Born 1977 in Cornwall, UK and I still live there with my husband and three daughters.
Since a young age I always had an interest in art and textiles. If I wasn't indoors sewing, drawing or crocheting, I was outside creating sculptures and images with found objects.
My interest continued throughout school, although I didn't do exceptionally well at art and textiles in my GCSEs (general certificate in secondary education). Into early adulthood textiles and art stayed as hobbies as I followed a different career path doing various administration work.
In my first marriage I had two daughters and the time with them allowed me to reconnect with my creativity. I then started a business designing and making children's clothing. This gave me the inspiration to return to college, as a mature student, and complete an A level in textiles and an AVCE (advanced vocational certificate in education) in art & design in which I gained extremely high marks. I was even asked to return, after completing the course, to teach it the following year.
Unfortunately, I couldn't continue past the first term as I didn't have a qualification higher than which I was teaching.
This did, however, give me confidence to join the foundation degree in fine art practice at Cornwall Collegewith Patrick Lowry.
Due to going through a divorce I didn't follow these studies further as I had to find work.
It wasn't until three years later after meeting my husband that our love rekindled my passions again and I was able to pursue what I truly wanted in life. Being pregnant with my thrid daughter gave me the time to connect with my creativity once again.
This step was encouraged when I won a prize at the 2009 Jersey Textile Showcase and was shortlisted for the Charles Henry Foyle Trust Award in stitched textiles of the same year with my piece on'freedom'called 'many suffer in silence'.
I started studying with the Open College of Artsin order to complete my degree which has been placed on hold as I am now doing a PGCE (professional graduate certificate in education).
The teaching placement I am based, for my PGCE, is the foundation degree in fine art textiles at Cornwall College. It is a very inspiring place and has some great students and wonderful tutors. I have been working alongside Claire Lucas, Sue Dove and Julia Platt. We also have Alice Kettle as the external verifier and she visits the college about twice a year to see the students' work and give lectures about her work.
I have enjoyed the placement so much I am hoping to join the course next year and be an art student again!
EDUCATION
2009/10 - PGCE post compulsory education, Cornwall College
2009 - Workshop with Alice Kettle, Redditch
2008/9 - Textiles 1 'a creative approach', Open College of Arts
2007 - Diploma of higher education in Religious Studies, Open University
2003/5 - FdA Fine Art Practice, Cornwall College
2001/3 - AVCE Art & Design (AA), Penwith College
2001/2 - A level Textiles (A), Penwith College
EXHIBITIONS
2009 - Freedom, Forge Mill Museum, Redditch
2009 - Open Studio, Goldsithney, Cornwall
2009 - Jersey Textile Showcase
2004 - End of year show, Cornwall College
COMPETITIONS & AWARDS
2009 - 'Transformation' at the Jersey Textile Showcase
2009 - 'Freedom', shortlisted artist for the Charles Henry Foyle Trust Award in stitched textiles
PUBLICATIONS
2010 - 'Self: self-portraits from around the world', Beautiful Cariad Publishing
ARTIST TALKS
2010 - Talks about my work to FdA Fine Art Textiles, Cornwall College
EMPLOYMENT
2003 - Lecturer in art & design, Penwith College
2009/10 - Lecturer in textiles (community education), Cornwall College
EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE
2003 - Lecturer in art & design, Penwith College (teaching advanced level first years)
2005/8 - Teacher and teaching assistant, Humphry Davy Secondary School (planning, delivering lessons and supporting special needs)
2009/10 - Lecturer in textiles (community education), Cornwall College (designing, planning and delivering courses and workshops)
2009/10 - PGCE training with placement on the FdA Fine Art Textiles course (planning, supporting students, tutorials and delivering workshops and lectures)
CONCEPTS/THEMES/IDEAS
My work is mainly about protection, authenticity, the self, life and death. These areas explore what we are, who we are, why we are and our only certainty of what will happen to us all. I work in areas that are relevant to me at a particular time in my life and what I am currently experiencing. This is primarily leading an authentic and wholesome life, valuing and protecting those special to you, breaking free from social constraints and dealing with the darker sides of life - depression and death.
Through this self-reflection, I hope to share my view on the human condition and in turn help others reflect on their own place in the world and how they conceive life. This passion has also moved me into education. I highly value helping students grow and communicate their art and stories.
My work is sometimes sporadic and eclectic, much like myself, which, I am happy to embrace; it is very free and liberating experience. Sometimes I enjoy creating colourful and tactile textiles with not much 'meaning' behind them. Other times, the work goes into a much deeper concept and visually can be remarkably different from the aforementioned as it is often quite neutral.
PROCESSES and TECHNIQUES
My working process varies depending on what I am creating. I am, however, on a constant lookout for any second hand items - objects, curtains, sheets, clothing and books. These items not only bring a certain aesthetic quality, but also a language to the work that I could not create solely. They refer us to their context, history, gender, symbolism, use, domesticity and we question who might have owned them and where have they been? These items I might keep for many years or minutes before working on them. They wait until I have felt the inspiration of what they say to me and how I can use that for what I want to say.
I enjoy the process of stitching, the attaching of surfaces together. This process is sometimes either very simple with plain running stitch or indiscernible by the use of free-motion machine embroidery.
Image transfer is a technique I have always tried to incorporate in my work and have developed many different ways of using this process, depending on what I am communicating.
All of these techniques form a metaphor for life, I see the found object as dealing with what one experiences in life and putting it to use. The stitches are about the attachments we form, creating them beautifully. Image transfers are the memories we store, the small fragments of our experiences that we try to preserve.
INFLUENCES
Firstly, the found/second-hand items often influence what it is I am creating. Although, they often wait until I have a more developed idea. These objects do lead me to explore and be influenced by their context, history, gender, symbolism, use, domesticity and the question of might have owned them and where they have been?
Fundamentally, experiences and thoughts on life have the biggest influence. Authenticity due to not following what I truly wanted to do in life. Protection - because of my three daughters all at various ages and stages of development, most significantly having a baby in 2008 led me to explore new life but also death as my stepfather died during my pregnancy. Life can be cruel but wondrous all at the same time - this is what inspires me.
I am currently interested in the position of textiles in fine art and the stigma attached of it being gender specific and craft. This is forming a personal research project and I am sure it will feed into my work.
The artists that I draw from vary, it might be due to the process, materials, aesthetics or their concepts. The machine embroidery and narratives used by Alice Kettle are a great inspiration. Eva Hesses use of materials seems so simple but contemplative and mesmerising. I look at the work of Louise Bourgeois for her soft sculptures. I particularly like Tracey Emins drawings for their use of line and energy, and her textiles for pushing the boundaries of what is accepted as contemporary art.
bio
© Rebecca Harris 2009 All rights reserved
