ARTISTS TALKING
Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
Project blogs
University of Leeds
By: Kirstie Faye Nichols
‘Contemporary Art Practice’ has been a journey of finding my own way ofmaking art through the building of theoretical knowledge and with an academic weight. A year of study in the Czech Republic saw to my attitude becomingindependent; I have developed my own work through diverse research and practicein a need-it-go-find-it fashion, where our final show was a diverse range ofskills, concepts and beginnings.
Kirstie Faye Nichols
Evolving from experience, my work is intended to invite the viewer to encounter artwork through expressive materials. The portrayal of character is important, the use of snippets from old clothes embodies personality, reminding the viewer of the lives and events touched. A predominantly textiles and paper-based artist, I am interested in books (both reading and binding), and the making of something from next-to-nothing through the development of traditional crafts into complex and conceptual investigations into human presence.
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Kirstie Faye Nichols, ‘Forget-me-knots in a sea of stitches (for my Father)’, Mixed-media (mostly cotton fabric), July 2007-May 2008.
A hand-stitched quilt made through cathartic process, including clothes from my childhood and my family and friends - the quilt is designed to symbolize mourning and loss, through the community act of sewing and bringing together of people over distance. A safe place.. a haven.
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Kirstie Nichols, 'Escape-aid', Mixed Media, April 2008. A reference to the therapeutic nature of the making of the quilt, this is a supporting work. Healing through making.
# 1 [9 July 2008]
Forget-me-knots in a Sea of Stitches
A quilt with supporting artworks, May 2008
By Kirstie Nichols
This project involves a quilt, a great deal of patience and a needle and thread: July 2007 saw the first stitch of this hand-made quilt; each stitch constructing concepts dealing with family, loss and the security sought. The quilt is the central focus of a body of work including a series of etchings, hand-made books and drawings, each linked by the central concept of security.
My work evolves from experience, and is intended is to invite the viewer to encounter the artwork through expressive materials. I have often been inspired by Louise Bourgeois, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, and the idea of presence in artworks. The portrayal of character in artwork is important to me, and the use of snippets from old clothes embodies personality in the quilt, reminding the viewer of the lives and events touched.
Fabrics from clothes are present, and the kind participation of my Mother and three close family friends maintains the communal nature of the art of quilt-making in a contemporary context. The past enriches our present, and determines our future: since as early as 1000BC and used to decorate, insulate and communicate; in defence, commemoration of birth, marriage and death, the quilt is an object steeped in heritage, with origins which cross continents. Every quilt is unique, and although techniques and patterns may vary, each carries its own story and with it, its own identity. The documentary nature of books provides the link from sewn pages to seams of a quilt, where the story is conveyed whether written, pictorial or symbolic, whilst supporting works such as etchings define clues to the deeper and richer messages held in the imagery of the work. Each quilt, each book, and each artwork contains a story, and here I present you with mine.
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