'He was so kind, such a gentleman tied to the oceanside...'

Close ups of various sections of the three aprons.

'Into our love the tears crept...'

'Grandmother'

'Mother'

'Daughter'

'Sing me to sleep, sing me to sleep...'

My final piece, three non-functional aprons representing three generations, domestic life, Welsh culture and the passing down of recipes.

'Your love is my turning page, where only the sweetest words remain...'

The deadline has been and gone and I successfully submitted my finished project ; titled ‘Apron Strings: The Ties Between Generations’. A drawing book, a studio book, a research file, a technical file, a photo album, 25 final samples, 2 large scale paintings and a final piece were all collated to express my response to the given brief.
Below is my artist statement, presented alongside my work in exhibition.

Artist Statement

Under the heading of domestic life within Welsh culture I began my research into items of kitchenalia and traditional Welsh recipes. I visited various places conducting research but found my visit to St Fagan’s, over numerous occasions, was invaluable. On my first visit to the National History Museum I studied some of the traditional Welsh dress that was on display, intrigued by the incorporation of an apron which linked to my study into the kitchen area. I found that the protective garment (a key aspect of the Welsh dress) seemed to be the link between all aspects of the given brief. It in itself is an item of PPE, protecting clothes from stains and damage; it is also an item with a heavy association with cooking and baking which is where my research began initially.

As the research stage of this project was group based, we made the decision to contact Elen Phillips, the curator of the costume and textiles department at St Fagan’s. Elen was extremely helpful, and provided me with the opportunity to look at traditional Welsh dress in the archives handling collection. Through studying these aprons I was inspired from the form, function and various other qualities. The folds and creases, and deterioration of the aprons gave me great inspiration and from this all my ideas began to come together.

All the research conducted, the sampling produced through the workshops and through drawing studies I began to develop and form my ideas for my final outcome.

My concept began to prove fruitful, I wanted my final piece to convey the passing down of recipes through generations and how traditions such as these can eventually disappear and fade.

With this in mind I made the decision to create three non-functional aprons to represent the three typical generations of a family; grandmother, mother and daughter.

To incorporate all aspects of my concept, as well as all areas that heavily inspired me I created the three aprons (each one representing one of the generations) using an old bed sheet, an old scarf and a Tyvek suit.

Each apron was distressed using various techniques such as staining, burning, unpicking stitches as well as using the embellisher. The idea behind this was derived from the idea of ageing, the most distressed apron represented the grandmother and the least distressed represented the youngest generation (the daughter).

The use of staining was key not just to the ageing process but also to heighten the sense of nostalgia, a feeling I wanted to encapsulate.

In each pocket of the aprons was a recipe for Cawl, a traditional Welsh winter dish, written in Welsh. The recipes themselves were handwritten to make them more personal, and were also distressed through burning to represent the recipes/ traditions fading out.

Finally I took it upon myself to consider how I wanted my final piece to be presented. As they were more fine art pieces than functional I felt that hanging them would be more visually interesting for the viewer, I also made the decision to tie the apron strings between each apron a decision with strong connotations of the ties between the family members.

Overall I was extremely pleased with my outcome and would have loved to develop this brief further.

'Though lovers be lost, love shall not...'

So it has been a month since I last posted anything about my work, and I feel like I have got nowhere in all this time.
My work has developed slightly, I am now focusing more on the apron -its story, characters, and connotations - as this was a large element within domestic life as well as being an item found as part of the assemblage that creates the traditional Welsh dress.

I had the great opportunity to visit the Textile and Costume archives at St Fagan’s Museum in Cardiff, where Elen Phillips (the curator) was able to show me a selection of Welsh Dress as well as some traditional Welsh quilts.

This is where my inspiration really came from. When I was taking photographs of the items I noticed myself being intrigued by the folds in the fabric. These folds were caused by the packaging and storage but I found them beautiful.

So this is where I am currently at with my work, looking at folds within fabrics, aprons, and touching still upon traditional welsh recipes.

'Those were our times...'

So I am back at uni now, and slowly getting back into the swing of things.

We have been given our new brief which is quite extensive; it is a live brief where we are working with a company called ICE to produce something linked with their ethics, civil engineering as well as domestic life within Welsh culture.

I've been a bit confused and a bit dubious but I'm starting to get my head round it and get a bit more excited about the possibilities of where I could take this. Particularly when looking at the Welsh culture, I was considering researching traditional Welsh recipes.

