Tate in Ten

A one day trip to London.. quick, slow quick, quick-quick-quick!..

primarily to see one of our own CCAD students exhibiting at Texprint at Chelsea College of Art, and also to attend a number of seminars with speakers including some eminent people from Pantone (ooo) and WGSN...

However, what I would like to highlight here is how much inspiration you can get from a mere 10 minutes by looking at 'wow standard' stuff!

Who is this? Argh.

Having a tiny amount of spare time at the end of the day, just before running(!) for our train back 'up North' we popped into Tate Britain for a quick look (by the way Mick Hucknall was in there too)...and after a perusal in the shop legged it to one of the free entry galleries...

Apart from the quality of the photography (understandable in the circumstances), I'm sure that you'll get the 'ooooo' and 'I need to paint' factors too..

 

Richard Hamilton

Student's design sheet from around the '50's 

Student's design sheet from around the '50's 

Student's design sheet from around the '50's 

Print Art Salvage Handmade

A full, busy weekend again... BUT this week it is not being used as an excuse for not blogging. I also know I am well overdue for a newsletter, the trouble is I do have a full time job and with final shows, assessing and New Designers in London this week, it's the busiest time of the year.
So... I am writing this on my way to Sheffield in a 17 seater army minibus to help move out my daughters from their student accommodation for the summer. Better prepare for box carrying and calorie burning :-/
Yesterday was also very lovely, I went to PASH. Everyone must go there! My creative friend Joanna Coupland recommended it to me, it's housed in an old flax mill just outside of York and it's full of reclamation amazingness and vintage STUFF, and it's beautiful. Prices, on the whole are ok too which is refreshing...look at it!

old loom - weave when fixed

more science tubes

 Personally, I was very restrained; out of necessity, because I haven't got bottomless pockets but I did buy this...

...(probably) hand blown, large glass chemists flask on a tall scientific stand (makes me feel cleverer) for £25. And also this... omg...

...a belt from an old machine from a woollen mill, with leather straps and wood slats, don't ask me what I will do with it, it just looks amazing. £15.
The icing on the cake and the cherry on the top was something we weren't expecting to be there...a letterpress workshop, some beautiful prints and old wooden type to drool over - pass me the tissues. Dionne Swift has some very nice work for sale there too.

Oh and for £1.00 from the carboot on the way, I found this guillotine - arrrrr mmmm ;-)

'Claire A Baker' Collector Exhibition

As my exhibition is now over, I would like to thank the multitudes of people who visited and left lovely comments for me…

After the very busy preview evening with tea and cake, we had a steady footfall throughout the weeks it was open. I would like to thank all the student volunteers who manned the gallery and took time to chat to the visitors.

   

I will be pulling it all down next Wednesday and that will be that… although I would like to take the whole lot travelling; if anyone has a gallery or knows of a gallery that may want to host this ‘beautiful’ (!) body of work please let me know and I will send a promotional pack containing glossy photographs, a brochure and a copy of a very special film of the exhibition.

London Trip No.2

My second trip to London within the month, was purely for leisure... well I say 'leisure', it did include a LOT of walking and if you know me well you'll know I don't walk. Though this did mean I got to spot a lot of great street art (and vintage shops)... However, the major highlight of this very lovely weekend was the Kurt Schwitters exhibition at Tate Britain, where I got in for the concession price (£1.00 off!)for being a teacher... now there's a perk! This exhibition made me want to give up everything else and become purely a 'collage-ist' ... and I might, I really might. I have been thinking lately, today in particular, what's it all for? What IS IT all for????
Never mind, tomorrow I might feel I know the answer.

love these colours and marks

...nice ;-)

I ADORE this red cross

on a stairwell

beautiful detail on a mans 

shirt front, I wanted it

brick lane on Sunday

and... a Schwitters

Oh, I can thoroughly recommend the Holiday Inn, Nr Great Portland Street tube station... a central, easy spot and so amazingly  comfy beds with smooth crisp white sheets... its one of the secret regents park hotels on last minute dot com.

London...

All about my short but sweet WORK trip last week... on 24 hour duty (32 students and a Julie) ~ but of a cultural and creative nature, tour guide extraordinaire (mmm)...

Tuesday = The V&A and a quick half hour running around the Natural History Museum

Wednesday = Liberty's, Islington, Covent Garden and the Seven Dials, researching the independent, vintage shops and looking at designer maker products, packaging and branding; not shopping (honest)

 
Thursday morning = Spitalfields Antiques & Bric-a-Brac market, researching for Interiors project.

Looking forward to going back for New Designers at the end of June and a little lovely Brick Lane weekend slipped in between...

Exhibition Put Up & Preview...

After an intense weekend of manically trying to finish off some pieces, buy frames (snow notwithstanding), do framing, getting the rusty metal collection together, designing & making iPhone case packaging, not sleeping... I started to install the rest of my exhibition. Luckily Lyndon, John and I had made a start on the Wednesday before... Still it seemed an insurmountable task and I got myself all aeriated and turned into a proper drama queen - I shall now have to be more sympathetic when my students are putting up their final shows!

