The Html Patchwork is now safely stored in my attic - but still only half complete. Thanks to everyone in Sheffield who has sent in their patches over christmas - especially everyone at the Totley Quilters and Nicola. The project has been on hold for a few months whilst I finished my PhD thesis - which I finally submitted last week. Phew! The good news is that during February and March I'll be concentrating on finishing the patchwork, organising the remaining patches on the wiki and the actual fabric. I'm looking forward to being artist-in-residence at Isis Arts in Newcastle from March 10th until early April, and will be hosting weekly drop-in patch workshops - watch this space for dates.
The range of patches is quite interesting, and everyone is coming up with their own theories about the different approaches to patch-working. Some people have created decorative designs to accompany their hexadecimal code, others have used a typographic approach to the lettering. Some use traditional stitches, others use free-form embroidery. Take a peek at the Patch wiki to see some of the completed patches www.open-source-embroidery.org.uk/wiki/
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Cornelia Sollfrank
Cornelia Sollfrank's questions seem pertinent to the Html Patchwork...
“Currently most women seem to prefer to undertake politically engaged work in a purely cultural environment and on a non-technological level. Women are not actively influencing the development of hard- and software, and therefore are surrendering any chance to share the related power. The question is, whether cultural/ aesthetic practice alone can sufficiently affect technological development, or whether women finally will have to get their hands dirty with technology. We have to ask ourselves questions like "How deep do we have to get into technology in order to be able to handle it consciously and be able to influence technological developments?" and "What prevents us from just going for it?" and "Does cyberfeminism necessarily require technical competence, or is it sufficient to theorize about technology and to focus on the social, cultural and political aspects of new technologies?" Cornelia Sollfrank (1999), http://www.obn.org/hackers/text1.htm
Her comments raise important questions about the use of art to explore an open source paradigm... Any thoughts?
“Currently most women seem to prefer to undertake politically engaged work in a purely cultural environment and on a non-technological level. Women are not actively influencing the development of hard- and software, and therefore are surrendering any chance to share the related power. The question is, whether cultural/ aesthetic practice alone can sufficiently affect technological development, or whether women finally will have to get their hands dirty with technology. We have to ask ourselves questions like "How deep do we have to get into technology in order to be able to handle it consciously and be able to influence technological developments?" and "What prevents us from just going for it?" and "Does cyberfeminism necessarily require technical competence, or is it sufficient to theorize about technology and to focus on the social, cultural and political aspects of new technologies?" Cornelia Sollfrank (1999), http://www.obn.org/hackers/text1.htm
Her comments raise important questions about the use of art to explore an open source paradigm... Any thoughts?
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Last patchworkshop at Access Space
What a busy week! On Thursday we finally sourced the missing fabrics (mostly greens) from the Karachi Stores on Attercliffe Road. They were so helpful and very generous. Thanks Tahir. Abi was right to recommend the shop. Indian fabrics have a greater yellow/green colour range, and have fabulous bright almost luminescent colours.
Then Saturday was the busiest patchworkshop so far. Kathrin from Manchester came for the day and helped to draw out the patchwork design on a white sheet. We then transfered all the patches from the wall onto the sheet. So at last we have a portable patchwork. Richard finally got round to embroidering his patch which is the most glamourous of them all! Tony Kemplen popped into drop off his pink parrot patch, and stayed to make another. We celebrated Lisa's birthday with cake and candels, and generally ate too many biscuits.Tricia from the patchwork garden described some of the different ways in which patchwork quilts are made collectively - and showed us some beautiful examples. She explained that older quilts kept the paper in the back of the patchwork as an extra thermal layer. At the moment we're planning to keep the paper on the back of the Html quilt - but it might fall out when we take some of the tacking out. There's still a good 50 patches to make - so I'm hoping to run some workshops here in Newcastle after christmas. In the meantime - if anyone would like to make a patch do get in touch and I can send you the fabric swatch of your choice.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Patching Press and Pressing Patches
The Html Patchwork project is gaining both patchworker and press attention. There was an article in the Metro newspaper, UK, on September 6th, 2007; and this week there's an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, in New York State. Fellow bloggers in Germany, Sweden, Australia, America, and around the world are also linking to www.open-source-embroidery.org.uk. In Sheffield, Jo from Art Through Textiles has found some great fabric colours, and the group are making beautiful patches which are being added to the design wall day by day.
After many people's suggestions - I have finally updated all the namechecks on the patchwiki - so that when you scroll over the image of the patchwork, the name of each patchworker is displayed. I've also added photos of patches by Billy, Alison, Julian, and Elizabeth.
There are still 30 outstanding patches which people have pledged to make and post to Access Space, 1 Sidney St, Sheffield, S1 4RG UK by 5th November 2007. So if you still have a patch on the shelf - it would be great if you could get it completed - or let me know that you cant make it - and we'll give the fabric to someone else. Then there are about another 40 fabrics to left to source - so feel free to browse the wiki and stake your claim on a patch.
Now that we are starting to sew the patches together the need for plain cotton fabrics is becoming clear. There's a lot of tweaking going on to make them all fit together - so you don't need to iron your patch, as we might need to fold, or unfold it a few millimeters anyway.
After many people's suggestions - I have finally updated all the namechecks on the patchwiki - so that when you scroll over the image of the patchwork, the name of each patchworker is displayed. I've also added photos of patches by Billy, Alison, Julian, and Elizabeth.
There are still 30 outstanding patches which people have pledged to make and post to Access Space, 1 Sidney St, Sheffield, S1 4RG UK by 5th November 2007. So if you still have a patch on the shelf - it would be great if you could get it completed - or let me know that you cant make it - and we'll give the fabric to someone else. Then there are about another 40 fabrics to left to source - so feel free to browse the wiki and stake your claim on a patch.
Now that we are starting to sew the patches together the need for plain cotton fabrics is becoming clear. There's a lot of tweaking going on to make them all fit together - so you don't need to iron your patch, as we might need to fold, or unfold it a few millimeters anyway.
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