Books by Artists

Books by Artists opened on World Book Day 7 March and is currently on show in the City Space at the Winchester Discovery Centre until Sunday 14 April 2013. The exhibition highlights a small selection from the Artists’ Books Collection held in the Winchester School of Art Library, a part of the University of Southampton. It is arranged around six themes: text and textiles, construction and materials, photo-books, sense of place, starting out and wordplay. These themes have been chosen to illustrate the different approaches taken by artists in creating their books.

I think the Collection started sometime after the School of Art moved to its current premises in Park Avenue in 1965. It now includes over 1,500 items and dates from the 1960s through the decades to the present day. The emphasis has been on engaging students and academic staff across the School studying in different disciplines from Fine Art to Graphics to Textiles and Fashion.

Books have been acquired from both established names and new talent, including staff and students from the School. We acquire books from specialist book shops, exhibitions, book fairs and directly from artists and small publishers.

One of the themes is text and textiles which reveals how some artists combine text with textiles to create new book forms. Each book refers to textiles in unexpected ways as the artists employ fabric, haberdashery, yarn, or even sewing patterns in their creations. These Textile techniques often reference familiar tools associated with knitting and sewing, for example, the pin cushion and needle case.

Mrs Derrick’s blankets by Angie Butler

We have included a making space and wall in the gallery. The Printmaking students at the School of Art are working with us on two workshops due to take place at the Winchester Discovery Centre Cafe on Friday 5 and Friday 12 April, 2013 – 10.30am to 1pm. They are also taking turns to show their work in the window dispaly case at the entrance to City Space.

We also took part in World Book Day organised by the students at the School of Art. An event which opens out the creativity community to all at the School and included some of our recent graduates who are now alumni.

Catherine at World Book Day in the Rotunda, with her souvenir print

The exhibition has been curated by myself, Linda Newington, with Catherine Polley. Thanks are due to Special Collections for exhibition design and installation.

An interview with Tom Van Deijnen (alias Tom of Holland)

Image – Tom Van Deijnen wearing his own making, I think socks, gloves and trousers.

I met up with Tom Van Deijnen late last year at MADE in Brighton to interview him following his very good paper given at In the loop 3: the voices of knitting. He had spoken about his “Curiosity Cabinet of Knitting Stitches” which received thunderous applause from the delegates. Tom has visited the Knitting Reference Library located at Winchester School of Art a few times. He has always found much to interest him as a knitter. So I decided to find out more about him.

The pleasure of making

Of course his mum is a really good knitter, she can famously knit, watch tv and do a crossword all at the same time! Tom remembers choosing the colours for a polo neck Fair Isle type jumper she knitted him when he was about twelve. However she did not teach him to knit. He learnt at primary school where he knitted a tiny cable scarf for his teddy bear, with the not unusual beginners problem of too tight tension. He told me he has always liked making and that he just can’t stop it. This is perhaps one of the reasons that knitting and sewing have made a notable comeback. “The pleasure and meaning of making” by Ellen Dissanayake from American Craft, vol.52, no.2, pages 40-45, published in 1995 is an interesting article on this subject. She discusses the centrality of making in everyday life.

Tom now knits for his mum.

Image – a very beautiful scarf knitted by Tom for his mother

Early projects

Although Tom took a different path through school he continued making and seriously returned to knitting in his early thirties. Seeing a Paul Smith scarf he coveted he decided to knit his own version using Rowan felted tweed in russet-brown. Running out of wool near completion led to an improvisation with a purple stripe and tassels.

A tank top followed using a Sirdar pattern which proved too prescriptive stifling this makers own creativity. At this point he turned to the books of Elizabeth Zimmerman describing her as “the knitter’s companion”. Her emphasis on construction, pattern elements and stitches proved a good fit. Consequently a key tip from Tom is “always knit a swatch”.

