What Do I Need To Do To Make It OK? Opening At Forty Hall Estate

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Aug. 24, 2016, noon

Thursday 25th August – Sunday 20th November

Contemporary art exhibition “What Do I Need to Do to Make it OK?” opens at Forty Hall this coming Thursday (25th August).

The touring exhibition, curated by Liz Cooper, includes specially commissioned work, using stitch and other media, to explore damage and repair, disease and medicine, healing and restoration, to landscapes, bodies, minds and objects.

The exhibition title is taken from a 2013 talk by internationally recognised artist Dorothy Caldwell, who frequently leaves her base in a small town in Ontario, Canada to explore her fascination with landscapes and how humans have marked and visualised them over the centuries; from ancient hills in southern Australia to remote Inuit communities living near the Arctic Circle. Dorothy transfers these ideas into striking semi-abstract wall-hung works, hand-stitched into layers of dyed cloth and felt.

Freddie Robins, an artist famed for challenging the common perception of knitting as craft uses precision machine-knitting in unsettling combinations with hand-crafted and found objects to explore preoccupations with crime, illness and fear.

Celia Pym, whose interest in process has led her to knit her way around Japan, rescues other people’s discarded and partially-made garments, to spend a residency darning the clothes and bags of medical students in the Dissecting Room at Kings College London.

Karina Thompson also investigates medical territory using high-tech embroidery to navigate complex data. Her work varies greatly in scale and has often been made in response to places; from 18th Century industrialist Matthew Boulton’s home in the West Midlands, to the immense disused spinning room at Salts Mill near Bradford.

The fifth and final exhibitor, Saidhbhín Gibson, is a multi-disciplinary artist who is concerned with humanity’s impact on and interaction with the landscape. Her work is intricate and frequently small in scale, requiring careful observation and engendering a sense of wonder. A recurring format is her series of stitch-led subtle interventions into natural objects, such as the series of “repaired” leaves known as Make Good, Make Better. There is deliberate ambiguity in her titles – is it art that makes things better, or nature?

The exhibition will be touring to other venues across the UK. The generous support of Arts Council England has allowed all five artists to be commissioned to make new work in response to the exhibition themes and this work will be unveiled in stages throughout the tour.

What Do I Need to Do to Make it OK? was developed in partnership with the International Textile Research Centre of the University for the Creative Arts, with R&D support from Arts Council England. Dorothy Caldwell and Saidhbhín Gibson are also supported respectively by Canada Council for the Arts and Design & Crafts Council of Ireland.

Events at Forty Hall, delivered alongside exhibition:

Guided Exhibition Tours
Saturday 8 October | 11am & 1 Pm
FREE

Delve a little deeper with guided tours led by Elizabeth Elia, from the Forty Hall programme team. With the chance to find out more about the featured artists and processes used this is a great way to gain a greater insight in to this touring art exhibition. Pre–booking essential.

More information..

Mending & Textile Repair Workshop
Saturday 8 October | 2 - 5pm
£35 Per Person

Explore the process, tenderness and care of mending and textile repair with artist Celia Pym. Learn skills in woven and ‘knitted’ darning, Sashiko and patching and practice your newly acquired mending techniques on your own holey garments! Darning materials will be provided. Please bring along any damaged items that you would like to discuss repair options for. No previous darning, knitting, needle based experience is necessary. Celia has been exploring mending since 2007 with extensive experience of small everyday holes, at heels, elbows, in pockets as well as working on more dramatic damage, from water damage, animal nesting and moth issues. Celia’s work features in the What Do I Need to Do to Make It OK? exhibition.

More information…

For further information on the exhibition or more images please contact Victoria Sanderson (Victoria.sanderson@enfield.gov.uk or 02083791461)

NOTES:

Information about tour dates and artists: Click here

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