Do Ho Suh - Tracing Time at Modern 1, Edinburgh

Do Ho Suh - Home Within Home (detail)

 

Just closed at Modern 1, Edinburgh, Tracing Time looked at how the past, present, and future shape our ideas of home and identity.  Do Ho Suh does not see home as a static place but something that changes as we move through life both geographically and temporally.  It is also affected by how those around us make us feel - whether we are welcomed or made to feel that we don't belong. Do Ho Suh was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1962 and now lives in London.  In the late 1990s he lived, for a time, in New York.  These factors are evident in his work as he addresses migration, loss of belonging and longing for his younger self.

Many of the pieces in this exhibition are Do Ho Suh's thread paintings.  These are stitched onto dissolvable fabric that is then added to the paper making process in the final stages. (The paper is handmade cotton paper). Here the dissolvable fabric disappears and the threads become incorporated into the paper. Loose threads may be be moved into position, using tweezers, to produce the desired effect. It was these pictures that I was particularly interested in.

Blueprint is a representation of the facade of the apartment building he lived in in New York and is one of his thread paintings...

Do Ho Suh - Blueprint
Fabric, thread embedded in handmade cotton paper.

Do Ho Suh - Blueprint (detail)

Below is a picture of Do Ho Suh's traditional hanok home in Seoul where he grew up.  It was unusual as most of his friends grew up in high rise apartments which were part of modernised Seoul.  The house is attached to a person on the ground.  We are told that this picture suggests the artist's identity is shaped by his family home and upbringing...

Do Ho Suh - Self-portrait
Thread embedded in handmade cotton paper

Do Ho Suh - Self-portrait (detail)

This picture replicates the staircase from Do Ho Suh's New York Apartment building.  He worked quickly with 10 assistants with tweezers to get the threads into place...

Do Ho Suh - Staircase/s
Thread embedded in handmade cotton paper

Do Ho Suh - Staircase/s (detail)

These are paper sculptures of the uniforms Do Ho Suh was required to wear at different times of his life in Korea...

Do Ho Suh - Self-portrait/s
Abaca paper, display case with LEDs

Transitional Spaces is a sculpture of the corridor in the apartment he stayed in in Berlin in 2009 (green) and entrance hall to his London home (purple).  They are made using traditional Korean sewing techniques and represent what the artist calls "transitional spaces".  He says "I see life as a passageway with no fixed beginning or destination"...

Do Ho Suh - Transitional Spaces
Polyester fabric and stainless steel

Do Ho Suh - Transitional Spaces (detail)

Below in Do Ho Suh's gelatine piece, he has flattened a 3D space into a 2D representation keeping the scale of the original and much of the mundane detail.  He sees it like a botanical specimen preserving the memory of the space...

Do Ho Suh - Entrance, Unit G5, Union Wharf, 23 Wenlock Road, London, N1 7SB
Thread and gelatine sheet embedded in handmade paper

Do Ho Suh - Entrance, Unit G5, Union Wharf, 23 Wenlock Road, London, N1 7SB (detail)

There were also some really interesting cyanotypes of everyday objects...

Do Ho Suh - Fire Extinguisher-01 - Union Wharf, 23 Wenlock Road, London, N1 7SB
Cyanotype on paper

Do Ho Suh's exhibition was worth seeing for the thread paintings alone.  There's plenty more to see at Modern 1 and 2.  I liked Martin Creed's neon installation on the entrance to Modern 1 - very reassuring or is it?

Martin Creed - EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT
Blue neon installation

There's a great cafe across the road in Modern 2 with Eduardo Paolozzi's Vulcan striding through - half man, half machine.  You might be able to make out the Cleish Castle Ceiling Panels above (also Paolozzi) which are made from fibreglass resin with aluminium paint.  They mark a phase of abstraction in Paolozzi's work and have been in place since 1999 when what is now Modern 2 opened...

Eduardo Paolozzi - Vulcan
Stainless steel

If you're planning a trip to Edinburgh don't forget to take a look at Modern 1 & 2.  They are also near the Water of Leith if you want to take a stroll.

New Hippystitch necklaces for cambridge contemporary crafts - August delivery

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces

 

Another lovely selection of my fabric necklaces has arrived at cambridge contemporary crafts...

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces

Go and take a look - cambridge contemporary crafts have lots to choose from for the perfect present or as a treat...

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces

As well as jewellery, there are ceramics, prints and paper, sculptures, glass, textiles and cards. Find them at 5 Bene't Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QN.

