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The first phase of Artaviso ‘s Door to Door project is now live! An evolving virtual exhibition that will culminate in a physical exhibition in November 2020 at No Vacancy Gallery in Melbourne.
Here’s the image of my entry showing the finished artwork followed by the page from Newnes’ Pictorial Knowledge 1950s Encyclopedia (edited by Enid Blyton) which, selected at random, formed the basis of the artwork.
Check out my a mixed media artwork, Iso Charging Machine here
Check out the virtual exhibition “Door to Door” exhibition here
For sales enquiries please contact Hayley at @novacancygallery info@no-vacancy.com.au
Iso Charging Machine. Jenny Davis Being ripped from our natural normal states, during unprecedented times, this machine collects our thoughts, ideas, emotions and turns them into ingots. A kind of sorting machine for making sense of thoughts and the human state. Using as a sorting machine we may then see the bigger picture.
Once filled, each ingot is ejected from the mould and left to simmer and collate. Upon settling, thoughts, ideas and emotions disperse into smaller sections. Once, we can identify and describe our own emotions, action, can then be taken, to sort, keep, or delete. Some gold, some less important.
Summer in Australia is the perfect time for eco and botanical dyeing outdoors. During Winter, I like to save little bits of fabrics, lace and papers in a box for Summer dyeing. This is how I rust dye my fabrics….
Many years ago, I collected heaps of metal junk to use for sculpture. As, I no longer weld, I now use the rusty bits and pieces that are scattered all over my property, for my dyeing projects.
The gathering of the metal objects, wrapping them with the fabric spraying with vinegar and binding with rope and wire is quite relaxing. I call it mummy wrapping.
Rust Dyeing Fabric
MATERIALS:
Fabric: cottons silk… work best
Rusty metal objects: cooking pans, car parts, rusty nails, screws, pipes, copper objects
Wire, string, wool or rope just
something to bind the fabric to the rusted item
Plain white vinegar
Rubber gloves
Plastic sheet or bags
METHOD
1. Gather all the items together wet
your fabric and spray with vinegar.
2. Wrap the fabric around and around the rusted object as best you can.
3. Make sure it’s tightly bound with the string rope or wire. Cover with plastic so it stays moist.
4. Leave and wait for the magic to happen.
5. This may take an hour or 2 or if you want deeper textures of rust a week or 2. Then un- wrap your beautiful rusted fabric.
6. Once the fabric is dyed to the depth you want, soak for 30mins in warm water with a couple of tablespoons of salt to make the rust dye colourfast.
7. Wash gently in warm water with soap powder rinse dry and voila!
I also rust papers and larger pieces of fabric using a different method that I will share in a future post.
New paintings available in my gallery. “Rustmatter” series. I want to capture the “beauty & hope” in decline, before its gone and continues my investigation into the disintegration and decay of the environment, of life and the human psyche.
Experiments with layers of rust, paint, iron shavings and salt. Finally, surfaces emerged, worn , weathered and sometimes ancient. I then sealed the paintings to keep stable and lock in the layers.
Each painting is a visual and textural descent into the abandoned, the derelict, the vacant and the forgotten. Curator & Arts Writer,Dr. Ewen Jarvis.
After exhibition blues has hit! I’m all painted out at the moment, but still enjoying some textile pieces Ive been playing around with for a while now. Looks like some old photos and found objects will make their way into the project too. Please see “Spaces Below” exhibition details in the sidebar on the right.
Ragged bits , old and new stitching, tracing the marks left behind on, 120 yr old textiles.
Memories and ghosts from the 1800s, remind me, as I work, of a time when women had many obligations and few choices.
A time when, women were completely controlled by their fathers, brothers and male relatives and their sole purpose in life was to find a husband, reproduce and then spend the rest of their lives serving him.
If you were to break free, you would be crucified, ridiculed and seen as “not normal, insane, bullied and tossed aside.
The textiles from the 120 year old quilt toppers I work with, sometimes, seem to yell at me, but mostly, they lay silent, as I make my own marks alongside others gone before.
I feel comfortable, as I stitch, tear, dye and reinforce the fragmented pieces.
Somehow, I hope, in a small way, by reclaiming and reworking the textiles, I can give a voice to those women.
Just like in my own life, when I was powerless, art gave me a voice to express myself, where once I had none.
