2010
ELLE magazine
12/10/10 12:26 Filed in: Screen Print
In the latest issue (November 2010) of ELLE magazine, you will find one of my cat prints illustrating a feature about Print Club. This has been a lovely surprise, as I had no idea my work would be included! If you have been in touch with me about buying a print online, please bare with me and I will get back to you shortly!
Knitting & Stitching Show
So as mentioned before, I was back at Ally Pally again this year, but this time to teach crochet workshops in the Learning Curve.
How to make a granny square...
Here’s how some of the participants got on...
How to make a granny square...
Here’s how some of the participants got on...
How To Crochet A Granny Square
Not posted anything on here for a while. It’s been a busy month, with lots of change and new beginnings. However, I should mention that next week I will be running a workshop at The Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace. If you wanted to learn how to make a crochet granny square, I would have said, now is your chance, but apparently my workshop has already sold out! So in between packing boxes to move house and doing my homework for the Crafts Council maker development program I am now on, and learning to use a knitting machine at Morley College, I am putting together some crochet packs for my learners. Wish me luck! Come find me at Ally Pally on Thursday 7th Oct, around 3pm for a cuppa, I’ll need one after my workshop!
Jonanna Vasconcelos
26/09/10 21:55 Filed in: Crochet | Exhibitions
I Will Survive. Jonanna Vasconcelos. Haunch of Venison.
“The use of crochet alludes to an activity usually associated with women and traditional crafts but in these ingenious manipulations it is such perceptions rather than the activity itself which are rendered obsolete”. - Bomi Odufunade (Haunch of Venison).
Here you see crochet being used to cover the surface of hard objects of concrete statues, a grand piano and ceramic animal figurines. The materials are out of context from what you would normally expect. Re-questioning how you see traditional crafts skills such as crochet (often associated with the idea of old grannies or bad 70’s fashion trends). The crochet here is not fluffy and woolly but crisp, intricate and graphic looking. On the concrete figures it looks like tattooing, again to make you question the traditional idea of who would use crochet. The motifs of the lacework echo the surrounding cornice plastering on the walls and ceiling. I am interested in the relationship of the constructed soft materials to the harder objects they envelope and the placement within the building’s architecture. Looking at the construction within ‘soft’ textile fabrics and finding details within the surrounding building / architecture or hard objects such as furniture, where these construction methods or decorative features have been used on another scale and in other materials.
“The use of crochet alludes to an activity usually associated with women and traditional crafts but in these ingenious manipulations it is such perceptions rather than the activity itself which are rendered obsolete”. - Bomi Odufunade (Haunch of Venison).
Here you see crochet being used to cover the surface of hard objects of concrete statues, a grand piano and ceramic animal figurines. The materials are out of context from what you would normally expect. Re-questioning how you see traditional crafts skills such as crochet (often associated with the idea of old grannies or bad 70’s fashion trends). The crochet here is not fluffy and woolly but crisp, intricate and graphic looking. On the concrete figures it looks like tattooing, again to make you question the traditional idea of who would use crochet. The motifs of the lacework echo the surrounding cornice plastering on the walls and ceiling. I am interested in the relationship of the constructed soft materials to the harder objects they envelope and the placement within the building’s architecture. Looking at the construction within ‘soft’ textile fabrics and finding details within the surrounding building / architecture or hard objects such as furniture, where these construction methods or decorative features have been used on another scale and in other materials.
The Edges Of The World
24/09/10 22:12 Filed in: Exhibitions
The Edges Of The World. Ernesto Neto. Hayward Gallery.
Describing his immersive, experiential sculptures as ‘body/space/landscapes, Neto explains that they begin in one form and then take on many others, and ‘in between is a kind of dance’.
His installations use bright and translucent coloured fabric. His interests in physics show through in his pieces, exploring ideas of tension and weight, biomorphic forms and participatory environments. Again the use of the building’s architecture becomes a part of the work, merging the soft and hard materials. The very nature of this exhibition involves you to take part within the piece, to be surrounded by it and touch it and be playful in its dreamscape enclosure.
