Hedgerow calligraphy [30 x 95 cm.]
I have been experimenting with transferring photocopies of my drawing to organdie using acrylic medium.Machine stitch is added to the cloth and colour allowed to move between the shapes. I have used iron set silk paints as they give me an intensity of colour.
Colour has always been central to Liz's creative impulse.
The potential of stitch to articulate ideas and animate the cloth surface is the other important aspect of her practice.
Currently undertaking PhD research into the possibilities inherent in cotton
organdie as an expressive material Liz is making and documenting work that
references and reflects upon her local landscape.
This interest in PLACE and in particular a footpath that is regularly walked is ongoing and underpinned by the keeping of sketchbooks filled with notes, ideas,technical information and drawings. Find more about me at: www.liztext.wordpress.com
More thoughts on stitch:
Stitch, whether by hand or
machine is a vital element in my making process. It is not used as a decorative
device but as an integral drawing and mark making tool to articulate form and
meaning as well as create a dynamic textured surface.
Stitch is the means of embedding a narrative into the surface of the cloth and of articulating the maker’s voice. It can refer to transitory moments of observation and reflection. The calligraphic effect suggests a story or a rhythm. The sewing machine can make fine freely drawn lines which can be manipulated by change of stitch length and tension to alter the structure of the surface of the cloth.
Hand stitch can be used to create
areas of texture, blocks of colour and to bring together different areas of the
work through the spread of colour. It brings the maker into a close
relationship with the surface of the cloth.
In the book ‘Machine Stitch Perspectives' Nigel Hurlstone writes: “the tedium involved in the process is what
opens up a space in which perception and decisions about the work are shaped,
evaluated and re-evaluated over a considerable period of time. In this space
the origins of thoughts or ideas expressed through drawing can be ‘mediated’ by
hand and eye engaging with cloth and thread.”
The artist Michael Raedecker’s use of stitch
challenges the convention of painting. “He goes beyond conventional methods of
representing formal elements such as texture and perspective. Through his
layering of thread, paint and small, yet aggressive punctures to his canvas,
Raedecker imparts an unexpected physicality to his two-dimensional works “ ‘Volume’.www.hauserwirth.com
The process of stitching might
also be seen as an energetic and challenging activity rather than a process of
‘tedium’. In ’Art Textiles of the World, Great Britain, Vol. 2. Polly Binns writes of: “a sense
of struggle and frustration; process becomes a conscious mark-making, not a
soothing or repetitive rhythmic activity. However, the most successful pieces
[for me] are those which develop from considerable lengths of time in the
‘meditative’ process stage, while the actual activity of making happens very
rapidly, almost angrily.”
