The past few weeks have been somewhat disjointed, there have been trips away, a rotten cold that lingered and the tidying up the garden for the winter. I often say to people that i garden in the summer and print and make books in the winter. It isn’t quite lake that but I’m sure that you get the idea.
I have been trying to gather my thoughts together for a new phase in my work and a phrase kept coming back to me – “The Past is always Present”. This could be seen on many levels and can evoke several ideas. So I stuck with it and found many connections with unpicked seams and what lies beyond the edges, ideas that I have pursued earlier this year.
The past is always present in the textiles where there are marks (unpicked seams, worn holes, loose threads, restyling) telling tales about past history and so holding memories of previous lives of people as well as the fabrics.
So I went back to an early piece in my textile collection – a 1620 import from India to Europe, silk embroidery to cotton with a raw silk backing, it shows the beginnings of the designs of what we call Chintz.
And I made a plate with cut out design edges which has been sealed and waiting to be printed, hope it works!
Annwyn Dean 