5 Sept - 12 Dec 2017
Artist in Residence
The Sheen Center
Bleecker Street, Manhattan, NYC
31 Nov - 12 Dec 2017
Solo Exhibition 'Unfolding'
Artist in Residence
The Sheen Center
Bleecker Street, Manhattan, NYC
31 Nov - 12 Dec 2017
Solo Exhibition 'Unfolding'
I spent four months in New York as Artist-in-residence at The Sheen Center For Thought & Culture on Bleecker Street.
I wanted to find out if my role could be not just in exhibiting & selling art quilts, but also in using them to communicate in non-gallery situations, and in a social justice context. Traditional quilts have an obvious purpose. But Art Quilts… is there a practical purpose for them beyond the gallery wall? Situations where art can meet a practical need, not just be a competition piece? Situations where the Quilt format would be not a drawback but an inherent advantage?
Quilt making brings people together. Using low-tech means, recycled materials, it has the potential to express important things. And it’s not just about the end product, but also the story of its making. The history of quiltmaking is a beautiful thing: grounded, inclusive, expressive, taking time, collaborating. And art quilts can be about that tradition thriving and finding new purpose within contemporary life.
In New York I was moved by the fragility of homeless people living rough around Grand Central Station. During my stay I worked one day each week with the St.Egidio group, a very committed and efficient volunteer group who visit and provide food, clothing and help to a large number of very vulnerable individuals. It was a real eye-opener.
Artists are, I think, very alert to glimpses of unvarnished reality which can become moments of revelation. The artist’s job is to pay attention and try to make a personal statement which may reflect a universal truth. I really noticed the makeshift outfits worn by the Grand Central people, and how every garment held great importance for them. People told stories, with their words, and with their faces, clothes and possessions. I thought of the paintings of Ben Shahn.
I am not a political person, but I want to communicate what I feel about people and fairness, not in a generalised way but in terms of what I see with my own eyes. A particular way, a personal testament/statement. I wrote in my diary:
I see the same characters every week - what has their life been like from Tuesday to Tuesday, when mine has been so privileged? They are like stationary ghosts in the fast-moving city. They don’t occupy much space in the world. They own nothing beyond what they can carry. A particular piece of cardboard, a particular pair of shoes, a small bag of coins. Their faces and their clothes, their politeness and trust, speak to me very directly.
I wanted to remember particular people, and to highlight their value regardless of social status.
I made a quilt about Brendan, a homeless man who fascinated me every week. I tried to remember his face and his spirit. The process of trying to (literally) ‘pin it down’ with fabric and stitch was as unexpectedly revealing an experience as making up the hundreds of packs of peanut butter sandwiches and taking them across town.
On returning home I began a new quilt project, inspired by some of the memorable people I met in New York, their stories and circumstances.
I wanted to find out if my role could be not just in exhibiting & selling art quilts, but also in using them to communicate in non-gallery situations, and in a social justice context. Traditional quilts have an obvious purpose. But Art Quilts… is there a practical purpose for them beyond the gallery wall? Situations where art can meet a practical need, not just be a competition piece? Situations where the Quilt format would be not a drawback but an inherent advantage?
Quilt making brings people together. Using low-tech means, recycled materials, it has the potential to express important things. And it’s not just about the end product, but also the story of its making. The history of quiltmaking is a beautiful thing: grounded, inclusive, expressive, taking time, collaborating. And art quilts can be about that tradition thriving and finding new purpose within contemporary life.
In New York I was moved by the fragility of homeless people living rough around Grand Central Station. During my stay I worked one day each week with the St.Egidio group, a very committed and efficient volunteer group who visit and provide food, clothing and help to a large number of very vulnerable individuals. It was a real eye-opener.
Artists are, I think, very alert to glimpses of unvarnished reality which can become moments of revelation. The artist’s job is to pay attention and try to make a personal statement which may reflect a universal truth. I really noticed the makeshift outfits worn by the Grand Central people, and how every garment held great importance for them. People told stories, with their words, and with their faces, clothes and possessions. I thought of the paintings of Ben Shahn.
I am not a political person, but I want to communicate what I feel about people and fairness, not in a generalised way but in terms of what I see with my own eyes. A particular way, a personal testament/statement. I wrote in my diary:
I see the same characters every week - what has their life been like from Tuesday to Tuesday, when mine has been so privileged? They are like stationary ghosts in the fast-moving city. They don’t occupy much space in the world. They own nothing beyond what they can carry. A particular piece of cardboard, a particular pair of shoes, a small bag of coins. Their faces and their clothes, their politeness and trust, speak to me very directly.
I wanted to remember particular people, and to highlight their value regardless of social status.
I made a quilt about Brendan, a homeless man who fascinated me every week. I tried to remember his face and his spirit. The process of trying to (literally) ‘pin it down’ with fabric and stitch was as unexpectedly revealing an experience as making up the hundreds of packs of peanut butter sandwiches and taking them across town.
On returning home I began a new quilt project, inspired by some of the memorable people I met in New York, their stories and circumstances.