Closely held secrets

This group exhibition was an artistic collaboration between visual artists and a skilled digital embroidery technician who translated and transformed a series of original artworks into a collection of digitally embroidered artefacts. The project explored the secret relationship between the maker and technician, revealing the nature of the hidden exchange or dialogue between the originator of an idea and the agent of interpretation.
Charlotte Hodes exhibited a series of 6 large papercuts alongside a related digital embroidery ( in progress).

Artist Statement
‘The tactile layered collaged surfaces of imagery and pattern of my papercuts share many of the qualities that are inherent in embroidery. They also bring together digital technologies in the form of inkjet printing and in some cases laser cut, alongside hand cut stencils and drawn passages. Therefore the invitation to collaborate with Tony Taylor on this project was especially exciting.

The challenge of how to use the papercut as a starting point for a digital embroidery centred on combining digital printing with digital embroidery to articulate the layered quality of collage. Tony suggested the use of appliquéd shapes which would not only overcome the practical problem of the embroidery being too large for the machine bed but would enhance the fragmented layered quality of collage. In addition, we were acutely aware of the embroidery threads being my drawing tool, equivalent to the cut lines of the scalpel blade in the papercuts. These threads weave a complex, intricate layer across the surface, holding together the digitally printed areas, pattern and shapes.

The sequence of six papercuts ‘Waves’ from which the embroidery is made, each depict a silhouetted female figure juxtaposed against diagrammatic representations of skirts. The skirts echo and define the femaleness of the figure. They coexist with elements that, over decades, have been represented and re- presented within the fine and decorative arts; drapery, cloth, ornament and pattern. The horizontal panelled compositions suggest an undulating movement, continuous pattern and time passing. The tiny floating figure, a celebration of the art history from which it is sourced (Venus 1754 by François Boucher from the Wallace Collection) , takes part in the new complex, layered narrative.’