WWI Project - Columba livia

Hundreds of names of Ilkeston men who gave their lives in WWI will be machine woven onto individual nametags and pinned onto stretched canvas in the image of a pigeon. Thousands of homer pigeons also lost their lives during WWI. They were used to transfer important messages and were awarded medals of heroism for saving soldiers lives.

The work will be exhibited at Erewash Museum in September 2015. 

WWI project - sketch detail pigeon (Columba livia)

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Varnishing Day - Royal Academy 2014

It’s an enormous privilege to be exhibiting amongst established artists and Royal Academicians. Eileen Cooper, Keeper of The Royal Academy selected the portrait from 12,000 submissions. The work is hung on the east wall of the Large Weston Room, which is dominated by portraiture.

Visit the RA site

Read Nottingham evening post article

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition selected 2014

New portrait selected from 12,000 submissions for The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2014.

Brow, cheek, nose, jaw, ear, lips, neck is a portrait of Jane, a Leicestershire dairy farmer with 130 milking cows in her herd. The image is created by pinning thousands of garment labels onto canvas to reflect facial anatomy and the patterns produced by hair and clothing. Jane has evolved from a process of assembling 30,000 used labels, and questions the idea of branding by literally describing specific facial features. The navy blue background label is woven with the words, ‘part of a two piece set’, and refers to a second portrait of an Ayrshire calf reared by Jane on the farm.

HELLO, MY NAME IS PAUL SMITH

The following exhibitions in London are well worth a visit:- HELLO MY NAME IS PAUL SMITH at the Design Museum, Shad Thames, London. The exhibition has been extended until 22 June 2014. Paul Smith talks about the things that inspire him, how he uses colour in the design process and achieving a balance between the hand made and contemporary.

ARTISTS TEXTILES, 'Picasso to Warhol' at the Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey St,  (a short walk from the Design Museum, Tower Bridge tube station), until 17th May 2014.

SAATCHI GALLERY, The Duke of York's HQ, Sloane Square. In the basement you can see Richard Wilson's 20:50, site-specific installation using dump oil and steel. The oil creates an optical illusion and an overpowering smell.