Weaving a narrative - a portrait of every-woman (or man)?

When I knew I was visiting the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy in London last weekend, there was one work I knew I wanted to see - Grayson's Perry's Julie and Rob tapestry.  Last summer I was lucky enough to spend quite a bit of time at the Foundling Museum when the exhibition Progress was on, which included Perry's The Vanity of Small Differences (2012).  That set of tapestries followed the progress of Tim Rakewell, in a parody of William Hogarth's Tom Rakewell (Rakes Progress) - both "rag to riches" stories, that end with the protagonist having a rather untimely death. They were both portraits of a fictional life with a moral tale and both contemporary of their time.

At the time of Progress, I had spent the previous year studying Exploring Art and Visual Culture (A226) with the Open University.  It was the perfect timing to understand the art history references and symbolism that Perry includes in his contemporary narratives.  What I particularly noticed about Perry's work is that although you can enjoy it on a simple level with its bold images and contemporary references, there are always symbols and layers of meaning to discover - some humorous, some thought provoking.  

This Summer Exhibition piece is part of a body of work that tells the story of the fictional Julie Cope. Part "shrine", part holiday home, Perry had been commissioned to design a house, now built in Wrabness in Essex, and this is perhaps the most well known part of his homage to the "every-women" in Essex.   Despite being a native of Essex myself, "Julie" is not a character I fully identify with, but perhaps that is the point - there is no typical "Essex woman" (or man).  Anyway can a portrait ever tell the whole story of someone?

Julie's identity bracelet did resonate as I had a similar bracelet when I was in my teens/twenties - did my charms say something about me then?  I also wondered about the flowers - did they symbolise some personal aspect of Julie or her life?  What about the tear welling up in Rob's eye - what did that imply? The fictional Julie died, (as symbolised by the pizza delivery bike that is part of the display in the Wrabness house), but unless this Rob had some foreknowledge of her demise surely this image was supposed to be a portrayal of a couple in happier days.  Is he raising his glass or drowning his sorrows?  

Julie and Rob also reminded me of another of Perry's exhibitions which had as its main theme identity through portraiture (personal, regional, national) - the Who Are You? exhibition, which I visited in February this year at the National Portrait Gallery, London.  Not only did it examine a whole range of British identities (mainly in the medium of textiles or ceramics) but the work also questioned how we view different individuals and groups - by their appearance, by their gender, by their disability, by their religion, their lifestyle or home town. Can anyone really be identified by these things and does our identity change in different circumstances depending on who we are with and where we are at the time?  

I have found all these explorations of identity fascinating and Perry's work always challenges my thinking - opening my eyes to lives I might not have thought about before.  I think one of Perry's greatest skills is how he communicates his ideas - using contemporary themes and media we are all familiar with (ceramics and textiles, and often an accompanying TV show), his work is certainly accessible to every-woman and every-man.  And perhaps that it why his work appeals to so many - you certainly do not need to understand art history to enjoy his work, but it does give another layer of meaning.

Sewing in the Summer

On the very last weekend of the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy, I managed to catch the show.  It is an exhibition that can sometimes be overwhelming - just because of the number of pieces on display all vying for attention.  It is impossible to take in everything.  I went this year with friends and was glad I did. 

One of the first pieces we saw as we entered the Central Hall was Blood of Sweat by El Anatsui Hon RA - a large work of "stitched" aluminium, using copper wire.  I love the way that this artist creates his soft, shimmering textile-like works.  Aesthetically intriguing you are drawn in to find bits and pieces of discarded metal and wire.  If there was time to look properly, there would be a much deeper message than an object of beauty made from detritus.

The exhibition is always a combination of serious work alongside images that make you smile.  One section of wall contained work by celebrity artists Harry Hill (the image of Damien Hirst) and Una Stubbs (Grayson and Measles) both below an image of a smiling Simon Cowell (by Jean Samtula). However the image that particularly appealed to me here was that of Smuggler by Kate Barlow - the budgerigar in the top left corner.  I liked the simplicity of the design, and had not realised initially that it was hand embroidered.  Kate is a student of the Royal School of Needlework, and I was glad I picked it out first for its design, before then being wowed by the silk shading technique.  According to the RSN website it took 140 hours to complete.  It was good to see a traditional embroidery considered an artwork by the Royal Academy.

There were other textiles on display, including a machine embroidered piece (so high up I could not see any detail), a tapestry by Grayson Perry, a cilice (hair shirt) literally made of the artist's hair and a sculptural piece that came out from the wall (One-to-One by Lisa Milroy RA) that used hand printed fabric.  

Nice as it was to see some textiles, there were many other works I found interesting.  One I particularly liked was a work by Sir Anish Kapoor RA Untitled - unfortunately the photograph does not do this piece justice.

