Collaboration with Jan Garside

I had a day working with Jan Garside today on our collaborative installation work for Synchronise, a Design Factory exhibition at NCCD which opens on 9th March and continues until 2nd June.

Jan and I are working on a large groups of piece including her woven work, lots of petals that I am making out of my own fabrics and using Jan’s prints, and hopefully, an embellished chair.

We’re drawing on Jan’s previous research into Maiden’s Garlands which I also find fascinating. Jan and I first discussed a collaboration several years ago as we have a shared interest in historical inspiration. I wanted to continue to explore the ideas we discussed then and see if we could create joint work. I found it liberating and fun to take my inspiration from Jan’s existing work (the paper garlands) and develop ideas from it. Working with Jan on this project has given me the confidence to experiment with different techniques in my work such as print and develop a strong research-focus which I have already used in another commission. I have developed some new techniques through my experimentation and discussions with Jan which will be appearing through my work in the future. In the end, the work I have made for this show is very similar to the ideas we first discussed in 2009, although it went along several different paths before it came back to the beginning!

You’ll be able to see the work in progress at my first open studio on Tuesday 26th Feb, 12-4.30pm, and possibly on the 5th March, the day before I deliver it to the gallery!