Karla Black

Her beautiful exploration of material and its physical properties reflects the versatility of her practice, the rigorous experimentation with paper, chalk and thread reflects the presence of the human in the sculpture. The artist reacts initially to the materials, mixed, ground or splashed they contrast the delicate properties. What inspires me the most is Black's experimentation with materials, bound together they perform in a course of expression allowing our unconscious to run.

• Materiality-that which pertains to matter or body, formed or consisting of matter.

Costume Design for NutCrack Night

                                                             Nutcrack Night

Pif-Paf Arts allowed me to gain skills in which I was interested but not necessarily had the confidence to pursue. They have given me the confidence to venture into areas such as sculpture, performance and engineering. I have always challenged myself with unfamiliar aspects of my practice and felt it would develop my interest into the properties and manipulation of material. 

Working from a narrative,  I created a costume which was a challenging jump but very rewarding. I really enjoyed the process of creating a costume for a performance piece, allowing the viewer to be transformed with the story of the character to their unconscious. Exploring objects and our relational understanding is what I enjoy the most. I feel my practice thrives at its best when observing and experimenting with form, to experience the creative property of the material but for the object to also have a function. 

First Year Work

                                          'Sink within the Sands'

In reflection, my first year work compromised of a lot of up and downs but in the end I attained a gorgeous set of work that I was truly proud of. Hand embroidered handkerchieves, roses and forgotten photographs formed as part of my first installation, I chose to move away from this practice in order to progress in the enjoyment of my making in the material process and narrative that we attach to symbolic items. This focus upon narrative, formed the basis to my end of year assessment; objects, photography and video work led to the unpicking of threads which I felt removed the threads but unconsciously the narrative of memory was still present. My work deals with the transformation of memory and the personal psyche, the stages of grief to acceptance and how we have use objects as an expression of our outer self.


 I wanted to explore the concept of memory and how we attach those to objects, as well as exploring my own narrative, the Dovedale shoot used the river to add a concept of forced time around these objects I created, I believe the following images to be successful in recreating the fragile formation of these memories in the natural environment.

Summer work: Just So Festival & Amateur Theatre Group, Newcastle Players

                                                                                                       Story Tree

                                                                      Just So Festival

                                                                               Newcastle Players

Newcastle Players Theatre group, Lord Whitney , Just So Festival and Pif-Paf are some Organizations & Theatre companies I have collaborated with over the summer. I have become enthusiastic about the process of making and what effect this can have upon a large community. I have found that I have become a lot more ambitious with my handling of materials and open to new challenges.

Also included are images of the Just So Festival and the 'Tall Trees Glade'. Volunteering as a Glade Manager I enjoyed helping performers to set up within Rudyard and helped to meet their requirements. I felt I learnt a lot from meeting arts performers, their skills, audience and enjoyment for their profession, I found them endearing to work with. As well as creatively helping with the set up, I have also learnt a reasonable amount of management and responsibility that comes from supporting an arts business. 

The Object & The Unconscious

Chiharu Shiota

Chiharu Shiotas work confronts the viewer with their own unconscious, similar to Lousie Bourgeois the artists uses domestic objects to create a 'relational' pictorial language through performance and installation art. The aim of my project is to explore symbolism and the meaning behind everyday objects, how materiality and physicality effect the interpretation of those objects and how these reflect a the unconscious  little of the human condition. 


The scale and the delicate handling of material, creates an interesting juxtaposition providing protection or an entrapment of metaphorical webs. 
Shiota’s practice stands as a main influence in my use of thread, representing the material with an emotional charge. The object stands between reality and the unconscious. Shiota’s work is a main influence to my translation of objects and their properties, threads act as a narrative of memory.

                                                                                                                             Lise Bijorne Linnert

Linnerts tiny and intricate textiles stand alone as the action itself, by stitching around the wires of the fences it is the essence of the project, a broken part of the fence is highlighted with the red of her woven thread. Linnert proposes the stitches are wound with care but could also be viewed as an intrusive performance crossing the boundaries of consent. exploring the action between the unseen and the unconscious these are Subtle yet political, their are underlying connotations that curiously peer through her work, quiet yet intrusive, her work establishes the boundaries of herself and the audience, mine and yours, open or closed.  

‘We want something else which can hardly be put into words–to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.’ – C.S. Lewis.

Laura Joyce Twigg


Sheffield, UK


My work is concerned with the exploration of symbolism, the meaning behind everyday objects, how materiality and physicality effect the interpretation of those objects and how such interpretations can in essence reflect a little of the Human condition.


Influences
 Craft, Art & Design, Theatre, Literature, history and documentaries.