Current Exhibition in the Main Gallery at Yering Station – 10 April – 20 May.
JENNY DAVIS — SPACES BELOW
Wallmatter, Oil paint on canvas, 140 x 180 cm
‘Spaces Below’ is a visual and textural descent into the abandoned, the derelict, the vacant and the forgotten. Through her utilisation of forlorn industrial structures, stained and crumbling walls, acts of graffiti, redundant signage, and portals giving access to meandering subterranean systems, Jenny Davis evokes a unique vision at once spare and lavish, material and ghostly. It is a vision that elevates the significance of random marks, stress fractures and other imperfections, while enfolding the viewer in an atmosphere of chromatically gentle and strangely opulent decay. The abstractions that haunt these works are investigations of the many traces that run like hieroglyphs and riddles across the surface of neglected structures.
Davis’s subterranean life began in childhood. Drawn to ‘small spaces’ where she wouldn’t be disturbed, she would play in drainpipes, on vacant industrial sites and in newly constructed buildings, often working discarded materials into makeshift furniture and decorative objects. After an arts residency in Barcelona in 2005 and a visit to France in 2006, Davis steered her arts practice toward spaces reminiscent of those early childhood memories. In researching and documenting understructures, abandoned buildings and marks left behind in the built environment, she found ‘beauty in decay, random marks, aerial perspectives, graffiti and weathered surfaces’. Ever attuned to the narrative and oneiric possibilities of timeworn surfaces, Davis’s latest exhibition creates an altogether seductive immateriality from abrasive mediums such as cement, iron and rust.
Davis’s practice spans twenty-five years and encompasses painting, sculpture, drawing, collage, photography, book arts, textiles, installation‚ video‚ sound and virtual worlds. Her artwork has been exhibited in Australia, Germany, France, Spain, the UK and the US and is represented in numerous private and public collections. She has received awards and residencies both nationally and internationally, and her digital artworks have been projected onto buildings in Times Square, New York and in 2017 at The Venice Biennale 57. “La Biennale di Venezia” in Italy. Davis currently works from her studio in the Yarra Valley region of Victoria, Australia. By DR. Ewen Jarvis2018
Wallmatter 5, Acrylic, shellac, pigment, sealer on canvas, 122 x 92 cm
My next exhibition,”Spaces Below” is an installation of new & older paintings, linking to found, instantaneous marks, surfaces and fragments. Subconscious notes and messages, snatched from urban and rustic environments when passing through. Also includes, a series of framed images, shot in the city and outer suburbs of Paris, France.
(Please see details of “Spaces Below” exhibition in the sidebar)
I’m still amused and amazed, how one little idea can consume, inspire and provide enough fodder, leading to many forms of expression.
A small glimpse of paintings in progress for my next exhibition, in April at Yering Station Gallery. I will be showing, new and older paintings and will include an installation of framed photographs, “Spaces Below”, shot in France. The gallery is large and raw with an industrial feel. A perfect space for larger abstracts. All commissions taken from my sold artworks at Yering Station Gallery will be donated to…
As a small child I pulled things apart. Even, before I could talk, I ripped apart dolls and toys. I used to make little displays, installations of the fragments and other discarded things. Today I still pull things apart. I find fragments more pleasing and sometimes, even more interesting than the original object.
Recently, I pulled apart an old chair that had been hanging around for years. The wood was still good. The cloth and leather had grit and rust, just perfect for sculpture. The rustic bits and pieces also related to some textile fragments, I unpicked from an 1800’s, quilt topper. I’m still working on outcomes and painting has crept in too. Below are some pics of the process.
Everybody who knows me, knows, how much, I love metal, rust and decay. Many years ago, I collected old rusty, metal objects from the roadsides and turned them into sculptures. I also gained my certificates in welding. At the time, with myself and 3 children to support, I welded in factories to make a living and in between, I made sculptures from the rusty found objects. I don’t weld much anymore, as it’s a problem for me to move around the heavy metal, but I still have a large collection of smaller bits, I use, to rust up, paper, objects and textiles for my projects. Lately, I have been playing around with some commercial rust paints.
Today, I tried out, Botanic’s rust paint, from L’essential in Australia. I love the fact they are all environmentally-conscious products, free from nasty additives and are preservative-free where possible. They smell good too. I’m very pleased with the result and it does, really look like rust.
