Time to Slow Down

-

We live in a fast-paced world. Everything from food and clothing to news and entertainment is produced, packaged and marketed for our convenience. But how often do we stop to think about the processes behind these objects? What might we learn? Amy Widdowson, a Fine Art graduate from Leeds School of Arts, is interested in these questions. The artist spins and weaves fabrics by hand, reviving traditional crafting methods whilst exploring the history of computing and automation. Widdowson, who is part of Leeds School of Arts’ 2021 End of Year Show, speaks to Aesthetica about this refreshing way of working.

A: What type of media do you work with? Why are you drawn to this particular approach?
AW: I work primarily in textiles, specifically weaving. In my latest piece Solo (2021), I spin my own wools and incorporate them into the design. Weaving takes a long time, and my work is a call back to our traditional ways of creating. By spinning and weaving by hand, I slow down today’s fast-paced culture of textile production.

A: What are the main themes explored in your work?
AW: A large theme behind my work is labour. When the introduction of the Jacquard Machine to the workplace first came around, many master weavers were no longer needed and their jobs were displaced to ‘lower-skilled’ workers. Production lines in today’s fabric factories mean that workers’ job roles are split up into sections; they are no longer required to know each step of the process. My work aims to counter that, getting to know every part of the procedure.

For context, I draw on a range of influences – from Marxist theory to current technology systems, stemming from the jacquard loom. The use of 0/1 binary code in modern day computerisation started with the language developed by the jacquard loom. We still use it today. Last year, I made the piece Woven Memory. It’s a large-scale weaving based on the labour and efforts of the unseen women workforce in the technology industry.

A: Where do you find inspiration? What drives you to create?
AW: I like to look at times of tension in history and explore how they influence the way we live today. The inspiration for Woven Memory was the women who were hired to weave intricate metal wire memory boards for early computers. Its scale, 12x12ft, is based on the average size of newly built UK houses in recent years. I also really enjoy working with different textures; working from raw wool gives me the freedom to manipulate the fibres however I like.

A: What do you hope your audience take away from your piece?
AW: I hope the audience is made to rethink our culture of fast-paced making. I want to slow down the means of production and put emphasis on the ‘person behind the fabric’, so to speak. 

A: What are your future plans? Do you have any projects or new  ideas lined up?
AW: I have continued to spin wool and weave after graduating, working mostly on small wall hangings and little practice runs. I have a few ideas for larger pieces in the near future. 

A: What can viewers expect from Leeds School of Art’s 2021 End of Year Show?
AW: There has been so much amazing new work from my classmates this year, despite completing half of our degree under lockdowns and varying circumstances. We haven’t exhibited our work in a physical space, but our online exhibition has come together really well thanks to our degree show committee.

Visit Leeds School of Arts’ End of Year Show online here.

All images courtesyAmy Widdowson andLeeds School of Arts.

The post Time to Slow Down appeared first on Aesthetica Magazine.



from Art Life Culture https://ift.tt/3CP0Vu6
via IFTTT

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How a Fake Cartoon Band Made “Sugar Sugar” the Biggest Selling Hit Single of 1969

-
Image
Rock critic Lester Bangs described bubblegum pop as “the basic sound of rock ‘n’ roll – minus the rage, fear, violence and anomie.” The short-lived genre had its roots in the Please Please Me era of the Beatles’ minus the sex and the sarcasm. But from the Beatles we can trace a pretty solid path to the Archies. Not that we deserved this band as an inevitability, but the cartoon concoction is one of a thousand variants from that infectious strain of post-war pop. The Archie’s lasting legacy is one single: the bonafide earworm, “Sugar Sugar.” Written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim, it was a real number one single (it knocked the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Woman” off the throne in 1969) sung by a completely fake band, namely the cast of Archie Comics, the five or six perpetual teenagers that have been around since 1941. How we got there, we must go back to the Beatles. Once the Fab Four had started to quickly outgrow their innocent image, King Features turned the four into a Saturday M...
Read more

How to Charge What You Are Worth as a Creative Professional.

-
Image
If you are having difficulty knowing what to charge, then check out your competition and find out what theyíre doing. Find out if they post prices or fees on their website or if they have "packages"  deals.  Do they have payment options? While you are researching, keep in mind just because your competition is charging one way it is not necessarily how you should be charging. One of my clients is a business and life coach.  Most coaches charge for a set number of scheduled phone meetings, which seems to be a standard for "the coaching industry," but that doesnít mean itís the best way. I encourage my clients to charge fees that match who their clients are and what they are trying to accomplish. Itís very refreshing to do what works for you and not necessarily follow the "industry standard."  If you donít feel comfortable with the way your industry charges, by all means, change it.  Just because the industryís doing it doesnít mean that itís right. ...
Read more