prismtextiles

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Prism Fragility @ Hoxton Arches

an overview

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Jane Walkley

Sunny Bank Mill: The fragility of memory in the absence of place 

I grew up in the North East of England and come from three generations of brass founders who served the iron and steel businesses of industrial Middlesbrough.  The casting methods I use today echo the same processes that were employed in the family run foundry since 1862.   Through my practice I consider how industrial buildings that are no longer used for their original purpose, often destined for demolition, invoke memory and attachment.  I question whether site-specific interactions can help to bridge the gap between memory and place in the absence of these buildings and in doing so allow us to make connections to our past keeping the memories and the attachment we feel towards these places alive.  It is important to me to understand who occupied these spaces and what activity took place within them.   The work exhibited in Fragility is from my research into Sunny Bank Mills in West Yorkshire.  Sunny Bank is once again a thriving business enterprise and no longer a working textile mill.  It does however still have its weaving sheds that are partially derelict, with Hattersley looms still in situ.  I have taken clay impressions from the machinery in this space, cast these in jesmonite and then woven them piece by piece into my warp.  The bright colours have come from the graffiti that decorates the walls of this space and the colour gradations from the original dye books.  The number 48 in one of the pieces is an acknowledgement of the impact leaving the European Union will have on all of us, not least the fragile industry in the north.

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A great blog post by Ali Brown about her work for Fragility

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Fragility opens with a PV tonight from 7 - 8:30pm, all welcome

Then from tomorrow, 29th May to 9th June

11am - 5:30pm daily, closes 5pm Sunday 9th

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Molly Williams 

a closer look at her fascinating Raku process

Molly has made ceramic figures in response to the theme ‘Fragility’. Cotton fabric is destroyed by fire however when mixed with clay the fibres leave their mark. To form the figures she used strips of knitted cotton fabric soaked in a stone clay slip to wrap around a wire skeleton. Once the clay was dry, the figures were Raku fired in a steel drum.  Preparing the figures for firing, she covered them in banana skins and wire wool around the figures, adding salt and copper sulphate before wrapping whole in foil – known as Sagger.

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Molly Williams

Residual Memories

Molly explores the effect of firing durable clay with fragile yarn to create figurative sculpture. The fibres are still apparent in memory despite being burnt away in the kiln.

Molly creates figurative felt sculptures inspired by the movement in Contemporary dance. She has explored size and multiples creating single life size sculptures and wall hangings comprised of many individual figures. This year she has experimented with fabric and clay and Raku firing to create ceramic sculptures.

Photography - Molly Williams

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Anna Granberg

Lost Souls in the Universe

The fragility in the world increases and we might need to find a protective place.

“Efforts at escape through flights of mind 

and slipping back and forth from dream to dream-

such methods were at hand. (….)”

“Myself I questioned, but gave no reply.

I dreamt myself a life, then lived a lie.

I ranged the universe but passed it by- (….)”

Harry Martinson 1956

Photography - Anna Granberg

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Aran Illingworth

East of Eden

On a busy Prague thoroughfare, a homeless man carries on his daily struggle for life.  Amidst crowds of tourists this fragile man sits ignored and invisible, the epitome of misfortune and exclusion.    

The series ‘East of Eden’ focuses on the fragility of homeless men and women living in the street.  It seeks to challenge viewers to confront deprivation in the urban environment without blame or discrimination, and so bring them face to face with both the beauty of humanity and its fragility.

Photography - Kevin Mead, ArtVanGo

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Alex Duncan

Anatomy

The human body is easily broken and destroyed, something we generally avoid thinking about. 

Alex is fascinated by the possibilities provided by the infinite range of materials available to the contemporary artist, and loves experimenting with new materials, particularly relating to textures.  She also enjoys the process of tackling an abstract idea and working it through to develop a visual approach

Photography - Alex Duncan

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Judith Rowley

Wheel of Fortune

During the sixteenth century one in every four infants born alive did not see their first birthday. Infant mortality struck both wealthy and pauper classes’ babies represented here in swaddles of gold and rags.

Judith’s 3D mixed media work is informed by research using historical primary sources. To highlight issues and concepts from the past she uses antique artifacts and textiles to create that sense of heritage.

Photography - Judith Rowley

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Eileen Harrisson

A Quiet Singing

This artist's book discusses in poetic form the vulnerability of human life and relationships personally and in society, evoking the roles of memory, conflict and loss but ultimately humankind's resilience and the power of love.

Eileen continues towards a PhD in Fine Art at Aberystwyth University, exploring the symbiotic relationship between stitch, sound and word in both her academic and exhibition work. Currently engaged with the theme of conflict, she addresses this and other topics through hand-stitched pieces, mixed media installations and performance poetry.

Photography - Arthur and Eileen Harrisson

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Jo Smith

Loss

Fragility – Mental, Emotional, Physical. Major life events can make the most hardy feel brittle and affect us in profound ways, bringing suffering to mind, body and soul.

Concerned with all things ordinary, commonplace, domestic and human, all that is important in the real sense, that which binds us. 

Photography - Jo Smith

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Helen O’Leary

Fragility 1

Fragments of fabric can bring back old fragile memories and people associated with them and past stories retold

Helen works mainly with used textiles and wire and stitch to create three dimensional mixed media work

Photography - Ian O’Leary

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Ali Ferguson

Not Just Blue

At a time when women can feel at their most vulnerable & fragile, many still feel the need to hide their real feelings behind a happy front put on for the outside world.

Ali combines two of her passions within her textile practice – the meticulous hand stitching of text & handwriting and the telling of ordinary stories of domestic and family life. Her current work continues her aim of encouraging everyday conversation about postnatal mental health difficulties by sharing three women’s previously hidden stories.

Photography - Ray Clancy

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Maria Walker

Et Lavis Littore Maris

Political instability causes thousands to leave their homelands and risk their lives on the open seas. Using materials which are mainly washed up by the tide this installation explores the migration and human vulnerability.

Using tactile processes such as looping and wrapping, Maria explores her own bodily interactions with life and the physical environment to create abstract sculptures and installations, which explore notions of human and societal frailty.

Photographer - Maria Walker

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Jeryl Church

No Going Back

The lives of the innocent will be changed forever, as anywhere is safer than there.

A passion for language and books underpins Jeryl’s work. Her methods of working and the materials chosen are informed by the ideas being explored. Increasingly politics is the driving force behind the making. This work is responding to the displacement of millions of blameless children through the horrors of conflict.

Photographer - Jeryl Church