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces

Always worth a look!

Untangled Threads, Totems & More - Scarborough Art - July 2024

Untangled Threads - The Butterfly Effect
Colourful Stitchbook Collective Members' Squares

From mid June to early August, Scarborough Art is in full flow.  It is a festival that takes place across various venues in the town, showcasing the work of the creative community.  I popped along in late July and just visited a couple of venues...

Untangled Threads - The Butterfly Effect - Birds

The first was Untangled Threads which runs collaborative textile projects and is led by Helen Birmingham, a talented mixed media textile artist.  The current project is The Butterfly Effect and the aim is to create a large-scale textile art installation which will represent Mother Nature, and show how, with very small changes and co-operation by us all, she can ultimately win the battle over the misuse and depletion of the earth’s resources.  It is also a charity fundraiser for Mind, the charity working for better mental health.

Untangled Threads - The Butterfly Effect
Colourful Stitchbook Collective Members' Squares

Untangled Threads has a committed community - the Stitchbook Collective, a subscriber group, who produce fabulous textile work under Helen's guidance.  Now in its 5th year, their current project is The Butterfly Effect.  Members have already been making colourful squares which will go to making up the skirt of Mother Nature's dress along with other slow stitched pieces.

Untangled Threads - The Butterfly Effect
Bird

This will flow into an entangled mossy bank populated with flora and fauna.  Helen is already working on birds and bugs that the Collective can make (or you can buy a kit here)...

Untangled Threads - The Butterfly Effect
Bugs

Untangled Threads - The Butterfly Effect
Butterflies & Flowers

The bodice of the dress will be covered in butterflies which will be wired so they seem like they are moving.  You can join in the project by subscribing to The Stitchbook Collective here or you can buy a pack to make two butterflies or two flowers and keep one and donate one to the project here. Money from each kit is donated to Mind and sale of the brooches at a later date will raise more money for them.  I can't wait to see the finished installation!

Untangled Threads - The Butterfly Effect

One of the Collective's previous projects was Primordial Soup. This was inspired by Helen's DNA textile work. Two ideas which are explored in the work are Homophily (the tendency to form friendship networks with people of similar occupations, interests and habits), and also the science of basic genetics where the letters C, G, A & T represent the nucleotides which pair to form the structure of DNA...

Untangled Threads - Primordial Soup

I also visited the Old Parcels Office (OPO) Artspace.  They had an exhibition - Totems - which displayed giant sculptures made by a variety of community groups led by different artists. These were wonderful.  I particularly liked the work that Julie Bailey, Wendy Galloway and Nikki White had made with the Blueberry Academy.  The Blueberry Academy provides specialist support to young people and adults with learning difficulties, autism, social, emotional and mental health needs.  They had made two Totems.  A magical tree, focusing on the healing power of nature, and a cityscape, symbolising how we have become more insular in recent years, where homes can be both a place of refuge and security but also isolation...

 

Blueberry Academy

Katie Gill, working with activity co-ordinators Debby Hill & Lucy McGuire, and patients of Esk Ward at Cross Lane Hospital also produced two Totems.  Cross Lane Hospital provides mental health care to people in Scarborough.

Made from cardboard boxes, packaging, newspaper, pva glue and brightly coloured paint they produced a number of symbols that represented what community meant to them.  For example rainbow - acceptance, dove - peace & unity, teapot - comfort from having a cuppa and a chat, tree - support, heart - kindness & love, peas in a pod - being together, never lonely...

Cross Lane Hospital

Also on at the OPO Artspace was Mary-Ann Stevens - Sometimes I feel So Happy, Sometimes I Feel So Sad.  Her unconventional, quirky sculptures are made of papier-mâché and explore women's identity, expectations and representation. Here are some to give you a flavour of Mary-Ann's work...

Mary-Ann Stevens - Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town, Gloria, Edith & Scooter Girl
(clockwise from top left)

After the exhibitions, a swim and a long walk, I very much enjoyed a latte and a slice of lemon meringue at the Clock Cafe.  If you go to the cafe, remember to take cash as they don't have a card machine! 

Lemon Meringue & Latte at the Clock Cafe, Scarborough

Scarborough is a good day out and there are lots of events and places to visit.

New Hippystitch Brooches Arrive At The Ropewalk - August 2024

Hippystitch Flower Button Brooches

 

Just arrived at The Ropewalk Craft Gallery in Barton upon Humber are a new selection of Hippystitch brooches.  There are colourful flower button brooches in various guises...

