#sheliahicks

I was lucky enough to visit The Barciban Art Gallery and experience the sculptures of Magdalena Abakanowick, her textile sculptures create an environment of safety made from natural fibres which I had the pleasure to be able to touch an example of her work. This gave me a great sense of pleasure and awareness of the enormity of the work she created .I like the organic way the sculptures falls.I will keep this in mind the binding and weaving when I create knots for my fashion textile, maybe I’ll be able to intertwine some other weaves as well.

I was inspired to see some of Shelia Hicks works ‘Family Treasures.

She had wound and bonded threads together over old pieces of material. The colour and the shapes are different to form new form. I wan to use socks in some kind of knot shape and bring it into my fashion textile, explore it some more and bring it back to sculpture.

I feel I could bind some of my knots to create a more voluminous form while keeping the structure together.

Judy Chicago. Age 84. American feminist artist.

I the embroidery and needle work creating swirls and movements, you can almost feel the pain of the women giving birth. It draws me in an uncomfortable way. To see a woman is the throws of labour showing intense expressions of severe visceral pain with her womb separating and blood discharging it seems like a baby coming out showing the truth of childbirth.

I thought this is an interesting way to manipulate material and threads-to create shapes and lines and exaggerate movement and form.I was working with swirls and spins in my painting transferred them into textiles. It helps to see how this needle work creates swirls and spirals using materials. Although I don’t feel I will be using this technique in my present concept I will draw on it for the future.