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My work is best described as mixed-media embroideries on paper, rich textural and coloured surfaces, intense, web-like embroidery. Manipulated and interwoven layers are typical of the high-relief structure. Surfaces created from papers, paints and a variety of art media are used to prepare intricate collages, onto which free machine embroidery in straight and zigzag stitch is applied to enhance the gradation of colour. The work is torn, placed on another paper base, re-painted and stitched. This process continues through many layers until the desired surface quality is achieved, at which point manipulation takes place through the use of pleats, seams and tucks.
World-wide travel over the past six years has provided inspiration for my embroidery. It is mainly the people, their culture and their carved and printed artwork which have provided a wealth of interesting source material. Featured among this are the people from the Indonesian islands of Bali, Sumbawa and Timor, the Maoris of New Zealand, the Asmat people of Irian Jaya and those of Fiji and Western Samoa. Often a story from their creation, folklore or everyday life is adapted, illustrated and depicted in my, mainly, framed or three-dimensional works.
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My current pieces initially developed from an interest in old postcards, their images and texts, exploring the haunting feelings of guilt and unease encountered when reading this once private correspondence between two people. My notes on this read: 'Old postcards - aged images, faded on a weathered card. Intriguing script in style and content, a communication between persons - personal and private, something precious. We, the intruders, stealthily peer behind the veils, voyeurs needing to share in the privacy of others. Eroding memories, eroding thoughts, eroding the existence of others' lives.'
In contrast to these first-hand sources of influence, such inspiration leads to the seeking and developing of imagery from the subconscious. The exploration of personal communications between myself and others became the main concern. Many emotions surfaced from what was to become a self-searching and demanding theme. Among these were observations spanning from the heights of joy to the depths of depression and with these the unavoidable acknowledgement of their effect on my character. Such feelings were focused and presented through the familiar mixed-media methods, encompassing the again familiar figurative images, with the new addition of incorporated text, re-iterating snippets of past conversations and feelings.
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The resulting work is reminiscent of pale, anaemic, ghost-like images, obscured, deformed and eroded through the build-up of surface layers of transparent papers and fabrics, some of which are embellished with printed and stitched text. The techniques employed are similar to previous work bar the introduction of limited fabrics. However the format has changed, for the works are not protected under the glass of their wooden frames, they are now exposed to their environment and to their viewer, no longer safe and therefore open to possible damage, in some ways enhancing and echoing the underlying idea that no one is safe from the range of emotions we unavoidably encounter and in particular reference to the theme of this work, from those generated through contact with others.
The depth of inspiration provided by this current theme will continue as the focus for forthcoming work. From the wealth of visual research and ideas already completed, attention will be given to the continued change in format of the work. Initial experimentation with the sculptural qualities of paper will continue toward the production of large-scale works incorporating a range of new materials and imagery.
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Parallel with the development of the actual pieces, I am currently in the process of placing my work on the Internet, fascinated by the rapid development and growth of such technology and, indeed, by the vast number of artists from all disciplines, including Textiles, currently online, through which they can supply a gallery of their work and relevant information. From such observations, I believe it is the way of the future, in promoting my work to a much wider audience.
This article is from The World of Embroidery, Volume 50 No.5, © Frankie Creith.
highlights from September 1999 issue