CHRISTMAS SURVIVAL AND INTERVENTION

For this context, I set myself aims to complete over the Christmas break to create a series of work, experimenting with material in an unconventional non-studio setting as well as beginning to formulate an idea for the Bargehouse Exhibition at the beginning of February. I have recently found that in my practice I often use the same processes over and over again so I wanted to use this context to begin to rethink what I want to make and say. To kick off my project, I experimented with a new medium - needle punching. This process consists of threading yarn through the needle and pushing it through monks cloth in a repetitive action to create a continuous line. Using the needle in different ways (such as reversing the side of the material you are stitching on) alters the texture of the stitch. I didn't have a set thing I wanted to produce from using this process, my focus was on experimenting - making random, abstract forms on the surface using different coloured wool. I found this process very therapeutic due to the repeated action, which made me think about using needle punching as a collaborative process with a group of people and then documenting it - something I could experiment with. Needle punching also became a way of me thinking through thoughts I had around interlocking forms in a practical way (thinking through making), moreover, I could imagine this being on a larger scale. It could become a sensory mat or wall piece, stitched together to make one large form - immersive in sensory reliefs and colour. I would like to use this process again in some shape or form and it helped me to think about other processes I would like to try.

As it was a Christmas project, (perhaps I took it too literally!) I began to think about this celebration in our homes - in focus the decorations that are put out at this time of year. I was interested in the home-made decorations, the tacky ones you would make as a child that stick around, with a cheap, flimsy dynamic, however, become part of the decorative traditions. I found an old decoration that I had done when I was 4, a crudely-made 'L' in salt-dough and slathered in red paint and glitter. I wanted to reflect this by making new 'tacky' decoration that possibly had an interactive quality. I started to create 'decorations' taking on random forms, made by the hand using air-dry clay and painted in gaudy, bright colours to produce connotations of a bright children's toy and also to be inviting. In each of the forms, I poked two holes so that I could later sew them together to create a new formation or to hang them. I liked that the making was visible which emphasised the making process and the lack of seriousness in the sculpture. However, I don't think they were particularly successful because the forms were so ridged they did not provide any scope to play and would have worked better with a more tangible material where the shapes can be manipulated through touch - even pulled apart and put back together. I want the work played with not to be viewed. I got to the stage where I didn't know how to move on from this experiment, so I began to think of the areas I wanted to achieve from this one of being tangible and interlocking. I had some leftover silk clay from previous work and made a model, actively thinking through making. I rolled the clay and made miniature rings, connecting each one into the next, much like a paper chain (another 'tacky decoration I have been influenced by). The chain had an interesting fluidity to it, how one form liked to the next and the continuation made a repetition of forms that could be endless.

Following on from this idea of the chain, I began to recreate the forms on a larger scale using a variety of fabrics with different coloured and sensory qualities. I cut and machine-sewed several rings (that were cut down one side for linking) which all took on a different abstract form. A couple of the rings were re-used from my V.23 Biscuit Factory exhibition to reduce material waste and I was interested in re-purposing the sculptures into a new dynamic. I then stuffed and stitched each sculpture together, into the next to create a large squishy chain. For a first experiment, I am really pleased with the outcome and can imagine them being suspended much like a decoration as well as being interacted with by pulling them apart and making new chains. I am interested in the bright colours, abstract forms and their squishy quality due to the toy stuffing I used. This work could be experimented with further and on a larger scale, furthermore, could form the basis of my net London show exhibition.