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I have come to the end of the FDA at Bradford College and am about to embark on the course to top it up to a BA in Textiles Practice. Reflecting on what I have learned and can take forward I looked through all my sketchbooks from the last 4 years. He
This New artwork by @esdevlin with @refugees Article in @guardian https://www.theguardian.com/stage/article/2024/sep/09/artist-es-devlin-exhibition-refugee-portraits-congregation-london-ekow-eshun #saferoutesforefugees
Take one material .... To fold To cut Channeling @theartofthefold #triangularbook #handmadebookbinding #summerproject @bradfordtextiles #takeonematerial #richardserraverblist #newspaperart
Back to basics with a simple quilt-as-you-go log cabin, pieced straight on to batting and a crumb pieced backing. Simple stuff for when creativity is at a low ebb but I need to stitch something. #logcabin #scrappyquilt #crumbpiecing #imintheguild #q
Take one material .... To layer To stitch To cut Channeling @asmalldesign #layeredcloth #batextilespractice #summerproject @bradfordtextiles #takeonematerial #richardserraverblist #newspaperart
Take one material .... To layer To excavate #batextilespractice #summerproject @bradfordtextiles #takeonematerial #richardserraverblist #newspaperart #newspaperart
A visit yesterday to @talbotricegallery in Edinburgh to the exhibition of the amazing work of El Anatsui. Monumental 'cloths' constructed from metal or wood. I asked whether he supervised the installation, thinking about the folds int he fabric. I w
Thanks to @larkandbower for a great afternoon workshop, lots of ideas for yarn wrapping.
Recovered from Festival of Quilts, which was brilliant but exhausting. So beginning to feel creative again and get back to the Summer Project Take one material .... To layer #batextilespractice #summerproject @bradfordtextiles #takeonematerial #richa
Early morning photo of my booth before the crowds at Festival of Quilts. I have had great conversations today with so many people, it has been a privilege to exhibit here. A special shout out to @sculptureofstitch, thank you for such encouragement,
Kiss of Death

Kiss of Death

Mary Whitehouse
Contextualising practice, Art exhibitions

Earlier this year I visited Quarry Bank Mill, a ‘working’ cotton mill near Manchester, where the National Trust guide spoke about the ‘kiss of death’, describing the practice of ‘kissing the shuttle’ to suck the weft thread through the shuttle; as every woman was doing this many times a day it was a common way of transmitting diseases, such as tuberculosis.

Kiss of Death Flox den Hartog Jager, 2021

Kiss of Death Flox den Hartog Jager, 2021

So when I saw this piece of textile art Kiss of Death by Flox den Hartog Jager the work immediately brought back that description – and also the noise of the looms at Quarry Bank Mill. The piece is constructed using weaving shuttles which contain photographs of women. Rusted cloth ribbons, embroidered with women’s names, hang from the shuttles. The artist’s statement makes the point that pulling the thread through the shuttle in this way was not outlawed in England until 1952.

The practice of using materials and archive information from the textiles industry was also used in other pieces in the exhibition. Eszter Bornemisza used a Jacquard punched card in her piece The Loop. Hannah Lamb used data and images from the textiles industry archive to inform her piece Incomplete Histories.

Whilst looking at this exhibition I wondered what artists do with their work when the exhibition is over. Kiss of Death and Incomplete Histories would both sit well in Quarry Bank Mill as prompts to encourage people to think about the working conditions for people in the textile industry; the issues around working conditions continue, both here in the UK as well as in more extreme examples overseas, where most of our clothing is made.

This work was part of Connected Cloth an exhibition by the 62 Group, which formed part of the British Textile Biennial in Lancashire in October 2021. The Connected Cloth exhibition continues at the Whitaker Museum until 28th November.

Flox Den Hartog Jager 2021 Kiss of Death
Materials & techniques: Weaving shuttles, photos, embroidery on rusted cotton
Size : 70 x 70 x 3cm Connected Cloth Whitaker Gallery , 1st October - 30th November 2021
www.floxdenhartogjager.nl

 

The Yorkshire Tea Ceremony and other things

The Yorkshire Tea Ceremony and other things
#Patternfinder21

#Patternfinder21