Shirts, shirts, shirts

The last month has been a busy one for me, hence the lack of blogs!!!

 I have been busy producing a series of drawings and paintings for the upcoming Basildon Art Trail which I am going to make you wait a few more days before I reveal the final selection of work.

But for today I thought you might like to see my new work in the Basildon Art Gallery. I have revisited an old piece of art work that was shown at the RK Burt gallery in London's Southbank - shirts!

I spent hours folding little paper shirts, using magazines, newspapers and printed papers. In each of the boxes there are over 500 folded shirts. I have always enjoyed the obsessive nature that sneaks into my work and find repetition compelling. The repetition and obsessiveness of this piece can be related to the routine of everyday working lives.

The gallery is open 10:00am-4:00pm all week so why not pop along and have a look. BEA Gallery, Level 1, Eastgate Shopping Centre.

My little panel

"We got this" 2012, paper folded shirts

"Room at the top" 2012, paper folded shirts

"I got your back" 2012, paper folded shirts, thread and small beads

Forever in a Nutshell

This year I submitted a sketchbook under the theme “Forever in a Nutshell”, to the Art House CoOp Sketchbooks 2012 World Tour project. The Sketchbook Project is a constantly evolving library of artists' sketchbooks from across the globe. Thousands of sketchbooks will be exhibited at art spaces in 14 cities and after the tour, they will join the collection of the Brooklyn Art Library and made available to the public seven days a week.

Beginning in late spring 2012, Art House will be opening a new (hopefully permanent!) space in San Francisco. Participants in the 2012 project will be part of the inaugural exhibition in the West Coast hub. To find out the dates and location of the tour check out the Art House website http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject2012

The tour will start in Brooklyn in April and reach the UK in October, being exhibited at The Canada Water Library being co-presented with The Albany and Southwark Council, 21 Surrey Quays Rd, London, SE16.

For my entry I used a range of papercraft, paper engineering, iris folding, collage, watercolor and origami techniques. In terms of my theme “Forever in a Nutshell” I explored the subtheme of Fairytales. Creating pages loosely based on Fairytale princess and linking in my own relationships and stories. To create an air of consistency throughout the book I placed a nutshell in some shape or form on every page.

If you can’t wait until then, here are some pictures of my submission – Forever in a Nutshell...

I am excited that my book will visit art spaces across the country and around the world, encountering thousands of people along the way. As an artist I am provided with a unique code that allows me to log in and see how many people have viewed my work, Art House will also text or email you every time your book is viewed, which is a great way of connecting myself and my work to visitors from around the world.

All the photographs on this blog were taken by the fabulous Matthew Gleaves of Root Red Photography. If you are interested in finding out more about Matthew’s work or commissioning him for a project contact rootredtphotography@hotmail.co.uk or check out his website www.rootredphotgraphy.co.uk

Works on Paper

For this blog I am travelling back in time to an exhibition I took part in whilst studying for my degree. The work pictured below was shown at the RK Burt Gallery in Southwark in an exhibition titled "Works on Paper" 2004.

I created a range of pieces using origami folded shirts made out of various different papers. Some papers were new, some were recycled and some were made for the piece. The shirts had a seductive quality about them, with a box displayed on the floor for viewers to take one if they wished - challenging the usual boundaries of touching art work in a gallery context.

I think I made a total of over 5000 shirts for this exhibition, continuing the obsessive, repetitive working process within my practice.

A larger piece was made for the centre of the gallery using cardboard boxes filled with large crisp white paper folded shirts- almost like those you would find displayed on shop floors. I was interested in the juxtaposition of the crisp white paper, against the tired tatty worn cardboard of the boxes.

The pieces were displayed in different sizes and compositions, discussing subjects such as work ethos, office environments and manufactured objects.

The RK Burt gallery was created in November 1999 at the grade 2 listed site on Union Street. The gallery offers an affordable and accessible opportunity for degree level students to exhibit their work in a professional setting. The gallery provides nearly a 1000 sq feet of exhibition spaces in the Southwark area close to the Jerwood Space, Tate Modern and The Globe Theatre. Have a look at the RK Burt website for more information www.rkburt.com