Polychromatic Ornament

 

 

The Fifth Sized Books project held at Newcastle City Library was a great opportunity to make a larger work than I would normally do. I was egged on by the nature of the project: we were taking inspiration from the Fifth Sized books which are outsized, mainly Victorian volumes too large and fragile to be on public view. Many of these books were almost like catalogues of patterns, whether of armour, Sevres porcelain, Persian rugs or machinery, and the one I particularly liked, called Polychromatic Ornament, was just that: a compilation of coloured patterns in various styles. So I decided to make my own outsized fragment of Polychromatic Ornament. It is 6 metres high by 4 metres wide and made entirely of second hand fabrics (except for the white tarpaulin which I used as a size guide & as backing).

 

Aerial View of The River running through Pinwheel Land

This was made in response to the Fifth Sized books project, although it was an idea that I was already playing with. One of the huge books was a Victorian volume of beautifully coloured geological maps of South Yorkshire. I admired the abstract patterns of the coloured plates and was also interested in the formal similarity between maps and patchwork in that very often both are divided into squares. I wanted to play with the geometry used in patchwork – triangles are a lovely shape to use and I particularly like the pinwheel motif – but I also wanted to try, using the patterns in the second hand fabrics I had amassed for this project, to make a piece where in some places the triangles – the geometry – was more evident, and in some places, less so.

 

 

 

 

via My Naughty Little Sister

My Naughty Little Sister

I finally got a better photo of this work which I made a couple of years ago. Actually this particular photo was taken by Janet Davis who was on the Fifth Sized Books project. I hung this piece in front of another work, “Aerial View of The River running through Pinwheel Land” whose triangular pieces you can see at either side. Never mind, it’s not a perfect world.