If you have kept up with my blog (intermittent as it has been) you will know that my intention over the last 3 or 4 years has been to create a body of work which could be exhibited under the title 'THREE SCORE & 10: our days are numbered' - DNA-inspired artwork which was a continuation of my investigations into developing a visual interpretation of heredity and genetics.
This weekend sees the opening of an exhibition at The Old Parcels Office Artspace in Scarborough, called OBSESSIONS. The work for this exhibition has been selected and curated by Rob Moore, and aims to bring together the work of 15 northern artists who have dedicated their lives to their art.
I am absolutely thrilled that 3 pieces of work designed and constructed by me have been included in this exhibition, more details of which can be found on my website www.untangledthreads.co.uk
Boro-inspired KIMONO
DNA spiral
Primordial Soup
Members of The Stitchbook Collective have been integral to the creation of these pieces of work.
THANK YOU x
DNA spiral
Although the KIMONO and PRIMORDIAL SOUP have already been exhibited (Knitting & Stitching Show and Festival of Quilts), this is the first outing for the DNA Spiral, and it's installation wasn't without its problems. If I thought that the principles behind genetics were hard to get my head around, I really wasn't ready for the physics of TORQUE. I also, naively, wasn't really aware of how vitally important the structural integrity of the ladder was going to be. (Not the ladder I was climbing up, but the ladder within the DNA spiral itself.)
Having made many maquettes in various sizes, I had worked out how best to construct the form. (Threaded like a huge version of a beaded necklace.)
What I hadn't allowed for was the essential strength of the right angles at the point where the uprights met the 'rungs'. Without this tension,
the structure simply collapses when twisted.
I know how to prevent this from happening now. In jewellery terms, it needs a crimp bead at each junction. In mathematics, the right angle needs protecting to prevent the square from twisting into a rhombus.
I am however, happy for the current version of the DNA spiral to be presented as it is in OBSESSIONS. It is part of the project's own evolution by natural selection(!) That's a bit tongue in cheek, but Darwin's own expression 'descent with modification' is something like I am planning. This version of the spiral was simply not a favourable variation, therefore it will ultimately perish, and a new modified version will emerge and, if successful, will prevail! Watch this space!!