The collection

All of the pieces photographed together- they compliment each other and i feel they portray a message about women and the rights they have that would maybe not be as effective in a different medium.

Skill Development: French Knots

French knots are a technique that i have used in previous projects- however i wanted to use them again and get better at using them to their full potential. The images above show a section of a larger piece of work where i have used french knots as a filler stitch. Below shows where i have used a simple single stitch to fill in a coloured area which i don’t think is as effective and it sags when you take it off of the hoop.

The only issue is with french knots is that they take forever- they look so delicate, and this is achieved through the time spent on them. I feel the above images show how i have used them to fill in type- and in doing so have managed to create a defined edge and defined shapes that are readable.

I intend to continue using these knots in my work wherever i can as they add texture. When making them though i find that thicker embroidery thread is more effective- and you don’t have to wrap the thread around the needle hundreds of times to make it visible! Also the base material used is important it has to be something strong- for example i have tried using chiffon before and it just wasn’t as effective- the material sagged and looked pretty rubbish.

Exhibition curation

  
  
  
  
  
  
 Some friends of mine have decided to hold an exhibition in their student house to showcase works of many different disciplines. They needed some help with the curation and the moving of work from the university to their house so i volunteered myself. They seemed to have not much of a plan at firs except get the work to the hose and then see.

It was a hard days work actually- the basement in the house seemed like it hadn’t been cleaned for years meaning it was filthy and dusty and took a while to be tackled. After the majority of the first day was taken up cleaning and organising the house to best utilise the small amount of space available we were able to begin discussing the positioning of work. I suggested that the best way to decide what went where was to hang one piece that we all agreed on and use that as a starting point- this seemed to work really well and although maybe not the most considered way to start it got the ball rolling and soon enough there was a lot of work up on the walls that complemented the pieces that surrounded it.

I personally found that curating the exhibition was a team effort- and everyone had opinions often everyone had completely different opinions but that made it interesting. Due to the opening of the exhibition being the following day it didn’t leave much time for discussion- everyone was of the understanding that the decisions needed to be quick but effective.

I personally am terrible with diy- i’ve never tried to do it and that showed. Luckily within the group of us there was a good distribution of skills- everyone has different skills and some were stronger then others- mine weren’t diy, but i was good a placing different art works together and looking at the way they were hung in comparison to each other. This was an opportunity for me to develop my diy skills though- i now have a strong understanding of the need to use a spirit level at every given opportunity- work looks terrible if it’s accidentally hung on the wonk!

Overall the exhibition was a great opportunity to get involved in something outside of university- and it gave me an opportunity to work with people from other courses and people i hadn’t worked with before. I also think that if there was the opportunity to do something like this again i would really like to get involved.

 

 

   
   

  

   
    
    
    
    
    
    
 

   
   

Penis fly trap