Part Four: Research Point.

(Have made contact by e-mail with forty-two of the New Zealand  textile artists profiled in Ann Packers book entitled “STITCH” of which fourteen have replied to date)

How do you think the work of the textile artist differs from that of the designer, the designer-maker or the craftsperson?

1. Different traditions, training and desired outcomes . (Morris. L. 16/02/2012)

 – Designers are the creators of the concept/idea; design-makers grow the idea by developing a precursor of the concept/idea/design;  craftspeople focus more on techniques using predominantly other persons kits/patterns; whereas in theory and practice textile artists do all three ending up with:

 “textile-based decorative objects which are not intended for practical use”. (www.Wikipedia.org) retrieved 17/02/2012.

In my mind textile art and textile artists can be anywhere from one extreme to another on the craft > art spectrum. At one end is the maker of practical items and at the other, the creators of abstract textile artistry.

2.  On the craft/art pendulum and at any specific point on its trajectory, the energy may become concentrated and focused on the industriousness of: for example the textile artist whilst being supported and sustained by any one or all of the other pursuits. The same maxim applies for each of the others individually.

 A Venn diagram can be used to explain relationships between groups (=sets) of things suggesting that some craftsperson/s will also be designers, and within that group of designers some will also be designer-makers and crafts people, but, not all designers & designer makers will be crafts people. Similarly some textile artists will also be crafts people, &/or designers &/or designer makers, but, not all designers & designer makers will be crafts people. (Plug. C. 15/02/2012)

3. Definitions and labels possibly are the starting point for some more academic and hypothetical treatise. However the boundaries are not always expressed concisely by these persons nor are they ‘too bothered about how they are defined’, (Plug. C. 15/02/2012) The exception to this maxim is that if  they are wanting to take up membership in a professional  group who make their purposes mandatory in the form of a constitution, then applicants will ensure that their C.V’s and/or marketing profile meets the groups requirements in terms of their classification.  A specialist group in New Zealand in this category is: http://www.bodkinz.co.nz

There is definitely a crossover in terms of their approach and the way in which each one uses ideas and/or textile processes and I refer specifically to http://www.genevievepacker.com/ 

On her website Genevieve describes herself as:

 “a Wellington-based textile designer-maker, craft enthusiast and educator. Her design practice continues to explore New Zealand’s national identity, material culture, and overlooked things in the everyday, alongside an obsession with repeating pattern. She has a multi-disciplinary approach to contemporary craft-based design, which covers a range of materials, hands-on and digital processes and techniques. She is currently working on textiles for costumes for film, juggling her own practice and applying her spare time to any commissions and collaborations that grab her attention.”

Because the internet is opening a whole new world for practitioners such as Genevieve they appear to be less concerned about what category/classification they fit into in the art/craft scene. Personally and to-date I have not been able to justify the time and expense  but will concede that this may not be the same for other textile artists operating in other countries throughout the world. At present I am overwhelmed by the number of textile artists and their textile art that can be accessed on the internet. As a student I find it exciting on the one hand in being able to view such a wide variety of textile pieces, but on the other hand numbing as to where practitioners must have to ‘pitch their piece’ and/or ‘market their wares’.

When looking at any painting or sculpture I look for what is pleasing to my eye and makes sense in my mind.

The proliferation of artists and their exhibitions would appear to me to be increasing for three reasons: one –  more people are using the art/craft pendulum as a means of escaping from the boredom with all types of media, two – in the hope that they can access the craft/art fairs/markets in these weak economic times and three – to satisfy their urge to create something. In saying that the corporates and those with discretionary dollars are continuing to purchase and invest in textile and fine art as a means of spreading their portfolios and wealth.

Two internationally known textile artists:

Carol Naylor – http://www.carolnaylor.co.uk    http://www.axisweb.org/artist/carolnaylor

Carol specialises in machine embroidery creating one-off textiles by stitching directly onto painter’s canvas using a variety of rayon, cotton, woollen and metallic threads.

“I sometimes embed other materials and fibres. The continuous heavy stitching can cause the base fabric to distort and these qualities I like to exploit particularly when working on a large-scale. I use fine detailed drawing with the (electric) needle, as well as large gestural movements within my work, a combination that provides me with a painterly approach to textile art. My work is very tactile, and I prefer to leave larger pieces unframed so that the public can interact with it more directly.”

Carol’s stitched textiles range from small intimate pieces to large-scale hangings. Heavy, intensive stitching changes the base fabric from a flat surface to one that moves and undulates with its own unique quality.

recent statement for Designer Crafts at the Mall 2011:

“Qualities of light and colour observed on land and water continue to inform my work.  Shadows with strongly contrasting shafts of light are explored through heavily stitched surfaces that (are) undulated and vary as the onlooker’s point of view changes.”

statement from Borderline exhibition 2008 K & S:

“Boundaries edges and borders are created by the coming together of fields and pathways, rivers and mountains, beaches, cliffs and waves. These forms along with qualities of light, pattern and colour observed on my travels provide challenges that I try to meet and resolve through thread and line. As I manipulate and change the surface of my base fabric by stitching, the earth’s surface provides me with visual stimuli that I seek not to emulate, but to investigate. For me drawing from source and working from first hand experience are essential parts of the creative process. I look, I record, I select, I develop. If I can’t draw then I make notes, or take photographs as back up. Sometimes I simply rely on the memory of the shapes or colours observed. It can be enough to launch a series of works. I constantly revisit my sketchbooks, and one drawing can be interpreted in many ways……………………..Some works are clearly image based, whilst others have a more abstract quality.”

 (The artist statements are subject to copyright and have been approved for publishing on this blog.)

Julia Caprara – http://www.opus-online.co.uk

Julia and her husband Alex ran the Opus School of Textile Arts until her sudden death in…………………. Her art and colour philosophy has been used and illustrated in her book “Exploring Colour”. Julia saw herself as a master at multi tasking in order to  be “committed to hand stitching………..we speak in particular through textiles and fundamental to this expression should be a practice of drawing”.

“I use colour in very deliberate ways, using strong bold marks of colour to create visually vibrating surfaces. I enjoy working with unusual colour relationships, working very large, and I do like to challenge myself to work with ideas that have no obvious solutions and which I don’t know how to handle. I enjoy complex compositions and have to work experimentally, and my ideas usually evolve through the making rather than by preplanning or designing. I think that I can do this just because I have spent so many years in looking and drawing and working with such strict disciplines as stained glass and wood engraving. I guess I ‘draw and paint’ with stitch. Much of my work has focused on Light and Illumination – either the physical attributes of light, the spectrum, reflected light or else the spiritual illumination of the soul. Many of my pieces have their own mythology and symbolism and I am constantly fascinated by the textiles of other cultures where the cloth itself becomes a sacred element in its ritualistic use. I have recently been working with a totally different ‘cloth’ which has evolved through bonding and layering ‘glazes’ of cloth and papers. This has metamorphosed into a new kind of translucent surface, very like glass, which I work into compositions using wood, sticks and other found objects in a more sculptural form. I see these ‘wands’ as transmitters or instruments that link elements as disparate as earth and air, mind and spirit, memory and mythology. My influences come from many areas; in the early days nature and natural light reflecting surfaces, the phenomena of light, mythology, history, myself and some of the great artists of our time: Cubism, Abstract Expressionism and above all music and words”.