Floor Talks

I have now delivered two floor talks about my exhibition with attendances for both being very good - 60+ for one and 26 for the other. I have always enjoyed artist floor talks and try to get to as many as possible. Having to give one yourself is another story. As artists we enjoy what we do and that is making art. Talking about ones work is equally as important and it takes some thinking as to what to say, how much to say (before people glaze over!) and how long to make the talk. It does pay to think about one's work constantly, and to practice a few stories.

One of the two most important things about my exhibition has been the opportunity to see all the pieces displayed together. When preparing for such an exhibition, new work gets stored away and forgotten while the next piece gets underway; and most of us don't have space in our homes to display all the work together anyway. Then there is the colours that I have used, these may be pretty obvious to others but more difficult for me to recognise... until they are all lined up together and then it is as simple as how I like my coffee.

The other important thing is how I have used images from my travels overseas where ideas and images are stored within the heightened senses that travel offers.

Thankfully both the audiences were receptive and I enjoyed the experience, despite being a tad anxious beforehand.

We need more chairs!!

Me in full 'flight'...

Bird Box

Here is another piece from my exhibition. This piece started as a doodle drawn while talking on the telephone (it always pays to have pen and paper handy!) It hung around for awhile then re-surfaced. I started to play with the idea; in particular I liked the shape with the attached wings - was it flying?

© 2008 Diana Parkes, BIRD BOX, dye and pigment, wax resist on silk, 86cm(34") x 103cm(40½")

It started with some resists lines to define the shapes, plus some wax top left. Areas were painted in solid colours as a start....

I wasn't too happy with how things looked so I added some more wax and, as oft I do, I overdyed the whole piece.

Then out came the discharge paste and I removed most of the burgundy. This may seem rather odd but the result was much more appealing.

Then it was a matter of building back up some of the areas with more dye and patterns. I introduced clouds and 'rain' in the background to transport the bird box out there in space. Its initial title was Flying High but as I wasn't sure whether the bird box would be obvious, I changed it to Bird Box. I am now wondering whether both names could be used Bird Box - Flying High, and it may get called that in the future.

As can be expected when describing the processes in any piece, I skip much of what has been done because (a) I have forgotten every detail and (b) some things just happen. I am sure you know what I mean.

Fissure

As promised, here is another piece from my exhibition which I will share. I have re-visited my exhibition several times now, and am walking away still feeling very satisfied. It is also nice thinking back on how some of the pieces were achieved.


©2008, Diana Parkes, FISSURE, dye on silk. Length 110cm/43½", top width 44cm/17½", lower width 58cm/23"

The fabric for this piece was first dyed a flat dusky pink, followed by the top squares and lower arch shape being discharged. This gave a structure to develop further. Colours were painted into the arch shape, but the top squares I left as they were as I liked the variations in the discharged colour.



The area above the arch had less discharge work leaving some organic patterns which I enhanced further to suggest the fissure theme.

Finally, in analysing the results thus far, I added a couple of green shapes in the top area. I often feel that the introduction of a highlight colour goes along way to add that spark. The piece stayed on my pin-up board for a few days until I began playing with the overall shape. I then tucked the top side areas in behind the piece, which allowed for a nice drape and the lower corners to peek out from behind.

School Tutoring

Today I spent two hours with senior students at Upper Hutt College as part of the educational out-reach organised by the gallery where my exhibition is being held. It took some time to think through what could be achieved in the two hours available so.....

I got them to paint a dye/water solution on to a blank silk screen as a background wash. When this was dry, they then printed on that wash with further dye and a selection of printing objects. Once this was dry they screened their design on to pre-Soda Ash soaked fabric, with Manutex (sodium alginate). They will be washing out their pieces tomorrow.

Here are some of the images I took during the workshop:

Working hard on painting their screens

Printing from a disk protective shield

Coming along nicely

A feather makes a good tool

Spooning on the Manutex

Many hands help....

A completed piece - not bad for a first timer!

And another one!

Out of the Print Box

Now that my exhibition Fibre Reactive is open I thought I would explain some of the works over the next few weeks or so. And as I have been asked about the processes in the 12 pieces in the Out of the Print Box series, I thought I might start with these pieces.

