Birmingham

A change of background colour

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It’s the holiday season and we’ve been taking part. A camping trip to the Lake District offered a dramatic difference to the usual scenery we live within here in the Midlands, and it was refreshing change for being so. Everywhere seemed so green, really really green, not just the local park green but intense, vivid greens that lush meadows could offer. Naturally with that comes rain, but even then the colours were vibrant. Lichen was glowing, moss saturated, even the sheep were blue! Some colours took me back to studio projects, Pantone references, British Standard colours and colour choices, others offered a welcome diversion.The strange thing is, that when I compiled the image to include with this post the images looked really grey, but it really wasn’t like that through my eyes!

This change of scene is just what the mind needed after an intense workload juggling several design projects and at the end of a hectic academic year. I like what the seasons do to us, make us adapt and notice the time passing. This time of year feels like a celebration, as harvests ripen in the sun (ummm..) and we prepare for a new season of productive design work, education and research.

I shall remember the vivid greens, the birds circling overhead in the sky of blue; the vast views that some people get to enjoy day in day out. I shall remember the feeling of change, and rest, and stopping just for a short while, as a warm memory in the depths of winter when working in the studio. I am bound by the academic year, as well as the seasons on the allotment, the trade show calendar, and birthdays, as so many people are. It’s good to recognise the rhythms and differences brought on by change. Hooray for holidays!

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pattern at the pitch, up and down

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Despite having lived in Headingley, Oval and near Edgbaston I’m not a great fan of cricket but today I spent a number of hours at Edgbaston, the home of Warwickshire County Cricket Club as they hosted a charity community day. The highlight for me was the arrival of the Red Devils, from the skies in the most fantastic spectacle, bringing the ball for the 20-20 match. The marching band looked fabulous in red to the complimentary green of the grass and I also discovered I have a skill in rifle shooting, so there you go, a surprising day.

I gathered lots of images of patterns too. Here’s the day in grey, green & blue pictures…

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The season of textile design portfolios

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As a student traveling up and down the country for interviews for a place on a degree course back in the mid 1990s I had little idea of what I would do on the degree course, let alone beyond the eternity of three years studying. My A1 black portfolio demonstrated my love of drawing, printmaking, pattern and ‘potential’. Now, in my role of lecturer at Birmingham City University each year I participate in the rounds of interviews to select the new members of our textile community and each year as I help them open the black A1 folio it reminds me of the journey I started all those year ago. The industry has changed, the world has changed, technology is utterly different and yet those nerves belonging to those individuals are as real as ever, and I remember that feeling so clearly. The unknown, the untrodden path I stumbled along; the Norfolk girl living in Leeds to turn drawings in to designs.

I’ve questioned most decisions I’ve made along the way, worrying about whether I should study art or design, printmaking or illustration, book art or textiles and yet somehow I seem to have all of those elements in my everyday practice, and that suits me fine. I remember the challenging task of confirming a description of myself and practice for my graduation show and degree postcard. (I opted for Artist / Designer, in case you wonder.) I couldn’t get the wording right, and really thought it mattered.

KF_degree_blog(images from degree study)

Having spent last Saturday interviewing students, on introduction I described myself to the visitors as a Printed Textile Designer, which in so many ways completely fails to describe what I do, but somehow seemed right to say at the time. Now I ask myself why it doesn’t fit and maybe I conclude that the term feels too predictable, so tidy, so comprehensive, and yet the thing I am most proud of in my career to date is the breadth of art and design experience I have gained, the materials I’ve designed for, the clients I’ve had, and the lessons I’ve learned, despite as a student, no idea that all that was possible on graduation.

Many times through the day I spoke with interviewees about their art and design experiences and came to realise that their own understanding of art and design had more to do with the educational delivery they were currently receiving and far less about how they defined themselves. An interesting conundrum, and after all that, does it really matter? What made me most excited about being part of the interview process was that all the students were starting out on their own journeys, some of which I hope I shall be involved in, and with the potential of a great course to guide them through, inspiring staff and great facilities they really can do all they understand they want, and so much more than that. Daunting, and exhilarating, and I wish them all good luck!

I didn’t know it at the time but the work I was creating all those years ago as a student still holds such relevance to me now, and it doesn’t matter what label I give myself, it’s all about the creative process, and I don’t worry about boundaries there…

the patterns of 2014

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It’s been one of the years I shall remember as particularly busy, continuing to juggle the commitments of family life, my roles as artist, designer, lecturer and of course allotmenteer, and the small matter of a big Birthday. All the time spent doing any one of those things provided opportunities to spy inspiration, food for thought and visual stimuli for me so having looked back over the last twelve months I have enjoyed creating a record of the patterns I’ve seen. The record includes family holidays, research trips, and days out; from the school sports day track, Birthday celebrations, to the rivets in the railway bridge, the stately home and the walk to work, it’s a record of some of what I saw in 2014.

