As contemporary textile artists much of the work we make is for exhibition and designed to be displayed on a gallery wall. However for the last few years we have included an ‘Off the Wall’ challenge to design and make three dimensional work to be displayed on tables and plinths. Originally it was to fill the gallery space. The Guildhall in Bury St Edmunds, which is our main exhibition space, is a beautifully restored Georgian building and does not allow pieces to be fixed to the walls but does have some lovely Georgian side tables. It was a practical solution. But could it also be a creative solution?
The first of our challenges also developed from a group
outing to Sudbury Suffolk which still has three working silk mills and weaves
96% of silk in the UK. We enjoyed a guided Silk Walk around the town and a
visit to the Gainsborough Silk Mill archive. We purchased large wooden reels
from old looms from the mill shops. Each member was then allocated a colour by
random ballot and charged to make a piece of work to be displayed on the reel.
In a way this was quite easy – just a piece of textile in a very long thin
form. But how best to display? If unrolled they lose their form. If rolled then
they cannot be fully seen. The reels themselves roll – right off the table!
The challenge for the ‘Unfolding’ exhibition was linked directly to the theme and was to make fans.
Again we
planned a group outing and arranged to visit the Fitzwilliam Museum in
Cambridge to view some of their fan collection from the archive. This gave us
the opportunity to handle the beautiful fans and see up close the different
styles and construction methods. Some members also visited the fan museum in
Greenwich and one used it as an excuse for a research trip(holiday) to Seville!
The fans proved to be a highly technical challenge. Some members made them from scratch, others deconstructed and reconstructed existing fans, and lots of different media as you would expect from a mixed media group were employed. Fans were made from paper, cotton, silk, vilene, lutrudur, lace, felt and wood. They were stitched, painted, printed, dyed, dissolved, burned, manipulated and quite often rescued from the bin!
This is what some of our members said about the fan challenge:
Phillip
Rees “Making fans
was a technical as well as an artistic challenge. It pushed me to work in a
different way”
Heather
Evans “The challenge
to make a working fan took some research and some failed attempts but it felt
great to finally succeed”
Frances
Overy “Making the
fan was one of the most fun challenges. What a huge variety of techniques,
colours and types achieved for the display. They were a real talking point
among visitors”
Sarah
Boardman “The
challenges are a way of taking you out of your comfort zone an creating
something you would not have down otherwise”
The fans were exhibited in 2023 in Bury St Edmunds and at the Big 24 exhibition in Suffolk
The six
sided cube allowed for a really varied range of media to be used with members
exploring the form. Some members selected to work ‘inside the box’ to make the
most of the hollow form and others using the cube frame almost as a mini
gallery. There were some complete matching sets but others used the challenge
to produce individual standalone cubes. Our three new members also joined in
this challenge at very short notice and added their individuality to the
eclectic mix. Easier to display – cubes do at least stack! Not so easy to
store, another consideration for future challenges
So do Out of the Fold members like the challenges? Are they a restriction or a call to creativity and innovation?
Penny
Evans “Coming
together as a group to discuss the challenges has many benefits, not just
overcoming the technical aspects. Ideas spark off design ideas and the set of
fans, cubes or whatever are produced which are all so different”
Nicola
Whayman “I enjoy the
challenge of having to think differently where there are some constraints”
Jenny Lam “It gives me a focus. Producing 3D
work involves thinking about structure, support, materials and the best method
of displaying to advantage”
Dee
Nicholson “I like
being challenged to think outside the box”
Jenny
Butcher” As a new
member it was good to be included in a collaborative project. 3D work offers
the viewer another interesting perspective to textile work”
Beverley
Youngman “The
challenges are good fun. Great way to explore new techniques together”
The cubes were exhibited at Snape Maltings in 2024 and will be able to be viewed again at the next exhibition in Sept 2025 at The Guildhall, Bury St Edmunds
A version of this article will be published in the Contemporary Quilt Magazine
