Hidden Lives

Just in time!  I have finished my work for the Gawthorpe Lace Inspired 2012 campaign.

I made a pair of ladies cuffs: machine embroidered net decorated with hand-made paper couronnes.  Hand cuffs to bind Victorian women, financially to their husbands, intellectually to the expectations of society and physically by a well-defined sense of duty.  With limited means of expression, I imagined a Victorian woman stitching I dream of escape and set me free, unobtrusively working the words into the decoration.  The key motif is reminiscent of a chaterlaine worn by a house-keeper (the only suitable job for a woman).  The paper couronnes are fashioned from old books, alluding to the power of the written word to change the status quo.

Photos and design: copyright Claire Ketteman

Mixing it up!

Do art and science mix?  Why not - they always have done in my mind!

I'm doing just that at the moment as I juggle my new job, researching business opportunities in the chemical industry, whilst I making a very late start on a piece for "Inspired 2013", a competition run by Gawthorpe Hall.

The scientist in me is analysing different types of dissolvable fabric for machine embroidered lace (the current favourite is Romeo from Barnyarns) but my art head is thinking about what kind of statement I want to make and how to connect with my audience.

Why not come back in a couple of weeks and see what I have made!