Beginnings of "Borders" #1 : Blog Art Journal

How to begin?

It's always difficult to start a new series of art works .... researching and experimenting and making samples Hopefully, these samples I made this week will form the basis of a series of mixed media artworks I have been planning for a couple of months. This is my main "Borders" assignment for a twelve month Masterclass I have been studying online this year. All will be revealed in posts over the next month or so. As you can see from the photos, the underlying comment is feminist. I was very lucky to find and purchase beautifully stitched corsets, complete with boning to work with.

The rationale for this work?
Considerable achievements towards gender equality have been made throughout history. Many ‘societal’ borders have been crossed. Nevertheless, barriers guarding gender stereotypes and the culture which surrounds them remain firm. The appalling statistics of domestic violence, the unequal treatment of female leaders, the growing demand for extreme cosmetic surgery, the increase in the incidence of eating disorders and mental health issues amongst the young, and lack of salary parity are real. These are difficult and complex barriers impeding gender equality. These are ‘borders’ which are still being defined and constructed today despite the success of feminist movements past and present.
I have used the “corset” as a symbol of the barriers and borders which continue to idealise the concept of the feminine and bind us to gender stereotypical culture.

Techniques?

For # 1, I am using and transferring family photos of the Suffragette period in history as well as replicas of Suffragette materials I purchased when I was in Manchester (UK) to create collages on cotton fabric. . Over the collages, I plan to stitch in a way similar to the samples - free form machine stitched writing.

Watch this space and follow the 'creative" process in future posts.

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Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks .... The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or my husband or from off cuts gifted to us from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks. Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...

From my workshop page....

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Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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