Design decisions: the making of Fractured

Fractured by Gillian Cooper

Sharp eyed readers may have noticed on my photos of my exhibition at the Scottish StorytellingCentre that there was another new piece of work there which I haven't written about.  It is a piece I have been intending to make for ages, but I only finished it at the very last moment (the day before I hung the show).

It started life on my floor drawn out on lining paper and I walked over it for several weeks, before it got so grubby and damaged I decided to start again. 

Second version of the figure

I also think that I had been holding back making it because I wasn’t completely convinced of the design and needed to think through all the technicalities of how I was going to make it.  So it was redrawn and I then made the figure shape.

Cutting the figure

The kids were horrified when I took the scissors to it and cut it into the pieces.  

The chopped up figure

Originally, I was going to stitch it to strips of patched silk.  This then changed to clustered pieces.  Finally, I decided to make the silk as one complete background.  

Stitching the silk background

The mega downside of this was the size, especially as I was using Vilene as a backing as it was very difficult to manipulate under the sewing machine.  I made it in two long strips, then stitched them together.

Tacking the two strips together

So I added the figure onto this background, played around with where the pieces were going to go, stood back... and... realised that it didn’t work.  

Before adjusting the tonal balance

I photographed it to confirm that it didn’t work and made it black and white.  

The black and white version

Which just proved it further.  There wasn’t sufficient tone differentiation between the background and the foreground. 

With the organza over the background

I tried adding a pale blue organza layer over the background, but it didn't make enough difference.

With rapid haste, the background got made lighter with paintstiks, which also added more texture, thus improving the piece.  The figure was darkened by overpainting, several times to get a darker shade.

The figure exploding out over the background

When I put it back together again, the next decision was exactly how to layout the figure pieces.  I decided to make it easy to read as a figure, rather than having them spread out more randomly as shown above.  Which do you think is better?

Stitching the figure to the background

These were stitched down in place and the piece made ready for hanging, with all of several hours to spare.  It is rather big (8 feet high) and I’m not sure I want to make another piece so large, but I do like the idea of the fractured figure, so I think there may be further versions of this to come.

Revealing new figures

Detail of Unsung Muse by Gillian Cooper

And finally, here are the two new figures I’ve been making. At the private view on Friday at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, a number of people were asking how they were made (thanks to all that came along - I had a lovely time and hope you did too). 

Silk ready to be bondawebbed

Unlike the earlier figures, which were made of cotton, these are made from the silk organza which I dyed in pale colours to keep the translucency. 

First layer bonded in place

The organza was then backed with bondaweb, a layer of heat melting glue.  I cut it up into pieces and then laid them out on top of the shape I’d already drawn out.  I then bonded them together using the iron, before stitching them in place to keep them permanently together. 

Both layers bonded in place - a much richer colour

Using paper stencils and paintstiks, I added details, which once it was dry, I stitched around.

With painstik detail

Sounds simple – doesn’t it!  I now need to go and clean the iron and get rid of all the glue I’ve somehow melted on to it.  I’m not quite sure how it got there as I was so careful but as always some ends up on the iron.

Centre of one of the new muses

These figures are very different to the solid ones.  They also look very different when placed on a wall compared with hanging in a room.  

Hanging on their own on the studio wall

The colour is a lot less intense when hung mid-air, which is the main way I want them to be seen, so that you can look at the other figures through them.  However, I also like them on the wall with the rich, bright, intense colour; rather different to the others.

Hanging mixed in with some of the solid Muses

Unsung Muses at the Scottish Storytelling Centre

Unsung Muses at the Scottish Storytelling Centre - the main wall

My exhibition is up and on show at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh.  R took the day off work to come and help me hang it, which was brilliant.  As well as the work and all the hanging paraphernalia, we also packed a spade in the car as the snow forecast wasn’t very encouraging.  In the event, we had no problems, although as I write this now I have a lovely view of a white wonderland outside as it started snow just after we got home.  So I’m glad we were hanging the show yesterday.

Hanging the first piece

It was fairly straight forward, once I had played around with the layout of the pieces, as of course, the work feels different in a new location to what it did in the studio.  It has so much more space to breathe.  R’s height is a huge advantage in putting the work up, although it will make it fun for me to take down...It is fantastic to be able to display it in such a lovely location and the amazing high ceiling really helps show it off to best advantage.

