Tricia's Flickr Pictures

Here is a link to Tricia's photos on Flickr, some really nice shots of the exhibition and some of the folks that came along.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78122496@N03/sets/72157629639094706/

Silver Sculptures at Baseline Womens Art Group

This session we launched straight into making bird sculptures and amazed ourselves at how, within 2 hours, we had made some great 3D work: a Stork (Jenny); Kingfisher (Pauline); Songthrush (Joanne); Owl (Sally); Blackbird (Theresa) and Heron (Jess).

Using silver foil to get the main shape, around a wire and newspaper armature, the birds were then clad in one layer of white cotton (from recycled mens hankies!! Washed first of course...)

Next session we plan to put coloured cotton fabric onto the birds, and will have a rummage in the charity clothes bags in the basement at Baseline for suitable patterned cotton we can use. Might also try to get some nice old vintage patchwork scraps to use aswell - anyone got anything spare?

We will also 'do' the legs using wire and string wrapped around the armature.

Anyhow, they look great and the session was good fun.

We also have some denim Owls to perch on our rather weird tubular denim tree, and a wrapped tree which is sprouting fungi made out of tights! If we have time, we want to make a giant willow cocoon for the exhibition: its great how this group has gathered confidence now and is ready, willing and able to make, well, ANYTHING!

Branching Out! Getting all three-dimensional

Starting to really have fun now, branching out!

Pauline, Tina, Khateegah, Theresa and Joanne have now got to grips with needle felting with soft materials such as sheep fleece, making small samples of our own, and then a bigger group wall-hanging with differant British birds on: we keep adding to this a little bit each week (Theresa added 2 very nice bees this time).

We are now beginning to transform an upside-down branch (cut, with some difficulty from my garden!) into a wrapped sculpture, with bulging fungi forms growing out of the branch. Good fun and very sociable thing to all do together, using wool scraps, wadding and tights as the main materials. Tina may finally get to make her eagle to add to this, and Sally really wants a peregrine falcon in there to unsettle all the garden birds. It's interesting to make natural-looking forms such as fungi 'grow' and cluster out of the tree, in something of an echo of the mass of the man-made boxes of Spontaneous city.

Next thing will be another sculpture - the group are really keen to have a go at this now: it'll be a tree-like structure, using cardboard tubes wrapped in recycled denim - lots of fun cutting and gluing . Not much sewing thank goodness, because none of us can see well enough to thread the needles - unless we borrow Sally's glasses! Watch this space for pics of this...

Swanny day at Cow Tower

January 2012: we all had a trip out to Cow Tower on a bright January day to see the sculpture: five of us squashed into my little Nissan Micra, blinking in the sunshine and bright riverside of Norwich.
Watched the 21st century swan family scoff bread provided by the anglers, the swans probably unaware that upriver was England only cygnet hatchery(from 700 years ago) - early battery farming?
Anyway, the trees look great, bare of leaves and showing off their arms. The sculpture also looked great, high up and at home in the tree. Much speculation about what would live in there, and admiration of how it fits in the place - very different from a metal sculpture on a plinth.
We talked about making some box sculptures ourselves, combining recycled garments with a stacking sculpture: watch this space!

Large felting panel (Garden Birds)

Heres some pictures of the felting in progress...

Needlefelting progress

Thinking of the garden birds and which might live in the boxes at Cow Tower, we have started to work together on one large felted panel, so far featuring a spotted woodpecker, thrush, robin, bluetit and goldfinch.
Its nice working together on one piece and all becoming more confident with the technique and the emerging outcomes.
Needle felting has also been interesting - it is so simple and effective, practising on our small samples. The process of stamping the fibres repeatedly it a bit birdlike and repetitive: perhaps we should all wear large false beaks whilst we do it?!
Talk is generating around various ideas of developing work to display in the new Charity Shop due to be opened at Baseline: this might be a good way of linking up with the other Spontaneous Community groups?

Felting our way into 2012

Hi everyone!

Heres the first blog from the Marlpit Womens Art Group, and hopefully it'll be easy, like falling off a blog?! So far, its me, Jessica (artist), with Sally, Pauline, Tina, Joanne and Theresa.

We are a small group so far, feeling our way into Spontaneous Communities, so 'felting' seems like a good start. Felting around beach pebbles to make hand-held cocoons: photo's to follow on soon.

Regards, Jess