There were several paintings, prints. architectural designs, sculptures and other works that I enjoyed. I think the trick with the RA Summer Exhibition is not to try and take in too much, but to wander slowly looking for pieces that catch your attention and then think why.  Even better is if you can go with friends to talk about what you like, what is interesting and what you don't care for.  Sometimes seeing someone else's viewpoint helps change your opinion - which is no bad thing either.

Bags of Treasure, Hope and Friendship

As a change from writing about exhibitions I have visited, I thought today I would write a little bit about my own work that has been part of the E.A.S.T (East Anglian Stitch Textiles) exhibition Between the Lines.  The exhibition, which was launched in 2014, and has at least one further airing in 2016, was a response to the commemoration of WW1.  Not unusually for me, I looked at the role of women during the war.

My research led me to a project I had not heard of previously, that of the Lady Smith-Dorrien Hospital Bag Fund.  Personnel coming into the hospitals and clearing stations were losing their personal belongings as well as their military papers and when Lady Smith-Dorrien (1881-1951) heard about this she created a practical solution by supplying every casualty with a small drawstring bag.

What particularly interested me was the reaction of the men when on receiving a plain calico bag, whilst another received a patterned one.  As the Times reported in 1917, one wounded man grumbled because his companion had a flowered bag, "...a bag with roses on it", but was then placated when he was offered an even more brilliantly coloured one (The Times (Issue 41568), 28 August 1917, p.9).  It made all the difference to have something that not only reminded them of the comfort of home, but was also "cheering after the drabness of khaki everywhere".

It was not just the recipients who enjoyed pattern and colour on the bags - the same report from The Times tells of elderly ladies who could not help themselves but embroider the bags. Individualisation was their way of expressing their shared humanity and in a way sending a message between strangers who although might never meet were joined by a cause to survive and beat the enemy.

During my research I also looked into some of the items that might have been kept in the bags - letters, postcards, bibles, good luck charms, a tiny teddy.  Stuck away from home, cold, frightened, bored for long periods - such things might have been the only bit of joy in what must have been a living hell.

I also looked at two other women whose work helped the war effort - Lena Ashwell and Maud Grieve.  Lena Ashwell (1872-1957) was a British actress and manager who organised companies of actors, singers and entertainers to France.  She wrote how she was pleased to see the enthusiasm ordinary soldiers had for high culture, such as Shakespeare.  Maud Grieve (1858-1951) organised the publishing of pamphlets on the subject of herb cultivation and use - later published as A Modern Herbal.  With pharmaceutical supplies limited both at home and on the front, the lost art of herbal medicine became popular again.

The bags I made were created to the pattern as described in The Times, and each one was made of either plain or part plain/part patterned fabric.  Each of the patterned bags has a piece of Shakespeare that relates to a herb, and this herb is then also embroidered on the bag.  The bags were strung together like a production line when on display, and nestled among them a tiny teddy which I had started to make many years ago, but never finished until now.

Details of Between the Lines next airing in 2016 will be available on the E.A.S.T website in due course.

Listening to paintings to look closer

Visiting the National Gallery in London nowadays is often a noisy, busy experience.  Not the quiet , reflective environment some galleries have.  One of their current exhibitions, Soundscapes, provides another, alternative way of experiencing art.  Six paintings have been selected by six artists (or artist teams), who then created an audible accompaniment to play alongside the chosen artwork.

Each "soundscape" had been created differently.  Chris Watson, wildlife sound recordist, created a "collage" of natural sound to go with his chosen work (Lake Keitiele (1905) by Akseli Gallen-Kallela), Jamie XX created some electronic music that worked brilliantly with Coastal Scene (abt 1892) by Theo Van Rysselberghe - both of them dotty and vibrating with colour or sound. St Jerome in his Study (about 1475) by Antonello da Messina was enhanced not just by the background noise you might have expected to hear, but by a 3D version of the painting the artists had created alongside their soundscape (Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller).

But what has this to do with textiles?

Well it was only while "listening" and looking at The Ambassadors (1533) by Hans Holbein the Younger (sound work by Susan Philipsz), that I realised how much closer you look when you just look at one image in a darkened room while you have to listen so intently.  Standing fairly closely to the figure on the left (Jean de Denteville), I was reminded how skilled Holbein is at painting textiles - the black velvet jacket and the pink silk shirt; the white linen of the undershirt; the black silk robe with fur trim; the carpet that covers the table and the green fabric that the two figures stand in front of.  Like the objects on the table between the two figures, here was another collection, this time of fabric technology.

Coming out of the exhibition, I came across a very different display that was also about close looking.  This time the galleries annual Take One Picture schools project.  For twenty years the gallery has been encouraging primary school children to look at a specific painting from their gallery - the exhibition which is currently running over the summer period displays some of their responses.  The image chosen this year was Saint Michael Triumphs Over the Devil (1468) by Bartolome Bermejo.  The children had looked at patterns, colour, and ideas about heroes.  Not all my images (taken without flash) were sharp enough to publish, but here is a small selection.  The display is on in the gallery (free) until 20 September 2015.

Soundscapes continues until 6 September 2015.