Describing his immersive, experiential sculptures as ‘body/space/landscapes, Neto explains that they begin in one form and then take on many others, and ‘in between is a kind of dance’.
His installations use bright and translucent coloured fabric. His interests in physics show through in his pieces, exploring ideas of tension and weight, biomorphic forms and participatory environments. Again the use of the building’s architecture becomes a part of the work, merging the soft and hard materials. The very nature of this exhibition involves you to take part within the piece, to be surrounded by it and touch it and be playful in its dreamscape enclosure.
Knitted Felted Sheep
29/08/10 21:38 Filed in: Knitting
On the last couple of days now of working on the Mirabilia Domestica exhibition. It will be sad to take it down, its provided an inspiring space to work within, to create new textile ideas and Solveigh has been full advice and stories! Today I had a closer look at fellow assistant and Textile Artist Alex’s shrunken felted cardy, which is so cool! I have been trying to follow it stitch by stitch, to draw out the sheep pattern on graph paper, to knit up at a later date sometime...
We Are Your Friends.
25/08/10 14:47 Filed in: Exhibitions | Screen Print
“Everybody, everybody in the (Art) House of Love”. I’ve got this song stuck in my head by East 17. Its probably because I’ve recently been asked to take part in a group exhibition “We Are Your Friends” at the E17 Art House as part of the Walthamstow Art Trail over the first weeks of September. I will be showing a selection of screen prints of friendly characters along side other interesting print makers...
A Sewing Machine & A Typewriter
14/08/10 03:25 Filed in: Exhibitions | Sewing
I’ve orchestrated a fight between a sewing machine and a typewriter...
My response to working within the space of Solveigh’s installation of Mirabilia Domestica, using the instruments in the workstation.
My response to working within the space of Solveigh’s installation of Mirabilia Domestica, using the instruments in the workstation.
Keep & Share
02/08/10 22:52 Filed in: Knitting
These foxy slippers on my mantlepiece were a lovely leaving present from an old job, a few years back. I’m keeping these!
This is a square I knitted at Latitude festival...
I’m going to share this with the others.
Keep & Share
This is a square I knitted at Latitude festival...
I’m going to share this with the others.
Keep & Share
Mirabilia Domestica
05/07/10 13:14 Filed in: Exhibitions
Looking forward to the summer ahead, I will be assisting textile artist and researcher Solveigh Goett on the final stint of her PhD, to install her exhibition of Mirabilia Domestica. I’m excited to be apart of this project, to get more hands on and get my teeth into textiles with a narrative, and inspiration for my own textile art exploration.
Since the beginnings of humanity textiles have accompanied us on our journey through life: not only our bodies and environments, but also our memories, feelings and thoughts are clothed. From socks and lucky underpants, sheets and blankets, curtains and jumpers, to uniforms and flags, beer tents and parachutes, telephone wires and fibre-optic cables, we live in a world heavily layered with textiles, a truly world wide web: without textiles human life is unimaginable.
Intrigued by the extraordinary power the most ordinary fabrics hold to evoke memories and capture emotions, textile artist and researcher Solveigh Goett has collected materials and stories, made assemblages, memory boxes, books and many other hybrid, quirky and whimsical things to create a cabinet of textile wonders that aims to entice the narrative imagination, to move, surprise and enchant its visitors.
Mirabilia Domestica celebrates the small things in life, so often overlooked by force of habit, yet so deeply embedded in the stories of our life. Like the cabinets of curiosities of early modernity, the predecessors to museums and galleries, Mirabilia Domestica is a densely packed space that doesn’t reveal all its treasures at a glance. There are boxes and drawers to be opened and their content to be explored by the curious eyes, minds and hands of the visitors, who rather than being kept at a distance are invited not only to look, but also to touch, smell and listen.