Here again is the image of them in the exhibition. Each piece is 26cm x 35cm (10" x 14"), and worked on silk. They are each laced over a padded acid neutral card.



In May/June of this year I attended the Surface Design Association conference in Kansas City, MO. During that time I spent four days in a workshop with Kerr Grabowski titled Deconstructed Screen Printing (DSP), sometimes referred to as Breakdown Printing. I was already familiar with screen printing techniques, and with the DSP process, but thanks to Kerr, my knowledge and skills were considerably extended. Back in NZ I enthusiastically set about trying out some of the processes again. Whereas this may seem quite straight forward, there can often be quite a difference in what is done in a workshop, and what can be done afterwards. Equipment, products and, in particular, design input all seem to take a shift and almost everything needs to start again. No problem, I feel this allows for ones own slant on things to evolve.

I already had the idea of working 12 smaller pieces to be exhibited as a group in my exhibition, and the printing techniques seemed an ideal way to go. My commitment was 12 pieces in 12 weeks. That should be fun, and not too difficult. Yes, well, it was hard work and I got behind a couple of times but eventually did complete them all in the 12 weeks. I also need to confess that I started a total of 24 pieces, 12 of which I discarded somewhere along their journey, rejected, not good enough, or perhaps some disaster had occurred.

I used one silk screen frame which determined the overall size; used Procion MX dyes, Manutex (sodium alginate)and of course the fabrics were soaked in a Soda Ash solution. Occasionally I used some textile pigment/paint for that solid opaque outcome. There were a big variety of ways I did things, some I solved myself which lead me down different paths. Each piece had about four layers of applications; it was a matter of building on what had been achieved so far, until I felt each was finished.

I really like the print processes and now feel there is alot more to experiment with in the near future.

E(xhibition) Day

It is there! Last night was the opening of my exhibition, Fibre Reactive - New Work by Diana Parkes, at Expressions in Upper Hutt, NZ. This was an evening function and the anticipation mounted as the day progressed. I had not viewed the exhibition until just before everyone arrived, and my own first impressions were WOW! Almost two years of work displayed together, what a treat! And although I am very familiar with each individual piece I had never been able to view all the pieces together as a whole. Being a solo exhibition, and a large gallery space, it means that the works are well isolated from each other. It is a luxury to have work displayed like this as often we have to be content with our work crammed salon-style, with other works close on either side, and perhaps even above or below. The curator has done a great job and I am one happy exhibitor.

Between us, my friend Joan and I managed to take some photos of the opening. In due course my professional photographer will be taking a series of better images and I will eventually post some of these on my blog. In the meantime, here are some views:

Some of the crowd waiting for the gallery doors to open....

My installation called Fashioning. Non-wearable garments made from calico (muslin) and based on toiles. Each with patterning in an indigo coloured dye, and long arms with red hands! I asked for these pieces to be animated and was thrilled in the way they floated skywards. Actually there were five garments but after having got four up they couldn't work out where to put the fifth, so left it out. It pays not to be too precious about these things! I think they look great.

The 12 Out of the Print Box pieces.

The exhibition title, somewhat obscured.


General view.

another general view.

Dry Run

As part of the out-reach associated with my exhibition at Expressions I am to teach a two hour workshop with senior students at one of the local schools. Two hours is not very long to get something done, especially with dyeing techniques, so this week I have been doing a dry run to work out whether what I intended to teach was feasible.

The school has silk screens so I shall get them to paint and print a blank screen using Procion MX fibre reactive dyes mixed with water. These should dry fairly quickly (hopefully it will be a warm day). We will then screen these on to a soda ash prepared fabric using sodium alginate (Manutex). They will need to batch overnight and next day they can wash them out.

In preparation I did some printing with the dyes on to paper using a variety of objects. Then I prepared a screen with a dye wash and some dye printing. Once dry this was screened with the clear sodium alginate (Manutex). I shall also offer them some sodium alginate coloured with dye as well.

Here are the samples of printing, on paper.

My screen, dry and ready for screening. It looks quite pale at this stage.

The end result on calico (muslin). I think they should be impressed with the possibilities.

I shall also take a screen prepared with textures embedded into sodium alginate and demonstrate how to do repeat screenings (Breakdown Printing).

Just two days to go now.... I feel somewhat in limbo!