ARTIST RESEACH

Shelly Goldsmith

"Dresses for Giants " 2022

Above images from Goldsmith's current exhibition "dresses for giants"

When I first came across Goldsmiths work "dresses for giants" I assumed they were cyanotypes, the deep pressman blues and the x-ray quality of detail/ layering.

I'd been trying out cyanotypes myself on my wrapped cotton from and was searching for artists also working in textile and/ or cyanotype.

I was really intrigued by these works and after further research discovered Goldsmith made these artworks by a process called dye sublimation.

It's a type of digital printing process Goldsmith experimentally pressed dresses into the still warm printed surface to subtract dime of the dye and leave a negative image, similar to a photograph/ photogram and cyanotype.

This give me the idea to make cyanotype using a lace dress to see not only if it would capture similar effect but also an opportunity / subject to upscale the wrapped frame work I'd created. A little inspiration and my own innovation.

My process and material will be different plus my canvass will.be hand weaved

Extended both the idea of the frame work machine idea along with the cyanotypes/ cotton wrap process.

To go large scale with the wrapped cotton frame.

I also like the way Goldsmith talks about the significance of clothing in her work and what it represents to her.

She comes from a fashion/ education background.

I love the scale of the work, the deep Prussian blues and simplicity and complexity of the subject.

It's emotive, feminine, ambitious and majestic.

I have a very emotive link to items of clothing and feel me work is moving towards textiles as part of my mixed media approaches.

Goldsmith used wedding dresses in her work dresses for giants. This is an image of a Victorian lace wedding dress with an explanation as to the reason white was and still is the traditional shade of wedding dress, it links a few themes  together that I'm looking into for this project.

Susan Bauer

I love Susanna Bauers work on reparing leaves.

Her work is very fragile combining nature and craft, something closely linked with lace making and a particular area of interest for myself.

She repairs broken autumn leaves with delicate, crochet stitching. The effect is quite lace like it reminds me of the delicate lace process and making lace and also the natural Elements of lace design, working with nature as inspiration and also in this case directly using natural objects in the work. I came across this work quite early in my research process I knew I also wanted to work with natural objects as part of this project. Her work reminds me Fairy tales it has a magical property to it and could be from any era as the materials and process are traditional. it's whimsical but it's also very hands-on,very crafty and feels very feminine, the act of darning clothes, the traditional female role of fixing and  nurturing, requires patience, requires skill, it's beautiful to look at yet it tell as story of strength and perseverance and belief.

  Themes of mending throwaway objects, to made extraordinary, to pick out one Autumn leaf amongst the thousands and thousands that litter the ground, to take the time to make it into an extraordinary object also brings about feelings and themes of sustainability of working with what's available.

She describes her work as "a fine balance between fragility and strength meditation on the beauty and intricacy found in the Natural World when it comes to pulling a fine thread through a brittle leaf or thin dry piece of wood but also in a wider context the tenderness and tension in human connections the transient enduring beauty of nature that can be found in the smallest detail from mobility and resilience that could be transferred to nature as a whole or the stories of individual beings" 

Rogan Brown

Rogan Brown creates intricate artworks from paper. Based on natural forms it's work and fuses science and nature and art to make these breaths taken sculptures. Some of the scriptures look very nice like especially the Neutral coloured ones and me think of snowflakes of coral have leaves floral all influential in his process. Based in nature that feeling extraordinary in the way it's presented and its complexity.

The complex and detailed waivers work is remind full of lace and it's delicacy. The artist is highly influenced by biology and cell structures he says of his work " I'm obsessed with cell structures bacteria viruses and with the aesthetic of microscopy that reveals a hidden universe is also fascinated by Atomic physics and quantum mechanics because they already clearly alter the way we perceive the physical texture of reality I'm searching for a visual that can communicate this new vision the struggle to make sense of the new visions that science officers my sculptures of the results of that struggle to understand they mix factual reference and flights of pure imagination" 

Craft by

I found this book very inspirational while approaching this project  from a craft based practice.

Triennale di Maroggia switzerland 2021

Ne spoon is an international artist who creates many types of works all based on lace design, from street art and graffiti to ceramics and art installations both in exhibition spaces and environmental outdoor spaces and murals. Found her out large outdoor installation projects the most interesting I like the way she covers huge buildings in urban areas with delicate lace designs changing the scale of the work put in a soft delicate design in a very hard and urban area is an interesting contrast. Her work is inspired by the lace of Calais- the lace of Calias is directly linked to Nottingham lace as it was the leavers lace machines that were smuggled to Calias By Richard parks Bonington that created the lace industry in Calias.

 I also like the Works that look like spider webs with snowflakes of lace weaved inside them, outdoor sculptures that look particularly magical, the extraordinary contrast of nature based lace in unexpected areas presented in unexpected ways.

On her work she says "why lace? I've no idea, I never liked lace before I started working with it. I thought lace was something old fashioned from a grandmothers dusty apartment.

Today it seems to me that each lace harbors harmony, balance and a sense of natural order- isn't that just what we are all searching for instinctively?

Lace pattern began to interest me when I started working in ceramics- I pressed the Lace into fresh clay and this is how the pattern is created one day I thought that these motifs are so beautiful on their own they don't need an excuse such as a plate or mug to exist" 

Mirjam Gielen

Mirjam Gielen is a textile artist who creates intricate embroideries on eco printed fabrics, she practices sustainability in her work by sourcing organic or reclaimed fabric and threads.

Her work is inspired by nature that flows into all aspects of her finished pieces.

I find her practice influential in regards to the materials shes uses and how as she combines many similarities with the lace process in her work such as craft and material and nature inspiration and produces works that are both abstract and evocative, some of her pieces remind me of germs and bacteria under a microscope.