Breaking the touch taboo that dominates art exhibitions and museum displays, Mirabilia Domestica not only permits visitors to give in to their desire to feel what they see, but positively encourages them to engage through their senses with the textures of the work, to touch and to be touched. Such sensory exploration beyond the visual will enrich the visitors’ experience in unexpected ways, and also provide points of attachment for those who through loss of sight are often excluded from enjoying the visual arts.
Mirabilia Domestica: the textile self re/collected is part of a practice-based research project that links threads of experience and lines of thoughts to investigate the role of everyday textiles in the stories of our lives.
The project website serves as an on-line catalogue of the installation as well as leading the visitor into a wider network of textile matters, memories and metaphors.
For more information, please contact the artist solveigh_goett@hotmail.com
Since the beginnings of humanity textiles have accompanied us on our journey through life: not only our bodies and environments, but also our memories, feelings and thoughts are clothed. From socks and lucky underpants, sheets and blankets, curtains and jumpers, to uniforms and flags, beer tents and parachutes, telephone wires and fibre-optic cables, we live in a world heavily layered with textiles, a truly world wide web: without textiles human life is unimaginable.
Intrigued by the extraordinary power the most ordinary fabrics hold to evoke memories and capture emotions, textile artist and researcher Solveigh Goett has collected materials and stories, made assemblages, memory boxes, books and many other hybrid, quirky and whimsical things to create a cabinet of textile wonders that aims to entice the narrative imagination, to move, surprise and enchant its visitors.
Mirabilia Domestica celebrates the small things in life, so often overlooked by force of habit, yet so deeply embedded in the stories of our life. Like the cabinets of curiosities of early modernity, the predecessors to museums and galleries, Mirabilia Domestica is a densely packed space that doesn’t reveal all its treasures at a glance. There are boxes and drawers to be opened and their content to be explored by the curious eyes, minds and hands of the visitors, who rather than being kept at a distance are invited not only to look, but also to touch, smell and listen.
Breaking the touch taboo that dominates art exhibitions and museum displays, Mirabilia Domestica not only permits visitors to give in to their desire to feel what they see, but positively encourages them to engage through their senses with the textures of the work, to touch and to be touched. Such sensory exploration beyond the visual will enrich the visitors’ experience in unexpected ways, and also provide points of attachment for those who through loss of sight are often excluded from enjoying the visual arts.
Mirabilia Domestica: the textile self re/collected is part of a practice-based research project that links threads of experience and lines of thoughts to investigate the role of everyday textiles in the stories of our lives.
The project website serves as an on-line catalogue of the installation as well as leading the visitor into a wider network of textile matters, memories and metaphors.
For more information, please contact the artist solveigh_goett@hotmail.com
Mirabilia Domestica: the textile self re/collected
www.mirabilia-domestica.co.uk
7 August - 29 August 2010
Museum of Domestic Design & Architecture
Middlesex University, Cat Hill, Barnet, Herts, EN4 8HT
www.moda.mdx.ac.uk/
Tuesday to Saturday, 10am - 5pm. Sunday, 2pm - 5pm. Closed on Monday.
Over 60's Club
Today I was invited to be the guest speaker at the Over 60’s Club at the Salvation Army. It was a bit nerve wrecking to walk into to a room full of wiser elders, and to be confronted with a microphone at a head table to do my thing. What could I tell these ladies about knitting that they didn’t already know?! I discarded a formal approach to run around each table in my own way to show all the ladies (and two gentlemen) how to cut a plastic bag to recycle it as Plarn (plastic yarn), as an alternative material for crocheting. For those who couldn’t hold a hook, we did some finger crochet and had a bit of fun!
Beyond Kimono
13/06/10 00:45 Filed in: Found Textiles
One of my main obsessions and inspirations is japanese textiles. I’m very excited for tomorrow I’m going to see a Kabuki play with my mum, I’ve not been since I was about 5 or 6 when she took me then. Apparently she was completely amazed by the whole spectacle and started collecting books of Edo period woodblock prints, and photography of the costumes. I remember growing up with these stunned by the colour, pattern and style of these exotic forms. Recently I’ve been spending my sundays down Brick Lane, not shopping so much, and not so into people watching as I used to be, as everyone seems to look the same these days, but just wondering, taking in the vibrant atmosphere and being open to looking at all the colours, patterns and textures found on all the market stalls, still nothing pulls me more than a kimono or two.
