'Un-natural Selection' was accepted in the RWA last year.
Stitch Loop
Siân Martin - work in progress
Thursday, 3 August 2023
'TRANSFORMATIONS' at the Malthouse Gallery, Lyme Regis, May 2023
'Transformations' was a recent successful exhibition with painter, Pauline Lerry at the beautiful Malthouse Gallery in Lyme Regis, Dorset.
Inspired by the changing landscape we showed a collection of paintings and textiles we called 'Transformations'. I was particularly inspired by the textural undulations of the natural surfaces along this coastline, and fascinated by the contribution to natural science of Mary Anning who is commemorated in this statue on the coastal path.
'Coastal Path' Sian Martin
'Tailored' finished
'This piece was shown with the 62 Group at Sunny Bank Mills in 2023 in their exhibition 'Tailored'.
‘PROCESS’
Siân Martin was inspired by reading the story of June who
started as a ‘burler and mender’ at Sunny Banks Mill which was written in the
same year as the artist’s own birth, so an immediate connection was made. The
archive diary says that June’s job was
to pull up knots – burling – every day for ten hours for £2 per week.
Although a labour of love and not a laborious task, unlike the labours of June, when learning the skills of dress-making as a child, Siân remembers being intrigued by the way a few tailor’s tack stitches could be used to accurately transfer the markings of a simple construction shape such as a tuck, through more than one layer of fabric. She remembers the magic of seeing how the stitches left their marks on the underneath when the layers were gently eased apart.
This piece – ‘Process’ celebrates the traditional dressmaking skills specifically devised to accurately mark layers of fabric – a vital stage in the process of being able to create a 3D sculpted fabric surface such as a garment from a flat 2D fabric surface.
Repetitive and rhythmical stitching in ‘Process’ celebrate this stage in the process of making a tailored garment.
Thursday, 29 December 2022
Tailored
My current project during the Christmas period has been to respond to the word 'Tailored', the next title for the 62 Group of Textile Artists. This is an investigation of one of the necessary preparatory processes used in making tailored garments. The two dimensional fabric is sculpted into a three dimensional form in a series of processes, one of which is the use of temporary 'tailors' tacking' stitches that mark accurate outlines through the layers of fabrics of shapes for the next stages of tailoring.
Tailor's tacking is a loopy type of back stitch done by hand through more than one layer of fabric (below left). The layers are then separated by cutting through the tacking stitches, leaving temporary rows of cut stitches on both layers (below right).
I worked with two layers, one square yard, of black silk organza and enjoy how fascinating the stitching on the layers become when the layers are cut apart.
I'll be posting more as I progress with this piece.
Tuesday, 27 December 2022
Echo
The 62 Group celebrated it's 60th anniversary in 2022. The Group presented an anniversary show at the Knitting and Stitching shows at Alexandra Palace, London and at the conference centre, Harrogate.
We were asked to devise a textile that showed the 'essence' of our textile practice. For me this was a challenge to define this and eventually decided to try to convey a combination of my interesting in making structures by composing a series of separate sections, involving a challenging investigation in the making process.
Each layer is a crumpled square of waxed cotton organdie. Each section is threaded together with strips of frayed silk organza.
Saturday, 24 December 2022
Wrought on the Levels
The large swathes of fabric represent the swaying rows of withies growing in the field ready for harvesting.
The large curved forms of painted linen: with wide areas of withdrawn weft threads. Willow sticks are interwoven through the weave, helping to define the curved forms.
A separate part of the construction show sprouting withies in test-tubes, supported by a long strip of linen fabric, interwoven with small willow sticks.
A series of experimental willow constructions placed as 'rough sketches' as if resulting from the growing withies.
Wednesday, 14 September 2022
A visit to the 59th Venice Art Biennale 2022
As I walked around as many of the gallery and pavilions as possible, I recorded pieces that fascinated, attracted and sometimes disturbed me in different ways. It was interesting and pleasing to see so much use of threads, stitching, weaving, knotting and many references to the textile world. Here is a selective glimpse which I hope you'll enjoy.
The enormous, serene paintings by Pinaree Sanpitak are characterised by sensitivity and ethereality. The notes state that her work is tethered to her own body shapes inspired particularly by the powerful experience of breast feeding her own child. The paintings here reduce the breast motif into the form of the mound and the vessel. Her 'Offering Vessels' speak of the body's wide-ranging potential to relate to the sacred domed structures and offering bowls.