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Cloth & Culture NOW
the artists - Diana Harrison, UK
My background, and therefore identity
is that of an average English upbringing, not far from London
but surrounded by enough country to loose myself in woods and
fields, on bikes or horses. By today’s
standards I had a great deal of freedom to roam, imagine and dream.
All my adult life and during higher education has been spent living
in various parts of London, with its cultural mixes of people,
shops and restaurants catering for all tastes; I take the city
for granted; it has provided me with an atmosphere and richness
I miss outside of the capital.
From early on my education was unremarkable
except for my enthusiasm for practical subjects, painting, drawing,
sewing was where my energy was channelled. My abilities in these
areas were further developed at Goldsmiths’ College, where I studied embroidery
at degree level. At the time the course had a traditional approach
to the subject but with a strong emphasis on observation and drawing,
whole days were spent life-drawing, the concentration and quiet
was all consuming. Each week we visited the V&A museum to study
the collections. I was particularly drawn to the Oriental sections
having been brought up with Chinese artefacts at home brought back
from Shanghai where my grandparents had lived for a number of years.
Goldsmiths’ taught us the traditions of English embroidery
(including gold work for ecclesiastical vestments) but also encouraged
students to experiment and create an individual and innovative
approach the subject, whilst at the same time maintaining fine
skills and craftsmanship.
Later on at the Royal College of Art,
whist studying for an MA, I left the stitch behind and concentrated
on the visual content, and developing new ways of applying dye
to cloth, through masking and spraying. This work was inventive,
with no references to the past either technically or visually,
but it was of it’s time
in the 1970’s and became the foundation to my future work.
After graduating I began teaching part time in art schools; this
gave me a living and supported my studio practice. At the same
time I was invited as one of the original group of craftspeople
to join a workshop at 401½ Wandsworth Road, London. This
environment not only provided a space to work in, but also provided
contact with other artists, designers and craftspeople with whom
to exchange ideas. Opportunities arose for exhibitions, interior
design projects, commissions and sales.
When I started teaching at Farnham, UCCA, the textile department
had a strong reputation for teaching the traditional methods of
weaving, dying and printing cloth, whilst I added to these
approaches to textiles, I also absorbed these sensibilities to
fine cloth, dyes and making, the experience contributing to my
knowledge, whilst maintaining my own aesthetic and ideals.
Teaching has often involved visits at
home and abroad to museums and exhibitions to study and draw
ideas from other cultures, in particular the British museum,
Horniman, Victoria and Albert,
Pitt Rivers, Oxford, all with rich and diverse collections from
all around the world.
My earliest interest in quilts arose from a visit to the Amish
people in Pennsylvania around the same time of a small show of
their work appeared in London, the quality, simplicity and colour
made a lasting impact on my work.
The miniature textile exhibitions held
at the British Crafts Centre in the late 1970’s early 1980’s
provided an early awareness of textile practice from around the
world, the small size of the work meant many artists were chosen
to exhibit. I contributed regularly to these shows, enjoying
the challenge of a reduction of scale in my work.
English quilts, north-country plain or
wide simple striped pieces have had a strong influence on my
work, whilst I appreciate the tactile qualities and complexity
of patchwork; it is the simplicity and economy of process and
pattern that speak to me most. This also refers to the older ‘sashiko’ country or working
quilted garments I have admired more recently in Japan, although
I was less impressed by the visual and derivative nature (American
influence) of modern quilted work I saw, beautifully executed,
but out of context. I hope our different cultural identities can
and will be retained and distinction valued and respected before
we become a bland global ‘soup’.
From my travels and teaching I am always aware of strong differences
in colour use, influenced by different weather, light and landscape.
Some artists may feel compelled to express their politics in art,
whereas I find value in the ordinary, repetitive aspects of life,
driving up and down the same road to and from work, or finding
ever growing collections of debris picked up off beaches, roads,
out of skips, each item with its own story to tell. Old leather
shoe parts twisted and blackened by sea, who wore it and when?
So my source material is peculiar to London streets or the Kent
coast line, because that is where I find heaps of rusty crushed
drinks cans, or beautifully flattened cigarette packets with their
mixture of paper qualities, card, foil, and fine paper lining.
My work is the outcome of my learning
and translating of everything that I see and feel, both physically
and emotionally. How important one aspect or event is over another
is not possible to say, was it carefully sewing Victorian name
samplers in primary school or being excited by a row of Sol
Lewit black paintings in a wonderful new art museum in Barcelona
this year. All experiences play some part in my work.
UK
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