Solo Exhibition - A review and an opportunity

I've finally got a chance to blog about my art exhibition. It took place in October/ November and ended up being extended for a week in the end.

The work I exhibited is part of my ongoing project "Scar Tissue'. I began thinking about this work about 3 years ago and seriously started making work on this theme in the autumn of 2017. I have found that my initial pieces seem to form around monoprints which I work into, adding paint, stitch, fabric and other items. I was really interested in the story of healing and how we view the scars we have, do we see them as positive things or are they a reminder of something unbearably painful. I set up a survey and asked people to contribute their stories of scars and healing. You can read more about how it started here.

Contributions came in from friends and those I've never met. some of the stories were inspiring and hopeful, others were incredibly sad. some were written from wholeness and yet others were still very raw and early in their healing journey. Contributors gave me permission to use their responses alongside and incorporated into my artwork. this finally came together in October when I exhibited over 60 pieces in this project.

The exhibition at Newbiggin Maritime Centre was a snapshot of this work at a moment in time. Just like healing, this project isn't done yet and I feel it has more to say. I think it might go in another direction, but I'm giving it some space before I explore its development. I have to do this as part of my art practice. I really need times of reflection in order for my ideas to have time to coalesce, form and develop.

I really would love to hear from arts practitioners, organisations, galleries and individuals if you would like to collaborate as this develops further, or if you would like to exhibit some of this work as it is at the moment.

Spring plans.

So I've been thinking quite a bit about what's next creatively. I've got quite a few things in the pipeline from an artistic point of view, but on the sewing front, I haven't got much planned.


So  - what do I want to achieve?

Art
I have art work to create for my scar tissue project - you can read more about this here. I'm sewing and printing and painting and embroidering all as part of this project. I'm certain the direction will change to reflect the stories people tell me about their scars. This is a long-term project and the first stage will culminate in a "work in progress" exhibition in October.

I want to explore Gelli plate printing. as an artist who uses monotypes a lot in my work. Id love to see how the Gelli plate compares to traditional techniques. I have a plate and am keen to get started. I'd like to do some more work like my black and red pieces.

Sewing wise - 
Ginger Jeans. these have been on my to make list for a while and I've had the pattern since Christmas. just looking for the right denim.

Kalle shirt? I see a lot of love around the blogosphere for this. I'd initially passed it by, but I'm seeing the need for a couple of shirts in my wardrobe and love the styling. Both of these are Closet Case Patterns

I've also got a bit of Selfless sewing planned - I've got a couple of dresses to make for friends. not 100% sure which patterns I'll be using yet.

Exploring new things - 
I've been inspired by the subtraction cutting technique of Julian Roberts, who teaches at the Royal College of Art,  and I'm going to try and have a go - I wonder what I can create? - you can see more of his work on IG @julianrobertsnow

I've also been following the work of Zero Waste Daniel. Love the way he creates fashionable pieces from a patchwork of fashion industry offcuts. I'm determined to try to reduce the amount of waste from sewing by using up as much as I possibly can. I've already started piecing bits together to create fabric yardage. I now need to decide what to make with these pieces - probably something simple like a t-shirt or tank. follow him on IG @zerowastedaniel

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTORS: SCAR TISSUE

I don't know how many of you are artists or claim to create artwork. As a full-time teacher, I find it challenging to fit all my ideas into the time I have available. Consequentially ideas often take weeks, months or even years to fully form. This has been the case with my current developing project 'Scar Tissue', which has taken years to evolve. 

UPDATE: Please take my survey even if you don't have prose/ poetry to share. your answers can help - feel free to share whatever you're comfortable with. Take part HERE

After a period of stress and illness a few years ago I really began to connect with who I was, what made me, me. It was a painful time, but the experiences I had have formed me as a person. I began to talk to friends who had been through other life-changing events. Quite a few had had life-changing surgery, some approached it with a positive outlook - how it had made life better, where others felt a sense of anger, emptiness and loss of identity.

I became increasingly interested in how the scars we carry become part of us and help tell our stories - both good and bad. Some of my recent experiments try to explore my perspective on this. However, I really would like to push this further and incorporate stories and poetry, from others who have gone through/ or are going through this type of experience, within my artwork.

As I have just undergone (minor) surgery, I thought it was time to push and develop this project.  I'm looking at how the scars we have are evidence of the healing process, but sometimes our scars are welcomed and sometimes they are hated, depending on our circumstances, each of us responds to our scars and the events surrounding them in different ways.

If you would like to be a collaborator on this project and share your stories/ poems which would be combined with visual artwork or would like to know more, please do get in touch or share with anyone you know who might be interested.

(NB: All texts will only be used for the purposes of this project only and not shared in any other way without the express permission of the author)