Lucy Brown is a contemporary artist who uses second hand/vintage clothing, underwear etc.. Which she gets from second hand shops/markets or ebay!
"“Brown uses the discarded clothing of the old - vintage undergarments, slips and petticoats, intimate materials in colours called 'rose' or 'mint' or even 'flesh' - to form the raw material of her tense, suspended, offerings. She's self- confessedly interested in the edges, the boundaries of the weave and of the clothing. Labels and stitched seams get reconfigured in her works and demonstrate the body selvedge's and sewn places where skin dustings lodge that are so evocative in Brown's work.”* “Brown offers a puzzling, even abject, artistic vision...... This is particularly so as her work has moved slowly further from the representation of bodies towards more abstract spatial forms in which the body is nevertheless echoed.”* *Extracts from Thread Bare exhibition essay by Dr Catherine Harper MA, FHEA, FRSA. Jan 2010 Sourcing, collecting and making are core motivations in the work. Raw materials are gathered from second hand clothes shops, markets and eBay. These items are selected and deconstructed through methods of cutting, unpicking and ripping. Free-hand weaving techniques are developed through physical, sensory, emotional and psychological engagement with selected clothing - the speculative play around the visible and invisible history and the internal and external surfaces all contribute to these responses. There is a seductive and obsessive drive with the raw materials, which fuels the desire to make and physically interact with the garments. Weaving is both language and method to reconstruct/ re-invent these raw materials exploring ideas around re-telling/ re-working histories, re-claiming / re-configuring female body image. Weaving by tradition is slow and labour intensive and time becomes part of the process. The woven offerings develop over two stages; first stage - loom state, will normally takes place in the privacy of the studio space. The second- limbo state, is when works are cut loose from the loom and are extended and realised in the gallery. At this point there are themes around the unfinished and unresolved, meaning that works are in a constant state of 'becoming'. Site specific works of 2012 have opened up opportunities to make a short film, introduce human hair as a raw material and use lace net curtains as a translucent boundary. Brown has been exhibiting since 1996 and has contributed to a range of art projects and education programmes for arts organisations, schools, colleges and universities. She is currently an exhibiting and committee member of The 62 Group of Textiles Artists. Her work has been featured in Dr Jessica Hemmings' latest book - 'Warp & Weft' (2012) and Unravelled Arts 'Unravelling Nymans' publication (2012). Independent Curator Kate Stoddart has recently reviewed Browns' 'Offerings' on a-n Interface http://www.a-n.co.uk/interface/reviews/single/2540206" - (http://www.axisweb.org/p/lucybrown/)
I think Lucy Brown really considers modes of meaning for her work. Using second hand and vintage clothing in her work gives her art a history and makes you think where did that item of clothing come from? What is it's story? She creates her art in two parts, Firstly a long, slow and labouring process of the loom then the second part where it is cut from the loom and realised into the gallery.
'Free-hand weaving techniques are developed through physical, sensory, emotional and psychological engagement with selected clothing - the speculative play around the visible and invisible history and the internal and external surfaces all contribute to these responses. '
The mode of making is really important in this procedure too, She put's a lot of effort into making her art. From picking apart the vintage/second hand clothing, to weaving and to putting it up in the gallery!
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*This blog post is part of my on going artists/designer glossary for university.
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