magpie of the mind-cas holmes: Text and Image, Cloth and Paper

A different place and time when on holiday or as part of work travel can provide new approaches for your work. A recent visit to the south of France to Studio Preniac during early harvest time gave plenty of inspiration. Text and images can both stimulate and be collected as a resource.

Montcuq market text and images in the produce stalls and Graffiti on a door in Cahors.

This piece, a detail from Indian Journal uses woodblocks and roofing felt. We were extending the house at the time. People generously sending in pieces for Tea Flora Tales

have used a variety of text and images.This work will be shown at The Beaney Gallery, (Canterbury Museum) from the 30th November.Details of this and current exhibitions can be found on my blog.

Picasso and the cubists used text and images in collages referring to everyday objects and scenes.The definition of collage, as found in the Oxford English Dictionary, is “an abstract form of art in which photographs, pieces of paper, newspaper cuttings, string, etc. are placed in juxtaposition and glued to the pictorial surface.

Picasso "Still-Life with Chair-Caning

Kurt Schwitters

Taking their inspiration from both photographs and drawings made on location and the text and images found on route with their own collections students on the course at Preniac developed their own textiles collage pieces reflecting everyday references. Thankyou to the students who kindly allowed me to use images of their work.