Friday 12 October 2012

reallyreallyreallyexcited


Well - 2 years ago I sat in a restaurant in Venice heatedly discussing the role and representation of folding and smocking within the clothes represented in the paintings in the Academia. It culminated in the question was smocking inherently evil? as the individuals in the paintings wearing smocking appeared to have poor character qualities. The activity itself has political overtones – workers clothes and busy hands, alongside the idea of the hidden and the process of creating folds. This conversation has developed over the 2 years starting off with a small body of works for a touring exhibition in Ireland influenced by some of the structures. This was almost subconscious but later a show titled bookmare at Camberwell College of Art and the repeat show at Norwich University College consciously started the process of exploring smocking through the objects I make. A TESS funding application at nuca led to a body of work for the windows at the Imago gallery.  A lot of meetings and conversations led me to some really excellent people to work with within some interesting collections and archives in the Eastern Region. This led to a successful bid to the Arts Council to spend a year working on the idea with a number of partners – here is the initial paper table layout with the notes written on it and finally I am starting on what I hope will be a fantastic opportunity......