Snow falling like soft white feathers outside, and firelight within. Tomorrow I'm venturing out into the icy city to see a new exhibition (Aware: Art Fashion Identity) at the Royal Academy, and very much looking forward to meeting one of the artists, Susie MacMurray. The picture above is from 'Echo', her beautiful installation at York St Mary's, made out of hairnets and rosin-coated violin bow hair; her work at the RA is 'Widow', an extraordinary gown of dressmaker pins. You can listen to the artist talking about it here... Wonderfully inspiring, hence my voyage across the internet this afternoon, following the traces of Susie's work, from the red velvet and mussel shells at Pallant House in Chichester, to a web of gold embroidery thread in Sir Nathaniel Curzon's Derbyshire mansion...
8 comments:
That looks beautiful! It reminds me of my childhood illustrated copy of The Snow Queen, somehow. How did it go? Two children, swept away by a beautiful, mysterious queen, the boy's heart pierced with a splinter of ice...
It's very funny to see photos and read tweets and blog posts from England about the snow these past few days. That was us, last week, immobilized under a mere few inches of snow. I spent a lot of time curled up on the sofa, wrapped in blankets...
It does look beautiful. I heard Susie speaking with Jane Garvey yesterday and felt compelled to look at the'pin' dress on the R4 website. It looked absolutely amazing. I too wanted to stroke the dress, but only in a downward direction..
Speaking of prickly, I just woke my teenage daughter up (she had forgotten to set her alarm) I think I'd rather have stroked the dress the wrong way...
Ah, I love the Snow Queen: Hans Christian Andersen at his best. London is as cold as the Snow Queen's heart, but glad I dived into the city today, to see the Royal Academy show. Susie's dress of pins is amazing -- and yes, I did stroke it (downwards; any other direction, and it pricks, as if in a fairy tale).
Lilacs in May: how I know those prickly mornings; I suppose mothers are the safest people to deal with such spiky hazards...
That dress of pins is mesmerizing; I followed your link to Susie's website and from there to a video interview. It made me think of watching a dear family friend struggle with widowhood for the past decade. In the beginning, she wore her grief like that gown of pins, the way a porcupine protects itself with its quills...gradually, most of the pins have dropped away, but not all...
Ahhh I actually went to the exhibition yesterday with the hope of seeing Susie's dress.. to my dismay I learned upon arrival that it was open to friends of the gallery only. Oh well, off I trudge, back through the snow and hopefully today I'll see Susie's dress!
Ahhh I actually went to the exhibition yesterday with the hope of seeing Susie's dress.. to my dismay I learned upon arrival that it was open to friends of the gallery only. Oh well, off I trudge, back through the snow and hopefully today I'll see Susie's dress!
So sorry you had to trudge to the RA -- especially through those biting winds -- only to find the doors closed to you. At least Mayfair looks romantic in the snow...
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