WOMANUAL, 2007
Awarded First Class Honours Degree
Your trickery with the techniques, replacing an expected stitched element with print and using minute stitch which appears to be printed to the average naked eye, hints at the complexities and hidden depth within the work. Sally Freshwater, Artist & Tutor
Womanual is a textile piece in the form of an outrageously long ‘tea-towel’ which has been folded, starched and ironed. The length relates to the never-ending list of household tasks carried out by women, and the meticulous ironing to a typical job within the home. The folds conceal images of household chores in the same way that ‘women’s work’ is done but no one sees the effort and time put in.
The eight pairs of protective gloves which accompany Womanual have their own role, to remind us of the unseen woman who carries out the household tasks. These gloves have labels which are stitched with the names of television programmes whose titles have words which relate to women and the home
The bands of text along the length of this piece contain information gathered from published surveys on women’s roles within the home. It also has sentences relating to cleaning which are based on simple instructions found in household manuals, however on closer examination some of the words are not quite as they seem.
Along the lower edge of the ‘tea-towel’ are care labels. These labels are handmade and hand stitched with humorous messages which come from an unknown woman and relate to the domestic.
Featured in: Signs and Symbols, M Hampshire & K Stephenson, Rotovision, book, 2008
Three Domestic Hangings
Stain series
Measurement: 500cm x 53cm
Process: Hand stitch, hand drawing, photographic silkscreen printing
Materials: Textile, silk threads, white gloves, binder, pigments
Exhibited in:
Degree Show, University of Hertfordshire (2007)
New Designers, Business Design Centre, London (2007)
Embroiderers Guild Graduate Showcase, The Knitting & Stitching Show, Alexandra Palace, London (2007)
Embroiderers Guild Graduate Showcase, The Knitting & Stitching Show, NEC, Birmingham (2007)
Embroiderers Guild Graduate Showcase, The Knitting & Stitching Show, RDS, Dublin, Ireland (2007)
Embroiderers Guild Graduate Showcase, The Knitting & Stitching Show, Convention Centre, Harrogate (2007)
New Designers Selection, The Gallery @ Oxo, London (2007)
Art of the Stitch, Deutsches Textilmuseum, Krefeld, Germany (2008)
Art of the Stitch, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Birmingham (2009)
Art of the Stitch, The Knitting & Stitching Show, Alexandra Palace, London (2009)
Art of the Stitch, The Knitting & Stitching Show, Harrogate, North Yorkshire (2009)
Art of the Stitch, Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest, Hungary (2009)
Graduate Showcase, Stitch & Craft, Olympia, London (2009)
Abode, Walford Mill Craft, Wimborne, Dorset (2015)
STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT, 2012
WIPED OUT, 2012
Exhibited in:
Featured Artist, The Beetroot Tree, Draycott, Derbyshire (2013)