Narnia
Textiles have a phenomenal ability to adapt to various shapes and sizes when drawn together with thread. When combined with vibrant colours and children’s fairytale’s this enables me to draw links to the illogical worlds created by Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland and the magic, which lies beyond the wardrobe in the stories of C.S. Lewis. Embracing these peculiar ideas I explore the world of child’s play and imagination through the portal of the wardrobe.
My artwork is lovingly produced through the means of craft, exploring and pushing the boundaries which lie at the intersection of craft and art. This boundary is some what blurred and what defines craft from art is complicated. When you paint a picture or make a sculpture the work is not just about the final result but also the process of making it, the manipulation of the medium and how it works. Working through craft and the drawing together of fabrics fulfils this criteria in a similar way, but the fabric works which are produced through craft hold great emphasis on their production. Their production represents a trade, one which is tied up in years of history whereby stitching was seen as a job for the poor woman, a trade whereby two products will never be the same no matter how careful their reproduction. Sewn crafted objects can not simply be reproduced through machine print or a trained eye. The reproduction of the object is nigh on impossible as no two pieces of fabric are identical, no stitch can be placed in the exact same place on a duplicate and so on. My artwork is passionate about this material focus on individuality and the non renewable nature of the work. The time and the associations we hold with stuffed fabrics intrigues me as our memories are triggered to those of childhood and the joy they bring.
CherisseBrown 