A large part of the brief also includes having to incorporate recycled fabrics, which isn’t something I have ever put great focus on in the past but I am looking forward to experimenting with and sourcing the fabrics.

'Your beauty is beyond compare...'

Two more pages from my sketchbook, like I said in my previous post I have been keeping my pages simple and here focused on exploring with different materials and composition.

'I remember every word you said...'

So here are some pages from my sketchbook for 'The Sketchbook Project'. My chosen theme was 'Travel with me' and I explored my wanderlust and dreams of going back to Paris again.

I like doing quite simple, quick drawings using fine liner and that's what I did in the above pages. I kept the sketchbook pages very simple, not over crowding them with information.

'My heart remains the same...'

'Thousands of sketchbooks will be exhibited at galleries and museums as they make their way on tour across the world.'

So a while ago I entered 'The Sketchbook Project' and I've only just got round to doing some work in it.

The Sketchbook Project is a great way for your work to get seen, I recommend you check out their website and I will get some images of my work up soon!

'So pretty, so smart, such a waste of a young heart...'

The result of me being slightly bored and yet feeling creative. I have been playing with fabrics making the most simple rosettes, I think the top one with the book page ribbons is my favourite and may make more. I can see them being framed or being on cards - the book pages could be personalized.

'The kiss of the snow...'

So after completeing my digital project I feel inspired to use photoshop and illustrator more. After having a play here is some stuff I came up with.

'Still we sing...'

I had to create 10 final images for my digital project. Here are a few -

Three for a girl.

Seven for a secret never to be told.

Eight for a wish.

Ten for a bird you must not miss.

'What other thieving bird would steal such hope away...'

So it is the last term of first year and we are doing a digital project with a very open brief. I am quite excited about it we're having Photoshop and Illustrator workshops both of which I have little knowledge of.

So the title was 'Skin' and taking that in it's broadest sense I have begun looking at magpies, their feathers as a skin and the superstition that surrounds them as a skin as well.

Here are some of my initial sketchbook pages for this project.

'What might have been lost...'

So I think I should probably outline what my final piece is and what information it provides through the textile medium.

So through the research I conducted I found statistics which showed (in a bar chart) select contries yearly consumption rates of tea. This intrigued me because I think we can all agree drinking tea is the epitome of Britishness, and yes United Kingdom was top of the list.

So I wanted to translate this information in a textile form using some of the processes I had learnt this term and sampled in.

So for example I had used a trial and error method to reproduce a tea bag out of fabric (unfortunately I don't have any photos of these) and I wanted to incorporate this into my final piece.

So eventually I chose three countries from the statistics I had found and then translated these to my final pieces...

This is what I produced -

Italy - 0.1kgs

United Kingdom - 2.3kgs

Switzerland - 0.4kgs

'I'm in love with your honour...'

So one of the workshops this term was felt making, and I really enjoyed it but struggled to relate my felt samples to my objects. This how I came about with the above samples, I was pushing myself to work into them to create something more than just a plain piece of felt.

I also experimented with stiffening felt, this process actually inspired and became part of my final piece (I will upload photo's when I can)

'In the morning I'll be with you...'

So here are some of my sketchbook pages that link to project brief 'The World is Full of Objects'

Watercolours and Fineliner.

Acrylics, watercolours and fineliner.

Close up of above page.

Tea stain and fineliner.

Close up of above picture.

'We'll do anything that makes you smile...'

Okay so I am aware that this isn't the best photo but I wanted to put this one on first before the next one to show the whole piece. This is some paper that I have made myself using brown paper and old book pages, I have also put some neutral coloured lace in there as well.

I have made paper in previous education but I have never been happier than I was with thi particular one, it is so delicate and so.... well me.

'I just love you more...'

 

I bought this beautfiul set in a vintage shop in Cardiff called 'A Vintage Affair'. It is real bone china and is a Royal Albert China collection - the design is called 'Country Roses'.

My most current brief which is running for the whole of the second term at uni is titled 'The World is Full of Objects' and specifies that we are to choose three objects (linked or not) and explore their identities through a textile means and create a final piece and supporting body of work.

This is my first object (though I am aware it is technically three) I have also chosen my collection of old spoons as an object. I have been collecting old spoons on an off and thought this would be an ideal way to utilize them.

My third object of choice is a tea bag - specifically a tea bag with a label on it. I have made this decision because I wanted my objects to link and so thought that the theme of 'tea' would be fitting to all three objects.