Hippystitch Flower Button Brooches with Knitted Stems

and some resin button brooches made in upcycled bottle tops...

Hippystitch resin Button Brooches

and a selection of button brooches using all sorts of different buttons, beads and haberdashery...

Hippystitch Button Brooches

There are a selection of vintage inspired brooches using vintage buttons...

Hippystitch Vintage Button Brooches

old coins...

Hippystitch Vintage Coin Brooches

and vintage dominoes...

Hippystitch Vintage Domino Brooches

not to mention some more unusual wooden and metal domino brooches...

Hippystitch Wooden Domino Brooches

Why not take a trip to visit The Ropewalk.  It has exhibitions on in its galleries as well as its Craft Gallery Shop. There's also The Ropewalk Museum and a coffee shop, not to mention some nice walks nearby. It's well worth a visit - go see!

New Exhibitions at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield - Carol Douglas, Leila Babirye & Bharti Kher

Carol Douglas - Autumn Kitchen II

I went along to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to see the Carol Douglas exhibition Actually I Can.  It didn't disappoint.  Carol is a York based artist, who using acrylics on canvas, paints everyday objects and people in an slightly abstracted way. She only embarked on her painting career in her 60s and has become very popular.  I have seen her work at several York Open Studios events and if you're from further afield you might have seen her work in TOAST stores across the UK in 2022 or in other exhibitions across the country.  Actually I Can is on until Sunday 27 October 2024.  Here's a flavour...

Carol Douglas - Checked Kitchen Cloth, Early Breakfast, Dinner for One 

Carol Douglas - Conversation II & Conversation III

Carol Douglas - Grey Corner

Carol Douglas - Grey Fruit Bowl II, Two Vessels, Diamond Patterned Cloth, Flower Vase, Grey Fruit Bowl, Check Table Cloth II
(L to R from top to bottom)

Carol Douglas - Secret Meeting II, Encounter, Secret Meeting, First Date, Evening Walk, Orange Skirt

Carol Douglas - Tango

Another talented York maker, also championed by TOAST, is Kate Semple.  Kate is one of TOAST's 2024 New Makers and her beautiful ceramics are currently available in the YSP shop...

Kate Semple Vases - YSP Shop

Of course, whilst I was at YSP I also went to see Leilah Babirye's Obumu (Unity) in the Chapel.  Her work reinvents trash as something beautiful.  Leilah Babirye is based in the USA but was born in Uganda and the work on show was made in summer 2023 when she visited YSP.  The wood is from the YSP and was sculpted with a chainsaw and then charred to black and waxed before elements from the YSP workshops were added.  Her work references African masks to explore the diversity of LGBTQ+ identities.  I loved these sculptures.  This exhibition is on until Sunday 8 September 2024. Take a look...

Leilah Babirye - Obumu (Unity)

Leilah Babirye - Obumu (Unity)

Leilah Babirye - Obumu (Unity)

Leilah Babirye - Obumu (Unity)

Leilah Babirye - Obumu (Unity)

And in the Underground Gallery and outside is Bharti Kher: Alchemies which is on until Sunday 27 April 2025.  These sculptures and 2D pieces are based round the idea of transformation. This is just a very small selection of the pieces I liked...

Bharti Kher - The hot winds that blow from the West (218)

This piece is made from old radiators that Kher had shipped from the USA to India.  We are told they look like animal carcasses with their ribs exposed and the title refers to changing east west power dynamics.

Bharti Kher - Milk Teeth

Bharti Kher - Milk Teeth (detail)

Bharti Kher - A poem for night creatures

These two pieces are made from smashed mirrors with bindis attached.  A bindi is a dot of pigment worn between the eyebrows of South Asian women.  They are supposed to represent the "third eye",  relating to inner wisdom and how we see the world. These stick on felt bindis that Kher has added to these pieces have become a signature part of her work.  She has been using them since 1995.  The fractured mirrors suggest many different views.

Bharti Kher - Virus XV

Bharti Kher began her Virus series in 2010 and intends to continue until 2039, with a work each year.  Here the work consists of a spiral of bindis and a pre-written text prophesing what might happen in each year and for those past years, some facts about what has actually happened.  They are wide ranging and might relate to climate, health, politics, conflict, technology and scientific discovery.  At the end of each prohesy is her age which is the only thing that is certain.

The YSP is a great place to visit - interesting exhibitions, a great shop and cafe and plenty of outdoor space and sculpture to explore.  If you've never been, make a date to go!