2014 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop Overlays

Michael Brennand-Wood

$295 includes 45 lab fee

September 18, 19 - Class Limit 14

Maiwa Loft: Above the Net Loft, Granville Is. Vancouver BC

Layering is an important aspect of both history and archeology. We build and we erase, we add and subtract, continually evolving new meanings and insights. By moving these ideas of accretion and removal into the textile world, students will gain new strategies to create and modify their work.

Each participant will create a personal two-dimensional laminate of imagery, incorporating tensioned layers of cloth with collage, stitch, paint, and other mixed media. Once assembled each layer will be selectively cut back to reveal layers of information and meaning. 

Frames will be provided along with opaque and translucent fabrics in differing weights. 

Participants will bring objects or found elements that can be inserted within layers of suspended cloth. Objects may be stones, toys, natural or mechanized parts, books, pages, photos, tools, new or old components, anything that might be creatively veiled and covered with fabric.

Imagery might be obscured, erased, overlaid, cut, veiled, or removed through techniques of cut work, appliqué, shadow quilting, darning, mending, or gathering.

Critique and group discussion will be an important component of this course. Participants need to be open-minded and willing to experiment with concepts and media. They will be encouraged to develop original solutions in relation to the core aims of the workshop; this is not a technical or prescriptive course.  

Emphasis will be placed on the investigation and research of personal imagery and the development of related technical innovation, ideas that can be developed at a later stage. 

Teaching will largely be on a one-to-one basis. At the close of the workshop, Michael would like to have a group evaluation to discuss what has been achieved. The purpose of this final session is to share outcomes and to set a personal agenda to be continued and developed back in  your home studios.

This workshop is a special opportunity to work directly with Michael Brennand-Wood, an internationally acclaimed artist, curator, and speaker from the UK.