I created 4 more pages today in my little cloth book. Adding to this little book bit by bit each day, while in isolation.
Archive for the ‘reuse’ Category
Little Cloth Book. In Isolation.
Sunday, April 19th, 2020Hot Studio. Paper Collage Making.
Monday, December 30th, 2019Too hot to go to the studio today (43 C – 110 F) so I’m working in the house studio. Messing up the the large table, workbench, I just painted for Xmas dinner. It will now become stained and marked until, I paint it for the next event, or next lot of visitors.
Making collage with vintage and rust papers.
The process of tearing and pasting helps me to slow down and be in the moment. Something I need right now after the rush of appointments and Christmas.
I’m using lots of old paper and pages from antique French magazines disintegrated from age and torn from the long trip back in my luggage, from Paris.
So, I have been using them in my mixed media and collage projects.
On one trip to France I bought home a heap of middle eastern cake papers. I think they were $1 a pack. So I got a mix of colours. They are great for adding pattern and texture.
The inside of window envelopes have great patterns for collage. I often use envelopes to make little books and peepholes in the book pages.
Collages finished today.
Collage 1. Delivery
Collage 2. The Carriers
Collage 3. Mardlarking. Thames.
Collage 4. Salvage
Art & Recycling. Textiles & Mixed media.
Friday, January 18th, 2019Art and recycling goes hand-in-hand in the textile and mixed- media side of my arts practice.
My artworks are often created from old, discarded clothing, vintage and antique textiles, papers and found objects. I enjoy making use of stuff that has had a life already; a life that is often purely functional and as far removed from ‘art’ as you can imagine.
I’ve been recycling all my life to make art. As a child, I pulled apart, old clothing and nylon stockings “I used to collect fabric waste from mum’s sewing and knitting basket, making wall hangings out of that.” Nowadays, I cut up my own clothing and others, antique quilts, vintage linens, fancywork and men’s suits.
The process of searching and collecting materials, is also, a very important part of my art’s making. It may take weeks, months, even years, to find a piece that talks to me. Most of the time though, a fragment of fabric, clothing or object, will trigger off the idea. I collect and document many of the pieces I find, by labeling or remembering, its history of when & where it was found. This gives me another layer to work with.
The search for materials has taken me to many weird and wonderful places over the years.
The sometimes, dodgy, back streets of cities, in Barcelona, Italy and France. Markets and charity shops in Australia, France and England. Underground spaces, abandoned buildings, coast lines and vacant beaches. Friends, family and strangers, have also, donated materials to use in my work.
By transforming old, recycled and reused materials, it enriches the stories I like to tell in my contemporary art and gives a new life, to materials destined to be wasted and thrown away.
Fragments. An old chair. Inspiration for new work.
Wednesday, February 7th, 2018As a small child I pulled things apart. Even, before I could talk, I ripped apart dolls and toys. I used to make little displays, installations of the fragments and other discarded things. Today I still pull things apart. I find fragments more pleasing and sometimes, even more interesting than the original object.
Recently, I pulled apart an old chair that had been hanging around for years. The wood was still good. The cloth and leather had grit and rust, just perfect for sculpture. The rustic bits and pieces also related to some textile fragments, I unpicked from an 1800’s, quilt topper. I’m still working on outcomes and painting has crept in too. Below are some pics of the process.
Time, Change, Erosion and Decay + Freebie Rust Dyeing Tutorial
Friday, March 17th, 2017
The process of transformation. Time, change, erosion and decay are qualities I like to celebrate. I examine and explore, the properties and possibilities, of my material and want to push the boundaries of something to get a deeper understanding.
In my latest project, I’m working with textiles over a 100 years old. I want to work with the worn and deteriorated textiles and collaborate alongside those, who in the past, so carefully stitched, mended and created, the pieces for comfort and warmth.
Each piece was once, carefully hand -stitched and now, breaking down and worn. I have very selectivity pulled apart and unpicked areas, and kept some intact.
Some areas of fabric, are so badly worn it breaks in my hands, so I have to reinforce it. Most pieces though are just left in their original state.
I then, like to push the process further with, natural & rust dying methods, mark making, hand stitching and painting with caste iron, botanical paints.
Numerous times, I expose the materials to the elements to experience the changes.
Getting to the essence of my material helps me to translate and describe its being. I rarely know the outcome of my projects and just go with the flow.
Wanting to know how to rust – dye? Please see my free rust – dyeing tutorial
Old Clothes. Re-Cycling. Art Making.
Monday, February 9th, 2015Before, I throw anything away, I like to see if I can use it in my creative ideas. Not only am I dealing with issues concerning, over- consumption, re- cycling & renewing, I also love using the found material and always have a ready supply of art materials available.
Recently, I acquired a large amount of men’s ties, I’m pulling apart, to create abstract paintings.
