Benoit PypeSculptures de fonds de poches, 2011 – 2014
I was recently at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Montevideo and was quite enchanted by this work. By Benoit Pype, this is a small, c.1m x 1m, table top installation of little mixed media sculptures or assemblages, each mounted on a little white plinth or cube, which vary in height from 1-2cm+. As I approached it, I thought it was some kind of crowd scene of tiny figures, but as my eyes were drawn in close I found these tiny little objects including many fibre things including bits of fluff, feathers, threads, little snippets of this and that, heavens knows what else, with possibly a sticky lolly or a dead beetle somewhere … I should go back to check; and maybe take a better camera. The title suggests he might have emptied his pockets regularly, but from the sounds of an interesting article by Michela Alessandrini about him “Benoît Pype handles the minuscule, collects the useless, and acclaims the waste.”
I had not heard or his work until I saw this one piece, and in the very short time I’ve been reading about him, this artist has become a favourite. Rather than give more links and quotes, I recommend you visit his website , make a coffee and take time to explore his approach to his art, revel in the excellent photography and enjoy his wonderful statements about his work. (“It is not necessary to go to the end of the world to travel, the adventure is at the bottom of a pocket, in my garden, around my house.” )
Browsing on my FB page this morning, I was enticed by a wonderful pic of a very textural work (by Clarrissa Callesen) advertising the Ballarat and Toowoomba winter textile art workshops this year, at http://www.fibrearts.jigsy.com It looks like a great program, as usual, Glennys and Noni! and I’m sorry I can’t be there but will be able to come one day. On this year’s tutor/class offering list is international tutor Clarissa Callesen of USA, whose work I did not know of, but am very glad to have found this interesting mixed media artist https://www.clarissacallesen.com
When I’m browsing and find something interesting, I always look for a web page for that name, hoping there’ll be a statement by the artist revealing something of motivation and influences in their art. Clarissa’s entire statement is worth reading and contemplating, but several sentences in particular resonate with me: “I am less concerned with an object’s original purpose and more interested in the evidence of life a thing wears upon the surface ….. I am fascinated with the relationships between decay and fecundity, repulsion and seduction, chaos and order. The compost of life creates new growth, whether that is the literal forest floor feeding new life or the wounds and scars of human life that bring forth strength and change.” I wish I had written those words. ‘Recycled’ easily finds its way into artists’ statements these days, often sounding a deliberate attempt to endow the work with some extra merit. But reading her statement shows this is this is not just empty virtue signalling, as her work is an expression of deeply thought out views and feelings, and requires no dressing up with fancy words.
Callesen’s art recycles and re-purposes discarded man-made materials, plus other natural objects such as stones, driftwood and shells she has collected; and her stashes of materials and objects must be amazing. What she finds is already in some state of disuse and decay when found, and on some of their surfaces she enhances signs of decay or stress using various processes, so that looking at some images it’s not possible to be sure of the composition of many of them. With the exception of some tetrahedrons I made a few years ago, I’ve mostly worked in 2-D – art quilts since 1989, but before that I was making framed or mounted creative but very low relief embroideries, examples of which are in my mixed media gallery Seeing this lovely stitched art is inspiring me to think about a couple of 3-D ideas …
In the same browsing session I clicked on a link someone posted to Exquisitely Gifted a major exhibition among several scheduled events celebrating the West Australian Embroiderers’ Guild’s golden anniversary. It may just be the photographer’s choice, but looking at the pictures of this exhibition, including many framed and mounted works with very few free-standing or sculptural pieces, I think little has changed in the guild since I was a member over 20 years ago. Some of those mounts are box lids (I myself made one or two fabric covered boxes with decorated lids) and many are nicely framed. Book or album type presentations are popular, like this one I made in 1985 while a member of the guild:
Mineral Study 1985. 46cm x 28cm Mineral specimens property of M. Schwabe.
It takes time and care to achieve high standards in traditional embroidery styles, and some of the fabrics and specialty threads are pretty expensive, so no wonder these kinds of works are regarded and presented as ‘precious’. Craft guilds like WAEG are the repositories of the historic knowledge and techniques of traditional embroideries that, but for the incredible guild activities , might otherwise disappear. The textile art world exemplified by Callestan and other practitioners of contemporary hand stitch depend on the deep knowledge and enthusiasm of the traditional craft guilds.
Attention West Australian readers and textile artists – In September an exciting sounding Threads Of Gold Convention will be held at Fremantle – check out the guild’s news pages http://embroiderersguildwa.org.au/ for details – their taster workshops sound real fun!
I’ve just been updating my class handouts for introductory and advanced classes in Improvisational Piecing, IP, which I’ll be teaching in Gramado, Brasil, in September. I generally refer to IP as ‘freehand piecing’. Every line is a potential ‘seam’. I’ve loved this style of patchwork since I first encountered it c.1990, and these days it appears frequently in Modern Quilting, art quilting, and variations on traditional patterns.
