Connecting with the viewer: affectivity and cathexis in textile artwork

This article explores how, following bereavement, textile artwork may be able to make a connection with the viewer and allow a progression of their work of mourning. It takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing from the literature of psychoanalytical theory, affectivity, and textile thinking to understand the importance of cloth as artwork in the grieving process. The article draws on the practice-based textile research of the author which, together with responses to the artworks made, discusses the way viewers can make an emotional investment in textile artwork and considers the concept of exhibitionary affect to increase the emotional connection of the viewer to the work

Cloth & memory

This book was published to accompany an exhibition of the same name at Salts Mills, Saltaire, Yorkshire, UK, in summer 2012, conceived and directed by Lesley Millar MBE, Professor of Textile Culture at the University for the Creative Arts. The exhibition and accompanying publication includes work by the artists Beverley Ayling-Smith, Carol Quarini, and Bob White. All visited Salts Mills and Saltaire and have created their work as a response to the history of the place: the memory of cloth and the making of cloth that has seeped into the fabric of the building. This exhibition is the first of two; Cloth and Memory 2 taking place in 2013

Research students exhibition catalogue 2013

This exhibition catalogue showcases the work of current UCA research students at various stages of their research journey. The theme of the exhibition and the one day conference is time - place - space and through their practice the research students examine these concepts and realities

Research students exhibition catalogue 2011

The catalogue demonstrates the scope and vibrancy of current inquiries and pays tribute to the creative capacity and investment of UCA research students. It brings together contributions from students who are at different stages in their research ad/venture. Their explorations are connected by the centrality of contemporary material practices as focal point for the reconsideration of societal values, cultural symbols and rituals and their meaning, and the trans/formation of individual, collective and national identities The media and formats employed range from cloth, jewellery and ceramics to analogue film, the human voice and the representation of dress and fashionin virtual environments. Thematic interests span from explorations at the interface of art and medical science to an investigation of the role of art in contested spaces, or the role of metonymy in ‘how the arts think’ And whilst the projects are motivated by personal curiosity and passion, their outcomes transcend the boundaries of individual practice and offer new insights, under-standing and applications for the benefit of wider society. Prof. Kerstin Me

Cloth & memory {2}

This book was published to accompany an exhibition of the same name at Salts Mills, Saltaire, Yorkshire, UK, from 18 August to 3 November 2013, curated by Lesley Millar MBE, Professor of Textile Culture at the University for the Creative Arts

The space between mourning and melancholia: the use of cloth in contemporary art practice to materialise the work of mourning

This research project examines the language of grief in textile art practice. It takes as its starting point the idea that, as individuals with experience of bereavement, we may carry with us an element of unresolved mourning. This is not the pathological condition of melancholia or complicated mourning, nor the fully resolved, completed state where mourning is over, but is a space between; a set of emotions which continue to be felt and may be brought to the surface by an event, situation, set of circumstances or encounter with, for example, artwork which may bring back feelings of grief and loss long after the death of someone close. This project investigates how cloth can be used in textile artwork to make a connection with this unresolved mourning and thereby contribute to the progression of the viewer’s work of mourning. The aims of the research are to explore how textile art can be used as a metaphor for grief and mourning and to consider how the staining and mending of cloth in contemporary art practice has been used in my studio practice as a way of understanding and expressing mourning. This is a practice based research project, the outcomes of which consist of a written thesis and a body of artworks created through studio practice. The dialogic relationship between the practice and the written research is integral to the outcomes of both the written work and in the studio practice. The written thesis builds on existing research into the psychoanalytical interpretation of mourning and melancholia; the development of the understanding of the process of mourning, trauma theory and the material culture of mourning to establish a rationale for the use of cloth in textile art practice to materialise the work of mourning. The thesis and body of studio practice make an original contribution to knowledge by bringing together the sociological and cultural use of cloth with psychoanalytical theory and the consideration of the affectivity of artwork. The overarching approach of the thesis is a two-part focus on the use of cloth and how it can be used in textile artwork. The first chapter sets out the context of the research both in terms of previously published written work and the studio practice of other artists. Chapter 2 examines the methodology of the research and how the work has been shown to viewers and the means by which any responses have been obtained. Both written and verbal responses to the work by viewers have been used to substantiate the proposal that textile artwork can connect with the viewer in such a way as to allow a progression of their work of mourning. Chapter 3 considers the materiality of cloth; its manipulation and transformation using processes such as staining and mending, and the utilisation of metaphor and metonymy in the creation of artworks in cloth. The final chapter ‘Connecting with the Viewer’ explores the affectivity of artwork and how it is able to facilitate an emotional connection with the audience

The bedsheet: from linen cupboard to art gallery

The choice of material in the creation of artwork is vital to the communication of the meaning of the work. Bedsheets act as silent witnesses to many natural processes in life such as birth, puberty, pleasure, disease, decay, and death. At a time of day when we are wearing little clothing, or perhaps none at all, the bedsheet is in contact with the body for many hours every night, soaking up sweat and bodily fluids to create a very personal cloth impregnated with the identity of a person. The bedsheet can become a material on which to literally or metaphorically write our meanings and messages to the world. This article will discuss the materiality of the bedsheet, an everyday and humble cloth. It will reference the work of artists, including Ewa Kuryluk who used sheets in her work, and draw on my own research into the use of materials to carry metaphors of grief and loss. It will be illustrated by my recent works using bedsheets to make a connection with the emotions of the viewer