on top of an open weave canvas, but actually weaving your own fabric - by hand.

To some this may seem tedious, but I love it and the freedom to put your own image into a piece of textiles. I had a fantastic teacher, Joan Baxter, who is a professional Tapestry Artist, and she inspired me to be creative and explore the possibilities of the medium.

See her work here: http://www.joanbaxter.com/

At the time I chose to base this work on the theme of Gods & Goddesses and created miniature hand woven tapestries and encapsulated them in handmade paper, then displayed them in boxed frames.

I hope you enjoy viewing them.