Cutting only with the rotary cutter and piecing by machine, the maker has no set pattern pieces to follow. I often do a basic sketch diagram:
Some simple traditional patterns adapt well for improvisational piecing
– or have a photo in front of me to start with, such as this one:
Woollen fabric sample albums at a historic museum. Lines are everywhere!These images have been pinned on my wall for a while …the lines are important, but so are the colours.
Unlike the precision of traditional patchwork, accuracy of meeting points is not only unnecessary, little mis-matches and irregularities are essential for the organic look IP has.
Dividing a square to build complexity – the size of the square determines how much detail can be gone into!
I’m removing the above diagram from my class handout, because I’ve come up with something I think is better; but I’m sure some readers might find these diagrams a bit inspirational and want to try the ideas they suggest.
The basic geometric shapes that make up traditional patchwork patterns all lend themselves to improvisational inserts, and they’re worth playing around with because there is always plenty of scope for the ‘What if?’ and serendipity which make it so much fun to do. The end result is something more interesting, more complex, Plus there’s potential for borders and backgrounds …
This week I am guest artist on Jen Broemel’s blog, The ART of IMPROV. As Jen’s guest #27, plenty of interesting artists preceded me. Answering her challenging questions about how I make my improvisational art, I thought more deeply about what I do and why I do it. Each time I write seriously about my work helps clarify things I know but find I have not put into words as often or as well as I could have.
I’ve written on improvisation on this blog previously, and although I haven’t dwelt on it, obviously my approach to the act of quilting my art is improvisational, too. Normally the quilting needle in either hand or machine, just wanders, finding its way:
This detail of Ebb&Flow 8 has it all – well except glitter – quilting in the ditch, machine quilting in toning thread for texture alone, and highly visible hand quilting in a thicker contrasting thread.
I never draw out a ‘quilting plan’ though I have had three quilts (bed quilts, family) quilted on contract by long arm quilters. The overall quilting on those was guided by the computer+longarm operator using the design motif, scale and threads I selected. Though I prefer the engagement of doing the quilting myself, these days the bod refuses to even consider hand or machine quilting a king or queen size quilt !
Machine quilted (1 ‘invisible’ multi filament thread (2) with silver glitter.
I frequently quilt in the ditch (non-quilters – along a seam) so that functional quilting holding layers together does not show, but other quilting is meant to be visible, and I often use thick, contrasting thread; and I definitely favour ‘glitter’.
For some years now, all kinds of digital processes and media have made inroads into the pretty discrete world of quilt making; patchwork and/or applique with hand or machine quilting. It’s an artform with a significant heritage, strongly tied to domestic production of warm bedding. The most common fabric was always cotton, and whether new or recycled fabric, cottons have long been affordable and worked up well by hand or machine.
These days many textile artists and art quilt makers produce quilted constructions as wall art for display only, a freedom inviting use of non-traditional materials. I myself have used vinyl, leather, mylar, shadecloth, sail canvas, scraps of antique undergarments, nylon tulle and nylon organza. Besides traditional quilting threads, I’ve quilted with some pretty unusual threads, including parcel string, waxed nylon twine and fine ribbon. Since the early 80s I have dyed fabric, and frequently stamped, splattered, sprayed, painted, and spread fabric with palette knife, before taking up needle and thread.
Detail – On the Edge Of The Golden Mile
Today I found this nice clear detail of a stitchery inspired by standing for the first time on the western edge of the very early stage of the Kalgoorlie Super Pit and looking across to what was left of the Great Boulder Mine. In our early days in Kalgoorlie in the Nickel Boom we lived up on the mine’s park behind the Fimiston post office. The daily blasting at the end of each shift except sunday’s afternoon shift always reminded us that beneath our house on the park, and a large part of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, was the huge underground system of actively mined workings which, after about 90 years’ continuous mining included a lot of empty stopes! Rock falls and cave-ins punctuated our daily lives, and though not necessarily on the Great Boulder itself, were very disturbing to feel happening down below, somewhere close! Before our little corner of the city became swallowed up by the pit, the houses and buildings were all moved off the mine or demolished. The pit is now extensive and tremendously deep. and this c.1986 stitched panel is holds some wonderful memories of our early days in Kal, above all capturing my feelings the day I took the photo that inspired this stitchery. This was probably the same day that Mike and I were standing where we’d been ordered by mine officials to stand so we could be safely out of the way while a blast was set off some distance away. We were all pretty shocked as rocks and stones flew over our heads! As far as we know, no heads rolled that day, though they should have!
Paint+stitch details from ‘Sunburnt Textures’, and ‘Out Back of Bourke’
Landscape has always been part of my inspiration. Back in the 80s colour and texture were my focus, and for that, paint+stitch combined perfectly.
