Norah Deacon, Vivienne Jones, Valerie Knapp
NORAH DEACON: Patterned: recent works in paper
VIVIENNE JONES: Gesture-ring: explorations of the ring form
VALERIE KNAPP: Safekeeping: recent work in textiles & paper
October 16 – November 16, 2008
Norah Deacon
Drawing from my own history, my work addresses how our familial and cultural experiences nurture and inform our identities. Working primarily in paper, I create lace-like material exploring texture, pattern, light, strength and fragility. My sculptural work commemorates everyday objects, referencing the balance between vulnerability and permanence.
The work in Patterned explores the playful yet fragile way in which children use toys and books to explore their identity. As children, we often define ourselves within a limited scope; this is sometimes carried with us, shaping and informing our adult selves. For this body of work I have cited text from the book Noisy Noraby Rosemary Wells, which was frequently read to me as a child. By fragmenting and jumbling the text and pattern around children’s building blocks, the work explores the roles and expectations that we impose on ourselves when we are young.
Vivienne Jones
Gesture-ring: explorations of the ring form
By wearing rings we entwine symbol and decoration, personal expression and public gesture.
The works in my exhibition Gesture-ring, explore the possibilities that can become that intimate wearable object.
Valerie Knapp
In this age of intentional forgetting and destruction, I am intrigued by our equally strong propensity to remember and conserve the past. While definitely contemporary, my textile-based works are grounded in my dedication to making, and the historical resonance of various materials and processes. While my work attempts to elicit intimate human connections to stitching and cloth, central to it, are the thought processes, patterns and compositions that evolve from ideas of conservation, memory, concealment, and time.
Description of Work
My practice includes the processes of relief and screen-printing, drawing, embroidery, hand and machine sewing, and writing. Throughout the varied constructions, I use combinations of these processes to make diverse layers and parts in textile and paper. Often I incorporate vintage textiles and other found materials of significance. The subtle play of ideas in a quiet colour palette, combined with a meticulous attention to detail, characterize the work. Various work shows recent explorations that are three dimensional in presentation and concept and other work are exhibited framed in shadow box style frames.
