May 3 - 28, 2006

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

Twice in my life I have experienced those aspects of the feminine which tend to be dismissed as pretty and friviolous or mere women's drudgery, in direct association with a women's power.

In 1983 in Gujerat, India, at a grass roots worker's annual conference, I watched Mira Chattergee, stand in silk pink sari, flowers in her hair, tall proud and devastatingly beautiful explaining her work in unionising women piece workers of the clothing trade working from the slums of Bombay.

Barbara, now in her 70's, told me her story as a displaced person in WW2 in Eastern Europe. At 12 years old, along with the rest of the population, she was forced onto the street to watch one man from every household hanged by the newly arrived occupying forces. Her mother said "they will take their shoes off. I want you to keep your eyes on the socks on their feet and look at the different coloured wool and see if you can work out an interesting pattern for a jumper that we can make from them to keep us warm through winter." And Barbara only saw the socks. When it was over they salvaged the socks, unravelled the wool and knitted jumpers.

My current interest arose after embarking upon an exploration of women's handwork; knitting, lace making, needlework, embroidery handed down to me from women in my family.

Whilst spending time exploring how and why this particular work has been so regularly been dismissed as 'useless' and considered irrelevant to art or craft history I began to wonder if there was an important expression of the feminine within these works that had been overlooked.

I am currently exploring these ideas in paint that will culminate in a new body of work. 

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