Sanquhar gloves

The first pair of plain knitted gloves were for a Christmas present. These were from a recipe which Tom says gives guidance rather than strict instructions. Having enjoyed this challenge Tom moved onto the complexities of knitting Sanquhar gloves spotted on Ravelry. He used the written pattern with no charts from the Scottish Women’s Rural Institute http://www.swri.org.uk Tom has told me he has an interest in mathematics which I have noted many knitters share. Amongst them my knitting friends Deryn Relph http://www.derynrelph.co.uk and Sarah Elwick http://www.sarahelwick.com The yarn first chosen for the gloves was discarded when he discovered Prick you Finger at Bethnal Green in London where he replaced it with Shetland Spindrift from Jamiesons of Shetland.

Image – Sanquhar gloves knitted recently by Tom for “Wovember”

The reading gloves

Prick your Finger http://www.prickyourfinger.com is described by Tom as a wool shop that would never belittle anyones work. It was here that his obsession with gloves reached a peak in his exhibition entitled “The Reading Gloves”. Developed as a knitting shop like no other by Rachael Mathews a founder member of the “Cast Off Knitting Club for boys and girls” the shop window was a fitting location for Tom’s knitted literary gloves. He had begun with a pair based on a Mary Thomas recipe and gave them the title of “Lady Chatterley”. Of course “Mellors” followed, also “Anna Karenina” and “Dorian Gray”.

Curiosity Cabinet of Knitting Stitches

Image – from the Curiosity Cabinet

This project has been based on Tom’s reasearch into knitting stitches and has recently been completed. It will be having a first showing very soon at Prick Your Finger from Friday, 15 February 2013. A reclamation of forgotten stitches and techniques is presented as an homage to the curiosity cabinets of past collectors often seen in our national museums.

Knitters and their books: visits to the Knitting Reference Library.

Image – The Knitting Reference Library

Tom has been a welcome supporter of our work with the Knitting Reference Library. Consistently posting information about his visits and the resources he has come across. His interests are wide-ranging but often come to rest on the unusual and unexpected. The earliest printed books commence with the Victorian knitting manuals donated by Richard Rutt dating from the 1830s. One of Tom’s prefered periods is the early to mid-twentieth century which he describes as refined and sophisticated. There are also many classics from Mary Thomas through the decades to present day authors. I think Tom should join them some time.

New Projects

The challenge of learning to spin is next with advice from a friend Felicity Ford alias Felix http://www.thedomesticsoundscape.com A lovely hand-made spindle had arrived in the post and Felix was sending Wenslydale and Jacob fleece. There are also “bursiforms” knitted in the round to explore soon for this super knitting geek.

Image – the new spindle

All images courtesy of Tom except for the Knitting Reference Library image from Linda Newington. You can read all about Tom at http://www.tomofholland.com His blog includes all the knitting projects mentioned and new work, there is darning too. Do take a look, visit Prick Your Finger and us too at the Knitting Reference Library http://www.soton.ac.uk/intheloop

Manly Knits from the Knitting Reference Library

Image courtesy University of Southampton Library

A small selection of menswear knitting patterns, copyright cleared with the yarn company Sirdar, from the Knitting Reference Library are now available via a link on our website at http://www.soton.ac.uk/intheloop
The patterns are all from the Richard Rutt Collection which is especially strong on menswear. I have included a few of my favourites all images Courtesy of the University of Southampton Library.

This has been a “pilot-project” to explore digitising a selection of the knitting patterns. Sirdar have been very supportive in allowing us to digitise the covers which will help us profile and promote the collection as both a research and educational resource.

The project has been quite complex involving much investigation and research into company histories, cataloguing and indexing, and copyright clearance for open access licences. This has all been quite complicated in relation to making the patterns digitally available. The primary intention is to improve access and profile the collection around different themes starting with menswear.

Users need to remember that knitting patterns are an important aspect of a company’s archive and heritage so having permission regarding copyright clearance has been a key factor for us as an institution.

Here are just a few of my personal favourites which reveal the interesting imagery of knitting patterns. In my view they are an aspect of our national heritage, relating not only to knitting but also to business and textile history, the aspirations of knitters through the 20th century and how knitting patterns relate to fashion and everyday clothing.

