Hop-Kins at Kent Life

I have been working on my pieces for installation for 'Transpositions' with  Vir-Art   at Kent Life near Maidstone.  
The work was installed today in a flooded hopper's hut with the help of a 'Man who Can', Gary..who shares Romany ancestry.

The artwork will be in place around Kent Life from 22nd July until 2nd September with a 'Meet the Artists' event on Wednesday 25th July from 10.00-12.00 and a workshop in the afternoon 2.00-4.00pm.

There is more about this in my current feature and lesson on Maggie Greys wonderful on-line workshop as Workshop on the Web. I talk about an approach to sustainable textiles and how  this desire to re-use is part of an ethical choice.See link below:

Workshop on The Web, Sustainable Stitch, Summer  2012

 

Hop-Kins

I was drawn to the hoppers huts and reflected on the life of my grandmother as they came to work on the hop-fields for at least a century before the second world war.

My grandmother was what is known as a 'tidy' woman in mind and her home. Like all Romany women, she kept her caravan as neat as a pin and was careful of her use of resources around her. Her tea kettle was in use all her life.She would have made the hut a 'home' for her family decorating it with fabrics and utensils which were beautiful as well as functional. The artwork uses some of the vintage fabrics I would have remembered from my grandmothers home when she settled in Norwich after marrying my grandfather. I too, am a 'child' of the hop and this work reflects my equal love for my grandmother's careful ways, looking after what is around her. Trying, through my work, to take care of shared resources and the land around us.