The opening evening was a great success with music from Clockwork Radio!
Saturday, 8 December 2012
Sally Price
Kitchen Specimens
Over 10,000,000 bacteria fester in the
average kitchen sponge. Alarming as this sounds, in reality we live with their
presence every day without mass panic or fear. Is this because we can't see
them?
I am experimenting with the clash between
desire and disgust, curiosity and revulsion, to create uncomfortably alluring
tactile pieces. Bacterial formations are beautiful but it feels wrong to admire
something that can be such a threat to our bodies. I have translated this
invisible build up of germs into an encrusted, lavish embellishment, using
colours found in both cleaning products and dyed microbe specimens. The meeting
of clean and unclean becomes uncomfortable but strangely appealing.
The use of everyday objects in my work plays
on recognition, and leads to the ordinary becoming extraordinary. I am
re-examining the things around us- what they suggest and how we react to them.
Joy Morris
Decoding the Unnoticed
(On-going project)
To me, the Northern Quarter is a place of
hidden gems: vintage shops to stumble across, charming record shops, and tucked
away cafes. In my work I look at the truly hidden aspects of our city within
the unnoticed and unwanted marks we often pass.
I work from found and uncontrolled visuals
such as peeled paint, torn posters and cracked paving. To illustrate my
interest in these unintended marks I apply time consuming and systematic
processes to further the uncontrollable nature of these surroundings.
In my work I convert my photographs into code
and translate randomised symbols into visually complex pieces. I am attempting
to create eye capturing pieces using usually overlooked marks.
Using a system of chance to decide their
placement, I have separated and scattered a series of six tiles around the
Northern Quarter. These pieces can either be stumbled across or looked for
using a map I have provided.
I have no control over the temporary nature
of putting my work outside however all photographs can be found on my blog.
Becky Smyllie
In an exploration of our closest surroundings,
clothing became a main focus.
A recognisable form such as the ladder in a
pair of tights is translated on to parts of the body where it wouldn’t normally
be found.
Using the hand as a sculptural form I played
with the idea of these forms being part of the skin. Contorting in a fierce and
unnatural manner.
Body painting is a process that emphasises
revealed skin working in harmony with the image of laddered tights.
However unwanted they are I found myself
ripping new holes to investigate the forms and patterns further.
Sophie Brown
‘Reconstruction from Deconstruction’
An exploration in to the rips and tares of
worn Denim.
This unique fabric has its own beautiful way
of aging, the weave wears and brakes in such a manner that creates fantastic
patterns and inspirational compositions. I have studied this natural
deconstruction, taking inspiration from the designs and reconstructing them.
Using the warp and weft of the base denim to hand stitch with, the imagery pick
up on the rough holes and the linier weave when its’ opposite is removed.
Isabella Leonard
Unwanted
souls
I
am exploring the connotations of old, worn shoes as a medium. By freshly embroidering dirty soles and
broken uppers, their form and function is reinvented as they hide and display
strange characters from differing cultures.
Traditional, cheeky garden gnomes and the Mexican dancing creatures
evoke playful spirits. Both have
illustrative charm, form and vibrant colour but sometimes sinister
connotations. Garden gnomes can be left
to rot outside. Mexican ceremonies
celebrating spirits inspire thoughts of pagan or voodoo ritual. The shoe itself has travelled and the unknown
wearer’s presence is evident.
The
slow process of hand stitch with worn shoes references time passing and waste
from popular culture. A rotting relic is
created. Taking motifs from very
different cultures and combining them with a repelling material, the longevity
of handcraft is reconsidered as designs are re sewn again today.
Lydia Williams
“threads
of green”
This
piece of work concludes an in-depth study of the native lichens of North Wales,
specifically those that grow in the forest around Abergwyngregyn.
I
have explored traditional hand and machine techniques in order to produce work
that is sensitive to the organic fluid forms of the lichens and their colour.
From
the beginning I have used weave as a way for me to channel my desire to
construct a surface and mix colour. I find the process of transforming string
into cloth fascinating. In order to create a shifting of colour within my woven
samples I have hand painted the warp before weaving. This unpredictable colour
mixing between the warp and weft threads is what reflects the variable colour
of the lichens.
The
Cornelli machine allows me to be fluid and gestural with my stitch. Working
from drawings and photographs I was able to be spontaneous with the lichen
forms. Combining this exploration of the drawn shape of the lichens with the hand
stitched surface detail has created beautiful forms that exaggerate the size,
surface and colours of the lichens.
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