Our collection commences around the 1920s through the decades of the twentieth century into the present day. It includes menswear, womenswear and childrenswear, the knitting campaigns of World War 1 and World War 11, knitting for the home, patterns for dolls clothes and novelties.

Daily knits 3 from Winchester School of Art

With thanks to the Knitmas Party students Lucy, Mikey, Lora & Alex

Daily knits 2 from Winchester School of Art

With thanks to Sarah, Caroline and Anne

 

Daily knits 1 at Winchester School of Art spotted by the Knitting Reference Library

The first group of my daily knits spotted at Winchester School of Art in winter 2012 leading up to Christmas. Lots of style and variety, male and female, students and staff, hand knits, car boot finds and originals. Who says knitting’s boring and beige? Here at the Knitting Reference Library we know it’s warm, colourful, interesting, eclectic and stylish. The daily knits include Marie Wallin, Head Designer at Rowan, who was visiting to work with the knitwear students.

With thanks to Maija, Andy, Kjetil and Marie

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Yarn bombing in the University Library

In the loop 3: the voices of knitting recently inspired some yarn bombing in the Hartley Library at the University of Southampton. All images are from the yarn bomb with permission from Jayne and Verna.

Winnie the witch

Two colleagues who acted as “knitting ambassadors” to the conference heard the paper given by Alyce McGovern, a criminologist from New Zealand, entitled “Guerilla knitting: the craft of subversion”. Like the University Librarian they found it very interesting. It was also illustrated with some fine examples of this recent sometimes controversial craft form which may be found in the urban landscape, on actual buildings and in the countryside. Of course it may appear anywhere. But do you need to permission to yarn bomb? Is it actually a criminal offence? Is  it solely decoration or can it also have a political message? Alyce McGovern attempted to illustrate and answer these questions in her challenging and thought-provoking presentation. 

Spooky creatures

Yarn bombing is sometimes regarded as part of “Craftivism” which brings craft and action together, this is a theme covered in the book In the loop: knitting now edited by Jessica Hemmings published from the first In the loop conference held in 2008.  The section – Site and sight: activist knitting - includes works by Sophie Horton and Lacey Jane Roberts. Yarn bombing started in the early 21st century and has become, some would argue, a distinctive part of reclaming and reinterpreting the once traditional domestic skill of knitting. The Knitting Reference Library includes books covering this somewhat unexpected aspect of making public art through the use of knitting. So do take a look at titles such as Radical lace & subversive knitting and Knit, knit profiles + projects from knitting’s new wave. 

Halloween mobile

 

Meanwhile it was a surprise to see in November  yarn bombing in the Hartley Library, guerilla action had taken place for Halloween. Both knitting and crochet had been used to create an installation leading to the University Librarian’s Office. On the day I visited and saw it the installation appeared to amuse and interest the many library staff passing by, indeed many of us took pictures on mobile phones. The bombers had been at work for quite some time making during their evenings using their creative camaraderie to develop and create  a scene redolent of a fairy story. However not everyone celebrates Halloween so it also had its critics.

The owl sat above the Librarian’s office

The yarn bombers, Verna Acres and Jayne Tweedle, both learnt their textile skills as young children  from their mothers whom they remember as constant knitters. Jayne admitted that she had not taken up the crochet hook for a long time but the technique came back to her fairly quickly once she started again for this project. Verna has always knitted, now partly for health as it helps if her hands stay active. She likes making and knits on her own, with others, for presents, and will give away her work. She is now also interested in more public projects.  

Jayne and Verna had made me a knitted card following the conference which itself is an example of what In the loop sets out to do for the very broad community it has developed. Their mind map inside the card covered – creativity, academic, thought-provoking, inspiring, inclusivity, research, and renewal. From this small item their yarn bombing project then grew so I look forward to their next yarn intervention perhaps others will join them.

WebCat named after the library catalogue