This post is a series of jpegs of the powerpoint presentation I have made for The Angel in the House exhibition. This installation work was my final piece for my PGDip through AUT in 2014. The installation has been done three times now.

If anyone is viewing this post and considers this installation would be good for a site they know of would you please let me know as I am very kean to show this more widely.

Notes made during the creating of "The Codex Series" 2014

Daily pages made to record my daily chores. Part of my thesis work. The base of the pages is the front page of the local newspaper, this is then coated in hot wax and various materials are attached to both faces to record what I do in the morning(front face) and after lunch(back face). Each activity has been assigned a material such as white broderie anglais to represent washing the evening dishes. The materials are derived from my art practice - they are fragments left over from projects that have a tacit resonance for me in their selection. The pages are then collated into months which are bound with assorted eco-dyed materials - sometimes handwoven as well as in this example.
These diaries are part of a durational diaristic practice I am engaged with that is seeking ways to value the domestic mundane - the invisible work of running a household. My hypothesis is that if a record or monument is created that is one way of assigning value to the experiences as culturally we only make monuments to things we place value on.
The making of these diaries will continue for a least a year. They will be presented as a unit.  

Kimono 'Scape II'. Damask

This kimono is a damask weave, executed on the 70 harness Glimakra drawloom. The pattern blocks have then been handpainted. 

Lost Voices II 2012-2014

 This piece, Lost Voices II is the companion piece to Lost Voices I. In this, the words of the women that were written in the first piece as a composite text body are written individually on their own 'pages'. These pages are made of cast paper and fabric that has been washed in the natural pigment used for the text in Lost Voices I. The individual pages are then stitched on to the support cloth which has been dyed and varnished

For the installation at Percy Thomson Gallery this piece was pegged onto an antique folding clothes rack so it could be viewed from both faces.

The writing on the 'pages' was done with  glass-nibbed dip pen using India Ink. The paper component of the 'pages' is created by blending waste material such as chopped silk thread and fabric into a base paper pulp in a vat with the natural pigment in the slurry. This was then couched onto cheese cloth, to create the 'page' unit. 

The words used for these writings are taken from many historic resources including the Alexander Turnbill Library, they were all first hand accounts of direct experiences around washing, drying, ironing, mending and remaking garments in particular but also occasional references to household linens, especially tablecloths. This piece was started as part of my research into Valuing the Mundane completed for my PGDip through AUT 

Lost Voices I 2013

The words from women who settled in New Zealand in the 19th century describing how they cared for their family's clothes and household linens, as written in their letters and diaries are transposed in this piece. They are handwritten with a natural pigment onto linen fabric, the words fusing and overlapping from a distance but partially readable up close. This piece was developed out of my research for PG Dip into Valuing the Mundane which was focused on the domestic care of textiles prior to any mechanisation. The image is from the installation at Percy Thomson Gallery, Stratford, New Zealand. 2014.

Mum's Skirt (2014)

This piece was created over a superstructure of upscaled high tensile fencing grid. Panels were shaped to fit the grids of the wire, created out of layers of papers and fibers in differing wax coatings. These were then attached to the form, overlapping each other to create a layered look like a layered or frilled skirt I remember my Mother making with me.

The panels were created out of materials that reminded me of my Mother, especially as she taught me my sewing skills. They became sites for my memories to be built up. Fragments accruing to make a total that can never be recalled at once completely but only by revisiting, re-viewing multiple times.
Text imbedded within the materials recall truisms from my childhood.

The gradation of the layers speaks to the multiple facets of my Mother as a person, my specific daughter relationship with her, and all the things I never knew about her as a person because of the nature of that relationship. The deep experiences that composed her adult life that made her who she was to me but that were really unknown to me, forever lost, never shared.

Although this piece celebrates my Mother it is tinged with the sadness I felt running through her person, especially as she aged.

To Daph. The best ever.


My Artist's statement about this work

A superstructure of upscaled high tensile fencing grid resonates with the amazing inner strength of my Mother. The complexities of the layered panels reference the depth of understanding and wide ranging perspectives my Mother viewed the world with - an unusually rich intuitive insight into the society she dwelt in.  The "fit" of my Mother to her enclosing world was not always comfortable or secure and the irregular nature of the created panels and their attachment to the wire reflects this.

My Mother was a tactile fabric connoisseur which she transmitted into my being, informing my artistic practice. Careful attention to the details, the differences, the celebration of nuances were all part of her engagement with textiles, and with her entire experience of living. Creating beauty out of limited resources was her trademark.

Although this piece celebrates my Mother it is tinged with the sadness I felt running through her person, especially as she aged.

To Daph. The best ever.

Treble Clef 2006/2007

Treble Clef  2006/07.

The challenge.

Project - Design and Weave a Tapestry to fit into a CD case

Subject - Music (of course)

Size: Limited by the CD case but may be smaller. The CD case should be 10mm in depth (standard size case is 125 x 142mm x 10mm) to allow room for the tapestry. This will become the frame to later display or hang the work. The plastic section inside the case and any papers are to be removed to fit in the work. Note that the case needs to be able to close so check this when you are planning your sett and yarn thickness.                                                   

Warps - Cotton. Wefts - Assorted Silks

For this piece the background was woven the shape of a CD and the Clef was woven separately and shaped as it was woven. This was then stitched to the ground weaving. The piece stays in the CD case for display purposes. 

Life Form 2008

Life Form 2008.

This joyous celebration of life was formed by my abiding interest in working outside of straight lines, pushing the technical boundaries of shaping on the loom.

Merit Award winner for Creative Fibre

Warp - Cotton. Weft - Cotton Embroidery Flosses, Metallics

Damask scarves inspired by Beethoven sonatas.

Handwoven on the 70 harness draw loom. Two versions of one design - green and purple and the pink is another design. Pure silk, hand dyed. As displayed recently in the retrospective in Hawera.

Asunder - Torn (2006-2007)

Asunder-Torn 2006/07

Reflecting on a period of turbulence, the feeling of tension is carried into a woven expression.

Warp - Cotton. Weft - Silks, Cotton Embroidery Floss, Metallics.

And the thunder passes the energy to the land 2008

One of a series of reaction to experiences of the natural world.

Warp - Cotton. Weft - Assorted Silks