April to November 2018
Residency at ArcadeCardiff Solo Exhibition 'Bleecker Street' 1-24 November 2018 I have been Artist-in-residence here in the basement of ArcadeCardiff gallery for the past 6 months. The subterranean studio is large and industrial-looking, but I have made myself at home with a carpet, a Magicoal electric fire and a radio. Fixed on the the walls are 2 giant cardboard boxes from Greggs, opened out flat. On these pinboards I pin and move around pieces of fabrics and drawings, trying to discover exciting colour and shape combinations. I love the traditions of quiltmaking, and also the free spirit of abstract painting, and over the last 22 years I have combined these to make expressive wall-hung quilts inspired by my thoughts and experiences. I like the idea of making something whole out of the many different shaped pieces of my life (and other people’s lives, because I mainly work with recycled clothes that people have given to charity shops). And also that great things can be expressed with simple means and down-to-earth materials. I like my work to have a painterly quality, although I use no paint, just hand and machine stitching. The techniques I use are simple: basic hand stitches, running & quilting stitch, to secure patches together. I was originally inspired by the work of contemporary American art-quilt makers, so I was very excited last year to spend 4 months in New York City. I lived and worked in a large studio apartment at The Sheen Center on Bleecker Street in Manhattan, as Artist-in-Residence. It was challenge to connect my slow paced, thoughtful type of work, with the big spectacular city. Ironically, what I noticed most were the close-up details of everyday life. Side streets, surfaces, working people and businesses, the layers of history everywhere. I spoke with people from all walks of life, and volunteered with a charity feeding the homeless people at Grand Central, which made a great impression on me. In the character of the clothes worn by these homeless people I found an emotional connection with my work, and my own use of recycled clothes. I have developed this at ArcadeCardiff. The quilt called ‘Outside the Overthrow’ refers to the Overthrow Boxing Club on Bleecker Street, with its façade of torn posters and graffiti merging into the layers of clothes worn by the man, George. And there are several other quilts shown here which are still in progress, they take a long time to make. It was a shock when I returned to Wales from New York last December. I didn’t know how to begin to process all my new ideas in my tiny studio. The Arcade residency offered me the space and support to do so, and I would like to thank them for a hugely positive and creative time. |
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