The First of Many......

Well this is all rather exciting....the whole blogging thing. I must admit, I had thought about doing it in the past - seemed like a good way to keep an art diary; much like the "Reflective Journal" I had to do at Farnham, which was the most useful thing I learnt there. But today, whilst sitting in our FAL320 lecture, I suddenly realised how helpful it would really be. Plus the fact that Finola pretty much told us we had to do one.......


SO.

Where to begin?

Briefely, I'm 3 months away from finishing my degree - BA Hons. Fine Art at the University of Chichester. During the past 2 1/2 years I've dabbled in every material practice; paint, clay, drawing, paper cutting, spray and stencil, metal work, digital art.....finally realising that textiles was where I belonged.

My work has centred around SEX (I know, shocking isn't it. It's even better when it's yelled). For many years, it has pissed me off that one can't open a magazine, turn on the tv or glance at an advert with out seeing sex. It is everywhere, used to sell everything, and what is even worse is that we have come to think of it as totally acceptable and normal!!

So I thought....Right, if people are ok seeing sex in the media, then I'm going to bring it right into your home. Right into the things you find comfortable and normal.

I began stitching images from porn mags onto domestic fabric - tablecloths etc. The images were life size (or bigger) and were very basic line drawings.

I then moved onto stitching onto found objects - pieces that people (namely women) had painstakingly sat and made; things like crocheted mats, doilies, embroidered linen etc. I experimented hugely with the stitching process, favouring blocking in areas with stitch - the image visible by changing the direction of stitch.

All of the images were very subtle, so that the viewer might not have noticed the image at first. This is a KEY idea throughout my work - making the viewer LOOK PROPERLY at my work. I see too many people (and I am guilty too) just glance at a piece, before making a snap judgment and moving on. If the viewer does this with my work, they don't see it and so miss out of a bit of cheekyness!!

My current work involves manipulating the classic fabic of Toile de Jouy.

This fabric is generally found in "nice" houses (being slightly pricey) and is gennerally thought of as rather nice really!!

I have been blanking out areas of the design, many through stitching in the same colour as the background, before re-stitching in new details in thread the same colour as the design.

And here comes the funny part. I have been stitching the characters doing rather naughty things. Here is my personal favourite;Irritatingly, my work is proving blumming hard to photograph. But this gives you a general idea.
This section (above, measuring about 22cm across) is part of a 2m x 1.5 m pannel, of which every design has been manipulated.

Larger section.

This photo (featuring the lovely Amy Waters) gives a better idea of scale.

(Fabric has been stretched onto a wooden frame)