Boundries

I have found that the use of textiles within fine art is becoming more popular with other artists on a particular 'boundary' between practices that conceptual yet textile based. these include; Shelly Goldsmith, and Joanna Chapman.  This work pushes the boundaries of what art and textiles are and opens up the new discussion on the subject. This debate includes a major survey between British artists working with textiles. I believe when naming something we restrict the potential for it to change and evolve. This is why I am enthusiastic about challenging the language of art and textiles. 

Dr Polly Binns - ' Id use the word material but in a much broader sense than cloth' - I agree with this statement i do not like to restrict my work to just using cloth but I do see material as an endless piece to work on.

I now intend to explore the boundaries between art textiles through an indepth analysis of the work of Shelly Goldsmith, Joanna Chapman, Tracey Emin, and Louise Bourgeois . 

   Joanna Chapman / onion (detail) 1999 wax [paper pigment tread (150 x 30 x 80). 

Current work uses textile materials and processes as a metaphor for imagining how psychological states, emotions and memories associated with human fragility and loss can be made visible in cloth. The re-claimed garments are the medium for imagined narratives of flooding, staining and seepage.

I have discovered similarities in terms of theme and medium between my own work and Shelly Goldsmith. in particular, her installation 'no-escape' from six years ago, in which images of flood scenes had been transfer printed onto children's dresses Goldsmith describes the dresses as being 'rescued' from a children's home. Not found in waters, but from being thrown away, as they were considered too old fashioned for the children to wear. Goldsmiths work (as with a number of artists, whose work i admire), touches on memory, emotional longing and loss. Much of her work has been informed by the sense of loss that she has felt at the emigration of members of her family from the UK to Ohio, 25 years ago.

'Inner Storm' - 2010, 100cm x 224cm x 210cm  

Reclaimed wedding dress, woven, 'name' tape, steel, polystyrene, stainless steel pins and silk thread installation 

Shelly Goldsmith's 'Inner Storm' uses text to express her feelings sewn onto the inside of the dress. This is showing that the feelings are on the inside of the dress so they are not let out, for example we keep our feelings on the inside and don't let them out.  I am really enthusiastic about this process of using garments and the 'inside out' theme. 

So why a wedding dress? Why children's dresses? there is a huge part of Goldsmiths work is about symbolism. The symbolism is in the types of dresses that she uses to convey meaning, emotion and message throughout work. The wedding dress and he title of the dress could symbolize Goldsmiths own personal view on marriage. The wedding dress also symbolizes innocence and virginity, this is because of the colour of the white dress. The colour white in it self represent complete and pure, the colour of perfection. The colour meaning of white is purity, innocence, wholeness and completion.

White is the colour of new beginnings, wiping the slate clean, so to speak. It is the blank canvas waiting to be written upon, which is exactly what Goldsmith has done, she has written her thoughts and feelings of storms, and sewn them in harsh black thread. The harshness of the black thread symbolizes her feelings and emotions towards marriage. The fact that Shelly Goldsmith has even related the wedding dress to an 'Inner Storm' could suggest that she thinks a wedding/marriage is like the inside of a storm.