Well - 2 years ago I sat in a restaurant in Venice heatedly discussing
the role and representation of folding and smocking within the clothes represented
in the paintings in the Academia. It culminated in the question was smocking inherently
evil? as the individuals in the paintings wearing smocking appeared to have poor
character qualities. The activity itself has political overtones – workers clothes
and busy hands, alongside the idea of the hidden and the process of creating folds.
This conversation has developed over the 2 years starting off with a small body
of works for a touring exhibition in Ireland influenced by some of the
structures. This was almost subconscious but later a show titled bookmare at
Camberwell College of Art and the repeat show at Norwich University College consciously
started the process of exploring smocking through the objects I make. A TESS
funding application at nuca led to a body of work for the windows at the Imago
gallery. A lot of meetings and
conversations led me to some really excellent people to work with within some
interesting collections and archives in the Eastern Region. This led to a successful
bid to the Arts Council to spend a year working on the idea with a number of
partners – here is the initial paper table layout with the notes written on it
and finally I am starting on what I hope will be a fantastic opportunity......
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