I also have 3 wardrobes of old clothing, I’m slowly, using to make textile art pieces, books and more. The physical act of pulling apart and de-constructing my own clothing, connects me to the textures, memories and history of the piece. The materials are then, made into new ideas, re- introduced and re- valued.
Paper packaging, used coffee filters, table napkins and clothing dyed and baked in coffee, tea and rust
Vintage jumpers, jeans and shirts, torn and cut ready for book-making and other projects
Artwork in progress using scraps of vintage sheer curtain and upholstery material, rust dyed.
Thoughts on Collage.
Sunday, August 31st, 2014
My 10 quick thoughts on creating original collage.
“13 pour” Jenny Davis
1. Just when you think you’ve got it licked, it can change, by adding one tiny piece of paper, or mark.
“Bitter Interception” Jenny Davis
2. Collage can’t be controlled, trust in the doing.
“No” Jenny Davis
3. If you don’t like something tear it off, paint or paste over it.
“Generous Nation” Jenny Davis
4. By elimination, breaking and tearing to restructure the work, you can open up a new vision.
“Clash 3” Jenny Davis
5. Text adds interest and throws it off again. Do you take it literally, or as a design element?
“De’ranger” Jenny Davis
6. Working on the whole collage at once and not just in one area, is more satisfying.
“Clash” Jenny Davis
7. Elements of design come into play too. Colour, shape, texture, line and form.
“84” Jenny Davis
8. When creating collage, I use the same cognitive process as when painting.
“Torn” Jenny Davis
9. It’s all about trusting the creative process, your intuition, taking risks and challenging yourself.
“Paris Burning” Jenny Davis
10. It’s also heaps of fun expressing yourself in this way!
Back to “Free Tutorials”
The Hubcap as Art.
Wednesday, August 13th, 2014UPDATE!
Details about the environmental installation I am participating in at The Museum of Shenandoah Valley in Virginia USA!
Image credits on exhibition logotype: Pasta Maker Machine, 2010, Kathy Rebek, New Jersey, and Untitled 2009 by Linda Leviton, Ohio. Courtesy of the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley.My artwork selected for the “Second Time Around. The Hubcap as Art” exhibition.
Letters from the Border. Jenny Davis. 2009. This piece is a collage of images taken from my collection. It includes 2003 emails I received from a US soldier when he was on the border in Kuwait, waiting to invade Iraq. He described the constant multiple bombings, the daily life of his troops and photos of what he saw around him. One photo, the little flower, represented the hope in the dusty dry dessert. After several months of correspondence, I never heard from him again and have been unable to locate him.
One-minute video trailer by Los Angeles film and TV director Larry Carroll. Second Time Around: The Hubcap as Art!
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Mail Art. Nomad Art. Transportable Art.
Wednesday, July 9th, 2014Finished Mail Art. Sending off to Australia, France, South Africa, USA, Canada and Portugal.
“Earth Works” series.
Gocco screen print. Distress inks. Stencil. Thread. Collage. Coloured pencil on vintage graph paper and found cardboard packaging.
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- “Mail Art” Jenny Davis
Selected Artist. Museum of Shenandoah Valley
Friday, June 6th, 2014Second Time Around: The Hubcap as Art.
September 2014 – March 2015
I am excited to announce my environmental art object I created for the Landfillart project in 2009, has just been selected to be part of an environmental installation at the The Museum of Shenandoah Valley in Virginia USA later this year. I will send more info. closer to the opening.
“I chose to be part of this project because I believe in the power of art to move… to encourage change. For me ‘This’ project demonstrates ‘The Power of Art’ to pass on important concerns about our fragile ecological state whilst giving examples of how we can recycle and reuse in creative ways.”Jenny Davis
Dear Landfillart Artist:
Today, World Environment Day of the United Nations—an annual celebration to encourage positive environmental action—is the perfect time to inform you that the artwork you created and donated to the Landfillart Project will be included in the exhibition Second Time Around: The Hubcap as Art.
The exhibition will open September 7, 2014, at The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV), in Winchester, Virginia, USA, and be on exhibit through March 1, 2015. Yours is one of 287 objects selected out of more than 1,000 artworks now in the Landfillart Collection. The exhibition presents work from artists in every U.S. state and 35 other countries. The dense, visually exciting installation has a strong environmental message and will incorporate WASTE NOT from the Green Revolution “eco-zibit,” which is based on an exhibition originally created by the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, and its Black Creativity Council and made available by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.
Congratulations on your inclusion in Second Time Around: The Hubcap as Art. We hope to see you in Winchester to celebrate this exciting exhibition with us.
Dana Hand Evans
Executive Director, Museum of the Shenandoah Valley
Ken Marquis
Founder, The Landfillart Project