Study Three Artists

STUDY THREE ARTISTS

We have been given 2 artists to research into as relevant to this module and then have to select one of our own choice.

1. Jennie Rayment

Jennie Rayment is internationally known for her quick, simple, innovative and original techniques with manipulated fabric

Jennie teaches a wide variety of classes for all levels and abilities of those working in patchwork, quilting and embroidery to fashion, soft furnishing and home décor enthusiasts.

Much of her work is created in simple calico and her elegant ideas may be adapted for any type of fabric and used to make quilts, wall hangings, boxes, baskets, cushions, table linen and of course fashion garments and accessories.

She has written many books and articles on fabric manipulation techniques and many of these titles are still in print material hence the magic goes on and on.

Nowadays, her work is exhibited in various galleries, at shows and exhibitions around the world.

Jennie saw her first piece of patchwork and made her first quilt in 1989. Having never sewn other than family mending and household repairs, it was a steep learning curve!

Over the next few years, Jennie explored and experimented and by 1994, she was firmly hooked on all forms of patchwork and quilting. In this period she completed a teaching diploma and became involved with the City & Guilds.

She taught the Creative Studies course in Patchwork, Quilting and Appliqué to several groups in the South of England. Within the syllabus one of the required subjects was texture. As there was very little information available on this topic, Jennie created her own designs and techniques thus developing her own ideas and techniques.

Information from: 

www.jennierayment/about-jennie

2. Michael Brennand Wood

He is described as a visual artist, curator, lecturer, arts consultant and is internationally regarded as one of the most innovative and inspiring artists working in textiles. He has occupied a central position in the research, origination and advocacy of Contemporary International Art Textiles.

He believes that the most innovative contemporary textiles emanate from an assured understanding of both textile technique and history and his work has been defined by a sustained commitment to the conceptual synthesis of contemporary and historical sources, in particular the exploration of three dimensional line, structure and pattern. He has persistently worked within contested areas of textile practice, embroidery, pattern, lace and recently floral imagery.

Michael has explored and developed his own techniques inventing many new and imaginative ways of integrating textiles with other media.

Examples of Michael's work can be seen in major public, corporate and private collections worldwide including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa and National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. He won The Creative Concept Award in 1987 and The Fine Art Award in 1989 at the International Textile Competition in Kyoto, followed by the first RSA Art for Architecture Award 1990.

In 1982 he curated the controversial exhibition ‘Fabric and Form’ and co-curated the ‘Makers Eye’ both for the Crafts Council, followed in 1992 with ‘Restless Shadows’ a major Goldsmiths College touring exhibition of contemporary Japanese Textiles. Until 1989 he was a senior lecturer in the department of visual art at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He has taught extensively in colleges and universities in the UK and overseas, and has undertaken residencies in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Belgium. He was appointed Visiting Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2005 and is Research Fellow at the University of Ulster.

Recent work inspired by traditions of floral imagery have utilised computerised machine embroidery, acrylic paint, wood, glass and collage. Exploring the illusionary space between two and three dimensions, these works are colourful, dramatic, rhythmic and holographic in feel with intense detail that merges at a distance into strongly optical configurations.

Adapted from brennand-wood.com/michael html

3. Colette Wolff

My own selection of artist for this module is Colette Wolff, a textile artist living in New York City, whose book entitled The Art of Manipulating Fabric, has been a joy to use and take inspiration from thus enabling me to study techniques and then adapt them for my own purposes.

Colette describes her work as one which changes the look and feel of cloth with the assistance of a threaded needle thus adding texture, embellishment, inflation and support. Such techniques create puckers, folds, waves, puffs, projections and openings. Stitching by hand or machine they resurface, reshape, restructure and reconstruct a flat piece of cloth into one with a completely different look and feel.

Colette states that most of the techniques materialised during the long history of cloth with those handling the cloth and modifying and altering the original into something innovative and different! just as I have. I find this fascinating.

Colette’s research and curiosity led her to look at tucks and pleats and from there into smocking, shirring, gathering etc. and how they relate. Her book resulted from a desire to have a comprehensive and orderly reference for such techniques allowing her to pick and chose and make her own decisions regarding their application.

Using plain 100% unbleached calico she found the bland colour an ideal medium with which to showcase the manipulation techniques whilst utilising it’s receptive qualities to light and in turn, shadows cast.

Personally I found the chapter on smocking, namely North American smocking an absolute joy which brought back memories of my own mother making beautiful cushions in the 1960s and 70s.

Now I was able to turn the technique on its head by working from the wrong side and then alternating rows to create new patterns and textures suited to my needs.

Historically Colette was introduced to embroidery by her grandmother at an early age and then her mother taught her how to use a sewing machine cementing fabric, needle and thread as constants in her life. She went on to make her own clothes as a teenager.

In the late 1960s a craft shop owner persuaded Colette to teach a quilting workshop. Her local library had 2 quilting books from which she designed a quilt block project and devised a lesson plan. This was one of her first experiential learning sessions

She later owned a mail order catalogue called Platypus which published her toy and doll designs and sold supplies. The quality of her work was noticed by an editor named Robbie Fanning and resulted in publication of The Art of Fabric Manipulation.

Colette states that she could write an autobiography around the garments, needlework, quilts, toys and textile art associated with memorable events in her past.

Colette has contributed articles and designs to many craft and textile publications

and has taught/lectured the art of fabric manipulating since the 1970s.

Information from:

The Art of Manipulating Fabric by Colette Wolff. Published in 1996. Krause publications.

www.clothdollmarket.com/colettewolf