Putting up the last

I also have a leaflet to accompany the exhibition and I’m pleased with how it looks too, containing the text I posted about the other week. 

The wrapped work before we got started

So if you are in Edinburgh before 21 February, please drop in to the Scottish StorytellingCentre and have a look.  It is open every day from 10-6, apart from Sunday.

Deciding what goes where

Hanging in progress

A new layout for some of the Unsung Muses by Gillian Cooper

One of the new muses hanging

A panoramic view of the work

Adding the stitched detail

Detail of Unsung Muses figure by Gillian Cooper

Following on from the stencilling on my latest figures, the final stage is adding the stitching to define the shapes. 

Stitching

This is more important than for the more solid figures as the silk is so transparent, the stitching will give strong opaque shapes when they are ‘floating’ in mid-air as even the areas painted with the paintstiks are still see-through.

More stitching, getting an even thicker outline

The stitching is now almost complete and therefore so are the pieces, which is great as I have to hang the exhibition next week.  Things are really coming together for the show at the Scottish StorytellingCentre.  I’ve almost finished all the work, a little leaflet is being printed and I’ve (nearly) got the childcare organised.  

Detail of Unsung Muses figure by Gillian Cooper

Now the biggest problem is finding an existing piece of work that I can’t locate.  It isn’t in the cupboard or under the bed and there aren’t many other places left in the house where it could be.  I can’t believe I can lose an entire artwork!  So this weekend I’m going to be busy finishing the work, making the labels etc and trying to find the missing work.  Fingers crossed...

Detail of Unsung Muses figure by Gillian Cooper

Unsung Muses in words

putting the old and newer work together

As part of getting ready for my show at the Scottish Storytelling Centre (less than two weeks to go!), I have been trying to write about my work.  I’ve been finding it really hard.  Although I have been working on the ‘Unsung Muses’ series of work for several years and have had lots of time to think about it, it isn’t easy to express all of this in words.

Reaching by Gillian Cooper

Each time I have to write about it I find myself struggling again.  This time I’ve been trying to be more structured and have following Alyson Stanfield’s book  'Relatively Pain-Free Artist Statement'.  It has been good to consider my work and how others see it.  Unfortunately I haven’t reached the end yet, but I needed to get some more words to print today.

Detail of Unsung Muses by Gillian Cooper

So this is what I came up with:

Celebrating the lives and influence of our female ancestors and forgotten goddesses - the “unsung muses” who have shaped our lives today - Gillian Cooper creates her own mythology in fabric, dye and paint.  Delicately coloured, these flat and empty figures are survivors of time, washed out as the waves of the passing millennia lap and crash over them.  As she slowly creates this multi-layered work, Gillian is pondering the human shape; searching for the defining elements of being human; trying to connect with the past.

Waves of Time by Gillian Cooper

I spend ages obsessing whether it sounds too pretentious or on the other hand not arty enough, weighing up the impact of each individual word.  That’s before I try and decide whether it actually says what I want to convey!  It is somewhat ironic that I love writing about other people’s work but struggle to write about my own.  However, how do you sum up four years of work in just a few lines?

Detail of Unsung Muses

What does this paragraph say to you – good or bad?

Using paintstiks to add details

Details in paintstik

As some of you may have seen on facebook, my next pieces are being made from transparent organza, which I have hand dyed.  The colours when laid on top of each other are very beautiful and I love that the impact of the colours changes dramatically depending upon what is behind them.  The colours seem strong when they are placed against a white wall, but much more ethereal when floating in the middle of the room.

Paintstiks and stencil brushes

This week I have been adding more detail to the pieces through oilstiks, using the same techniques as I used on the original Unsung Muses figures.  They react quite differently to the oilstiks than the cotton fabric, although that may be something to do with the huge amounts of fabric glue I have on them!

Paintstik details

I do enjoy using oilstiks, even if I get hugely messy – no matter how hard I try I have paint down my arms, face, my glasses, across the table and now in a very 21^st century way on the screen of my phone.  I seem to prefer the iridescent ones as the little sparkle gives the paint a lift in a gentle, subtle way, not overly gaudy.

