NEWS LETTER FOR PARTICIPANTS

Dear Participants,

Thank you for accepting the invitation to have your name included in my lockdown art project for essential workers and volunteers.

The artwork looks amazing and you will be delighted to hear that it will be exhibited in the window of U Choose Smoothie Bar, a local community hub, Café and Art Gallery from Tuesday 10th August until Saturday 21st August 2021. 

U Choose Smoothie Bar,
1 Bath Street, Ilkeston, DE7 8AH 
Opening hours Tuesday - Saturday 9am - 2:30pm, Closed Sunday and Monday.

Saturday 21st August is the last day of the exhibition and my aim is to be at site to meet anyone who is able to attend during the day. I will be in touch again soon with more information about the work and how it has developed over the last 18 months. 

grant_jpeg_black.jpg

Coiled Seashell with overlock tabs

I was gifted some overlock bobbins from the Button Factory at Leicester and later discovered that these overlock numbers were used to identify machinists as their textile work went down the line. Any garments that failed quality control could be returned to that specific machinist for alteration or repair. 

Following my visit to the Shell Museum I felt inspired to use these delicate rolls of numbers to copy the rhythm and growth pattern of a seashell, coiling the overlock tabs from small to large and anchoring them down with cotton thread. Also included are 27 mother of pearl buttons made from the inner layer of certain shells. 

99 Used Labels

Due to popular demand I have assembled another 99 with used clothing labels. The used labels are selected from my collection of labels gathered since 2003 from clothing identified as rags. The work measures 88cm high x 72cm wide and is box framed in white behind glass.
NOW SOLD COMMISSIONS WELCOME.

In 2010 I took a photograph of the 1.5 metre plastic ice cream cone standing at the entrance of Cromer Pier. I felt inspired by its exaggerated scale. I printed out the photograph and pinned it to my studio wall with thoughts of making a piece of artwork in response. 10 years later during my preparation for Norfolk Open Studios the Cromer ice cream sculpture came to mind and I began to think about how I could re-fashion this frozen treat with my signature material? How the 99 gained its name is questionable, but it definitely gave me the idea to exchange the soft scoop ice cream with 99 used clothing labels. A simple idea to replace the item being consumed with found materials worn by the consumer. Detail below, click on images to enlarge.

In 2010 I took a photograph of the 1.5 metre plastic ice cream cone standing at the entrance of Cromer Pier. I felt inspired by its exaggerated scale. I printed out the photograph and pinned it to my studio wall with thoughts of making a piece of artwork in response. 10 years later during my preparation for Norfolk Open Studios the Cromer ice cream sculpture came to mind and I began to think about how I could re-fashion this frozen treat with my signature material? 

How the 99 gained its name is questionable, but it definitely gave me the idea to exchange the soft scoop ice cream with 99 used clothing labels. A simple idea to replace the item being consumed with found materials worn by the consumer. Detail below, click on images to enlarge.

My journey

I wanted to go to Art College when I left school but my parents encouraged me to get a ‘proper job’. For 20 years I worked as a Civil Servant at The Nottingham District Land Registry and later at HMRC. I began to study art when my children started school, although I always did the school run and family was always a priority. That’s the thing with art you can work around obstacles and I often worked in the evening after their bedtime. I studied art for 7 years and loved every minute of it, I was awarded MA Fine Art with distinction in 2005 from Nottingham Trent University. My work with garments and labels simply evolved through a programme of exploring and manipulating a wide range of materials.

Joy Pitts #joynextthesea

Joy Pitts #joynextthesea