Antiques of a Crystal Palace
12/06/10 13:44 Filed in: Found Textiles
A friend of mine has moved South of the River, not that this is a huge distance for me, as this is where I grew up! But I have not really been to this part of London since I was 9 years old. I caught an easy ride down on the new overground and after a quick look in the park at the dinosaurs, the three of us then spent the afternoon searching out gems in a whole parade of vintage and antique shops and market places. Here’s some of the things I found...
Markfield Park
Last week I ran a workshop of Colourful Collage for TreeHouse’s Parent Participation Project. On a beaming hot day, we set up camp in the middle of Markfield Park, surrounded by flower beds with a backdrop of some stunning graffiti, a skate park and an adventure playground designed by the children who use the day centre at Markfield. Some awesome colours to inspire me too!
Gardens & Crochet
26/05/10 00:07 Filed in: Crochet | Photography
So as a continuation of my previous post, it was such a lovely weekend, I wanted to show more of it. With the sun really out, proper, there was nowhere better to be than in the garden in Iffley, finishing off the final joins in my crochet comfort blanket. The last image shown here is my blanket modeled in Candy Pop’s dinning room (see my previous post).
Candy Pop
24/05/10 21:34 Filed in: Photography
I went to Candy Pop’s house the other day, and as ever I was stunned by her gorgeous sense of interior design and collections of toys, dolls and other memorabilia. She is also becoming an amazing photographer, which has inspired me again. These are some of my shots of just a very few of her collections. More can be seen on Candy Pop’s Flickr.
Crochet Comfort Blanket
05/05/10 15:58 Filed in: Crochet
Spring Cuttings
16/04/10 22:03 Filed in: Classes
I run an adult knitting session in Tottenham. I have one very anxious regular, who comes along each week with no interest for knitting or crochet just as yet, but who wants my creative help to gain the confidence to make collages and 2d work. Having recently found out she’s really into gardens, this is what we are working on at the moment...
Crafty Little Entrepreneur
Jennifer is one of the girls who comes along to my after school knitting group. I think she’s about 8/9 years old ( I’ll have to check when I see her next week). Anyway today she told me that she is going to start up a business were she knits things and then people buy them. I said that this was a sweet idea, then she quickly pointed out to me that this wasn’t just an idea, that she had already made £5 selling the scarf she had only just learnt to knit a few weeks back!!
(This is the one Jennifer was working on today).
(This is the one Jennifer was working on today).
Moth In The Motor
10/02/10 21:15 Filed in: Sewing | Exhibitions
Creative Stitches & Scotch Eggs
09/02/10 02:07 Filed in: Knitting
Last week I was invited to go down to Brighton for the day to help out on the UK Hand Knit Association’s stand at the Creative Stitches show at the Brighton Centre. Most of it was not so much to my taste, mainly hobbyist card making and tacky lower end commercial craft, which is a good thing as I wasn’t tempted to buy anything! However it was massively busy, and I was rushed off my feet with a que of mainly elder ladies wanting me to teach them how to crochet! So after a day full of slipknots, hooks and chains, and yarning over, I went for a quiet walk along the seafront to take in the waves before heading back to London. Getting on the train I spotted a musician, who I only recognized from some gigs I had been to in the last few months, where he was featuring with his band Drum Eyes. Dj Scotch Egg joined me for the journey home. We had a lovely chat about noisy music, before I left him on his way onward to Leicester...
DJ Scotch Egg - Scotch Chicken
Nothing To See Here | MySpace Music Videos
DJ Scotch Egg - Scotch Chicken
Nothing To See Here | MySpace Music Videos
