Just happened to find out about this exhibition days before the closing date but so glad that I made the time to go. Bristol Museum and Art Gallery hosted this exhibition in collaboration with the University of the West of England.
I was really interested in the concept of this show as last year I had produced a body of work for art that linked the processes of thought and mark making: obsessively drawn lines, one after whilst I documented thoughts and feelings in a note book.Would the marks help to calm my worries and concerns or did the obsessive concentration heighten the anxieties. Would I be able to look back at the work and remember those thoughts or were they just gone.
The stitch and think group evolved through a similar idea: listening, recording and reacting to makers whilst they made and reflected on this process. As my marks were a metaphor for lives influences and effects, so the stitches used by the group showed another visual language. Haigh and Mason (2012) suggested the stitches were seen as anchors; a hinge; a binding; stitch as metaphor - "a line of pain"; stitch as memory; family and stitch as inherited knowledge.Their experience was similar to mine, making marks or making stitches can ultimately be meditative, proving a reflective process that exceeds the physical limits of the chosen medium.
The exhibition focus' on the art of mending textiles, but this requires love and proves need, need to hold onto the memories of the past. This reminded me of the Japanese art of 'Kintsugi' where broken pottery would be repaired and in so doing, it would have a new beauty and inner strength.
The thinking and stitching group were aware that many repetitive marks are made during the stitch process and that these are actually a 'conscious, investigative act' rather than a necessary chore. In my year 2 art project, I carefully recorded these thoughts and the resulting work was about much more than than the marks, it was about my desire to control my thoughts but also to understand. Still now I like to make work that is repetitive and compulsive, but very satisfying emotionally. Today we need a great concept behind work so that it can be called art, but as this exhibition shows traditional craft skills are still to be nurtured, loved and executed at very high standards and that this can make all of us think.
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| Stephanie Wooster Machine knitted lambswool, cotton calico, cotton crochet and stitch |
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| Janet Hatch Inspired by the museums samplers |
Haigh, J. and Mason, D. (2012) Stitching and Thinking: An Introduction to Mending at the Museum. In: Mason, D ed Stitching and Thinking. Mending at the Museum. SAP Press pp 4-7
Partington, M. (2012) The Hand is the Cutting edge of the Mind.In: Mason, D ed Stitching and Thinking. Mending at the Museum. SAP Press pp8-11
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