Thursday 13 September 2012

Exhibition Collaboration: Maggs bookshop

A short while ago I collaborated with embroidery artist James Hunting to help produce an artwork to be exhibited in Maggs Bros bookshop, London.

My contribution to the work was the three-diemensional fluffy roses worked in a technique called 'Berlin Wool Work':



James Hunting
Exploring the dichotomy of Victorian exploration and repression through the layering of stitch, a great nineteenth century occupation. Volumes by the explorer Sir Richard Burton will be constrained and suffocated by an over-layer of Berlin woolwork – a technique considered daring and vibrant by theVictorians, but now vulgar and colour saturated.


Maggs beneath the Covers

Works to be displayed alongside the rare books and manuscripts that inspired them
 
21st September - 21st December 2012 Maggs Bros Ltd, 50 Berkeley Square, London W1J 5BA

Twelve artists have been commissioned to create works inspired by books or manuscripts from Maggs An exciting new Arts Council England sponsored project, Maggs beneath the Covers responds to rare and unique publications not normally available for public view. The collection will explore the interface between craft and fine art practice. It includes a ‘food-belt-rope-ladder' inspired by Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, and a sculpture of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browningon their balcony at Casa Guidi, recreated from prints of the literary couple and their letters.
It is an unprecedented opportunity for artists to work with unusual and rare books, explore a rich seam of heritage and offer the public a glimpse of previously unseen areas of Maggs's historic Georgian buildings.