By the end of the day it was looking like a professional job largely due to my kindhearted helpers. I was still completing odd tasks till an hour before opening the doors to the VIP guests though on Wednesday... e.g. handwriting the description cards and artist statement after approx 8 hours of doing it more 'slickly' on computer (it just wasn't working). The downside was that my fingers stayed covered in black ink for days. 
So to the preview night... after insisting I was not going to make a speech I was mortified (in a good way) when presented with a massive bunch of beautiful flowers from my team... awww, I still didn't make a speech however.
I was really touched by people's thoughtfulness - getting more flowers and even some presents of vintage stuff.
It was a really good night, thanks to everyone who came along, brought their homemade cakes and made it a memorable occasion. I will be putting more pictures of the exhibits on my Facebook page for the duration and hopefully when it closes, a video, so those who can't make it can have an overall impression of the whole thing. Lots of people have said that the work does look much better in real life so please do try to come and see it and stitch a bit... 

Opening times here: Folio Gallery

Collector Exhibition

In case you've missed it on Facebook I would just like to say that my exhibition 'Claire A Baker - Collector' is almost upon us, well...'me'. 
Argh.

The preview evening is on Wednesday March 13th and if you would like to attend as a regular reader of my blog you are most welcome - just click here.
If you can't make it, the gallery will be open Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays 10-3pm until May 17th except over the Easter holidays, so please check before travelling- click here.
There will be selected items from the extensive mass of collected items of (beautiful)'junk' I have acquired over the years; I haven't decided which yet, which is slightly worrying! I am even still working on my pieces...sigh. I will be absolutely mortified if it's embarrassing, the thought of this is what is keeping me going.

Next job on the list is finishing the veil with the heart above, which finishes the outfit ensemble.
Anyway...these items of historical and cultural value (junk) are what has inspired my style of work I guess, and often particular individual works or projects; either obviously or subconsciously. I have numerous examples that eventually I will photograph together, until then you can use this opportunity to 'spot the link'. 
Words I would use to describe the 'look' of my embroidery work include 'emotive', 'subtle' and purveying an 'essence of reminiscence' but... with aspects of delicious edginess. (Lacroix! - CALL ME!)  
Note: Just had another look - maybe 'subtle' it's not?!

Hi Honies... I'm home!

And this is what I bought... whilst in Paris (along with a couple of G&T's)...

Sacred Heart of Paris...

I am readying myself for the annual trip to Paris tomorrow... Indigo & Premier Vision... so before I choose which shoes to take I have had to prepare a new embroidery to be getting on with in any spare minutes that I may have !!!? That is if my needle doesn't get confiscated...I found a great tip on a forum somewhere to avoid taking scissors - use dental floss packaging; how clever is that?!
So, these are the initial stages of it happening... it looks a bit rubbish so far but I am (fairly) confident I can make it look gorgeous by the end of the week (possibly).
Already I have had some mishaps and troubles but I am not ready to give up yet... for instance I started with a really old, yellowed, tatty veil and have been wanting to do a sacred heart embroidery for a while, so thought it would be the perfect base... I ironed it in readiness and it melted completely, :-(

How does your garter grow...?

Mary, Mary quite contrary

How does your garter grow?

With silver threads and silken flowerheads...

And prettiness all in a row!

New work...COMPLETE - Budgie

Slightly over deadline but here's the final process of embroidery ON the chosen garment - a 1952 tiny girdle (seriously if you were a size 6 why would you even want to wear a girdle? unless of course it had been embellished with a budgie and stuff)... the first new piece especially made for my exhibition ; onwards and upwards.If I'd have thought of doing an animation before I started it may have been a little more thoughtful... but hey - next time!

I have already started on my next piece... embellishment rules.

And on the twelfth day...

Claire had created...an almost finished piece of work!
To be fair there are still 10 hours left to..
finalise a few small areas, cut it all out, apply it to it's 'ground' and then tomorrow (I am guessing) somehow make it look as though it has always been there.

Follow my progress

On my Facebook page...

The 12 days of...Stitch

12 days is my deadline (self imposed) for this piece; working from historical influences in the way of traditional patchwork shapes updated by the intention of slapping a budgie next to it... reasoning being they wouldn't have done that in centuries past...

The images above show the results of 12 solid hours of stitch so when you come along to my first solo exhibition in March '13 please be sure to mentally calculate the total time of the finished piece and if nothing else, appreciate that!

I can't believe...how long it has been since my last post... it's TERRIBLE! I think I have felt that I haven't had anything solid to say about anything solid... for the past few weeks/months everything seems to have been very bitty! - a bit of this and a bit of that.

If I were to have a New Years resolution it would be to update my blog at least fortnightly, if only to make myself do something worthwhile that often in order to mention it.

As this will be my last post of 2012 I won't list the ups and downs of the past year but look forward to what I hope to achieve in 2013, in short:

• for my exhibition to be successful
• to sell some work
• to get my book to a publishable state
• to launch my new 'collection' of paper jewellery at Design Event(proposal yet to be written) 

There will be more information about the March exhibition as and when but I am very aware I have as little as 10 weeks to prepare and I haven't even come up with a title... please help! Without explanation just vote on the title (in sidebar) that would entice you to come along and have a little look or suggest one of your own in the comment box of this post... much appreciated!

Thank you for reading my posts in 2012 and don't stop in 2013 - Happy New Year!