Phrenology (grandma) old enough to know better

The third phrenology head from the Red Riding Hood trio - terrible photographs unfortunately, taken in bad light before I took it to New York. The three have been to Scope Art Fair now and are now on exhibit at Jack the Pelican in Brooklyn.

Fibreart review of 'Pricked'

American Textile Art magazine 'Fiberart' review of Pricked:Extreme Embroidery. Click on the image to enlarge text.

Phrenology - (Red Riding Hood) Small Enough to be Eaten

The second head in the new Phrenology series of 3 for Scope Art Fair in New York.I'm taking the heads to New York myself on Monday so now I'll have a chance to see the rest of the exhibits. Will post photos when I get back.

Phrenology - (Wolf) Big Enough to Eat You

This is the first in a new series of Phrenology pieces. This one is based on a wolf, the other two in this new set are rabbits. I'm adding final details to the others but will post them soon. I'm working against the clock - but hopefully these will be showing at the Scope Art Fair in New York with Gallery 'Jack the Pelican Presents'. The first Phrenology series will also be transferring to 'Jack the Pelican' when the 'Pricked: Extreme Embroidery' exhibition closes on the 28th of April

'we make money not art'

Just a quickie. I love the 'we make money not art' website and they've just done a great review of the 'Pricked: Extreme Embroidery' exhibition. Please click to see the review and have a look around the fantastic site.
http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2008/03/pricked-extreme-embroidery.php

scraps for phrenology

I'm working on another set of phrenology heads - each head is stitched into and appliqued with printed texts and images from my sketchbooks. This is part of a set of sketchbook pages I'm using for the current work.

Burnett & Catt recycled costume commission - designs

We've been commissioned to design a new costume made of recycled materials to help promote recycling. This is the initial design sheet. Its based on a late Baroque Madame Pompadour/ Marie-Antoinette style character with a powdered wig created from old knitwear. The main part of the gown to be created from used carriers and foil packaging, embroidered and woven onto
a fabric backing. The shape of the dress is based loosely on tree roots - carrier bags wrapped around a padded framework of spiralling curls. The bodice can be heavily stitched and patterned. The wings to be attached to fibre rods, we're imagining a loose and delicate filigree of stitched plastics. The gown to be sleeveless but finished with a set of heavily embellished bands at the forearm and a sash of flowers created from plastics (bottle bottoms/ carriers etc). A pair of fans will finish the outfit and enable the actor to create shape and character. As far as possible we will will limit the palette, we're imagining white with greens and maybe a touch of purple / blue, but this really depends on what materials we find. There is also scope to create little creatures, birds/ butterflies etc, and hide them within the wig and folds of the dress to add interest. We'd aim to make the costume look sumptous and baroque, with closer inspection revealing the nature of the materials used to create it.

sheep unveiling

The sheep was unveiled today. We had a clown, a band, donkeys and the deputy Mayor came to do the honours in her jewellery, releasing helium balloons to a countdown. Even the sun came out! The council produced some sustainable sheep shopping bags to hand out to the crowd - 'a very ewesful bag'.

public art - installing the sheep

The sheep is being installed in the town centre. Its a tight deadline as the unveiling is this Saturday the 1st of March. So far we've had freezing temperatures, gale force winds, torrential rain and the odd earthquake, along with various cuts, bruises, aches and pains, coffee burns and a cement filled eye. If whoever it is in charge of the weather happens to glance at this tonight can we have a few days of sun please? There's been alot of interest from the public - alot of good comments and a few bad - including concerns that we're planting a devil opposite woolies. Anyway there are a few photos above of the last couple of weeks progress. Some shots of the iron umbrella from its beginnings in the Old Forge Foundry through to its welding into the site. A detail of the mosaic before the mesh was applied to the plinth and fantastic support artist Kath who's been out in all weathers.

Public Art Project in Progress (Sheep)

These images show the development of a current project to create a sculpture for a town centre space. Last year I was commissioned to undertake the consultation with the general public and make sure that local people had a say in the final piece. The local community decided on a sheep sculpture in stone, with a realistic/comic element and the final theme was voted on as - a shopping sheep. Later I was commissioned to design and create the final piece. Anyway the pictures show a few of the stages of the design process - from sketchbook roughs through to my maquette to it's current stage, also pictured is the life size version in clay which will be used to create the mould for the cast stone to be fabricated locally by Martin Bond.