One of my stencils

These are some of the paintings I did yesterday.  The biggest downside is waiting for it to dry so I can add more on the reverse side and then for both sides to dry so I can add stitch on top as I am rather impatient.  Also time is running on and I have only 13 days until I hang the exhibition at the Scottish StorytellingCentre.  Less than 2 weeks to go!

Detail of paintstik

Friend or foe? New work

Meet the latest in my series of ‘Unsung Muses’. Not sure whether she is friendly or scary, but I'd definitely want her on my side! She’s not formally named yet and there may still be some changes, but for the moment, she is sat on my wall to be contemplated.  You may be able to see some pins around the edges of the piece as I have been trying to block the hanging into a less wavy shape.

She has taken a long time to make, partly as I tried to make a darker figure on a lighter background – instinctively I want to make it the other way around, but I keep reading (a dangerous thing) that dark stands out better on a light background rather than the reverse.  The background felt too weak, so got improved, several times, with inktense and with stitch.  The breasts were too bright, so the colour got knocked back by adding some chiffon on top.  The edges changed shape a couple of times.

This may tell you that I’m still a bit unsure of this piece.  Therefore it is time to leave it alone and mull it over whilst I get on with the next one, which is well underway as it seemed more fun to start another piece than to battle on with something I was unsure on.

Scottish Storytelling Centre exhibition Goddesses and Unsung Muses

I’m incredibly excited to announce my solo exhibition at the Scottish Storytelling Centre on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh from Friday 30^th January to Saturday 21^st February.  The exhibition is free and is besides their cafe, which is a rather nice one (don’t ask me how I know...).  I’m showing work from my ‘Unsung Muses’ series.  There will be several new pieces as part of the exhibition – I’m working on them now and I’m pleased at how they are developing.  Each stage in the evolution of the series takes it in a slightly different direction, which keeps it interesting for me and hopefully for the viewer!

There is a Private View/Opening of the exhibition from 6-8pm on Friday 30^th January and I invite you all to come along if you can make it – it would be fantastic to see you. 

To entice you further, after the Private View, there is a performance at 8pm of ‘Her: Forging the Lines of Brigid’ by Xanthe Gresham Knight, a performance storyteller.  It sounds really fascinating from the publicity material and it seems to echo what ‘Unsung Muses’ is all about for me.

Hope you can make it!

2015 will be...

 Happy New Year everyone – I hope 2015 is an enjoyable year for you all. 

The Christmas holidays here have just finished and the children are back to school today and so a form of normality reigns – even if we still need to remove the Christmas tree and pack all the decorations back into their boxes – I’m sure it will be all finished before Easter...

The hand dyed silks for my latest piece on top of the pattern

2015 is going to be a wonderfully busy one for me.  Looking back, my life seems to run in 2 year cycles – one manic year, following by one of recovery.  This is definitely a manic one!  It starts with a solo exhibition at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh, opening on Friday 30^th January continuing until Saturday 21^st February.  I’ll tell you more about this in my next post.

Some of the pieces of silk ironed in place

In March our C&G students from the Studio Loch Lomond Quilt Show have an exhibition at the new Stitching and Quilting Show at the SECC, Glasgow.  I am hoping to run a couple of taster workshops there too.

The new work beginning to take shape

Then I have my exhibition at Farfield Mill from 21 March to 10 May.  I’m super-excited about this since I visited the space and have lots of ideas of how I’m going to use it.

Also [MEGA NEWS] I’m intending to be teaching from my home studio from April onwards – a variety of textile based classes – lots more information soon as I firm up on the details, buy the desks etc.

Finally, as if all this wasn’t sufficient, I am exhibiting at the European Patchwork Meeting in Alsace in September.  It is a fantastic show and I know there are lots of other amazing makers showing their work too, so it would be well worth a visit.

Then around the end of November, I will collapse again in time for next year’s Christmas season.

It is such an exciting year for me – I hope you will be joining me on this great journey.  For those who dislike it, I apologise for using the ‘J’ word, but it really feels that way for me this year!