Key themes appear: geometry, stripes and railings and although in a chronological order, there are some great pairings in terms of colours, textures and pattern.

2014tiles_blog

Plot to Plate archaeology

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When I was a small child there was a time when I wanted to be an archaeologist. Having been lucky enough to have visited several Greek archaeological sites and been inspired by the possible finds underground I was convinced I had the patience and where-with-all to try. That particular career plan didn’t last long but something of the magic of unearthing lost treasures, and working through the soil of past generations has most certainly been re-awakened through my adult years of gardening – and beach-combing come to think of it!

Over the last few years I’ve represented this process of working with the soil and bearing witness to nature’s materials in many drawings and prints, working to represent layers of gardening, as if strata of dinner preparations. I like the continuum of being a gardener, as the current occupier and protector of a long line of gardeners, each winning and losing the battles of nature and harvests for generations.

As I have dug the plot for nearly a decade I’ve discovered many broken bits of pottery, and some I’ve kept and others I’ve turned back to the earth to be found again at a different time. With no rationale to what I have kept but having created little gatherings; pieces turned out from my gardening trouser pockets, I have realised I’ve started another collection. (check out www.obsessionistas.co.uk for two more of my collections)

I like to see the different surfaces, the whites, the blues, and the hints of familiar patterns. Why do people plant their broken plates? It’s certainly a different narrative to my Plot to Plate collection…

KFarleyplotPotsdrawing100ahttp://www.katefarley.co.uk

 

Colours for the arrival of BST

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Today we welcome British Summer Time and the weather has been kind. The colours of spring always seem so purposeful after the winter months, with pink trees and purple or yellow blankets of flowers spread across the parks. At the allotment the grass is rearing its greens, and yet the purple sprouting broccoli let us down. Today I celebrate the colours of our garden, noticing the yellows and purples as predominate hues.

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the true Plot to Plate harvest of 2013

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Today I picked the final handful of beans, harvested the last of the squash in case we are surprised by a frost, and noted the pace had slowed on the rain-battered raspberries. We still have courgettes and the last row or two of potatoes, plenty of beetroot, celery… and parsnips – and for those we wait for positive news of the frost before they accompany our Sunday roasts.

I’ve often returned home from the plot to capture in photographs the success of the allotment on our plates and bowls, capturing the beauty of shape and colour of our fruit and veg. Today I thought it appropriate to put together the photos as the harvest comes to a close. I realise its incomplete; no sweetcorn, no cucumbers, no carrots or peas no blackberries or swede. No disrespect – some were a success, some disappointing – but there’s always next year to make amends.

I have to thank this lot for providing me with constant inspiration for my design collection of the same name – and this really is an example of Plot to Plate.

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Good feelings at the allotments

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Taking care of an allotment plot is never about saving money on food – and Birmingham Council have ensured it could never be, given the huge plot rent increases. Tending a plot gives so much more than the crops that you harvest. Here’s a few good reasons:

  • Growing your own food provides the gardener with opportunities and excuses to go outside and realise that what looked like a grey, cold winter day is actually rather nice.
  • Digging provides an opportunity for head space, for time to mull things over, while also focusing on the amazing tenacity of bindweed and couch grass that really ought to be put to a constructive use rather than taking up all my time!
  • Making good use of time growing food makes you wonder why other people would want to spend each weekend wandering around indoor shopping centres, missing out on the feeling of muddy fingernails despite the gardening gloves and the sight of the first strawberry beginning to blush.
  • The satisfaction felt from a harvest that provides all the food for your family meal takes a lot of beating
  • and in addition to all this, I can thank the plot for the inspiration in my ‘Plot to Plate‘ design collection too.

Its a really good feeling when the crops are bountiful. The hard work of winter has paid off, the patience with the frosts and the protection from the birds has worked out okay and you get great stuff to eat for the commitment you give. With a fully laden bike and a handful of sweet peas to grasp on the handle bars you head home like a hunter gatherer from a previous age.

The thing is, when all goes well its an amazing feeling to be able to pass on the surplus to others who will also enjoy the success. Some years at the site we all have gluts of the same thing, other years we wonder what we did wrong when others are almost complaining about too many onions, and nothing has come of ours. It’s a great thing that there is never resentment to another successful gardener, but pleasure in their success. We share tips and ideas, timings and tools as well as the odd cast-off seedling and you’d be a fool to pass on the offer of parsnip seeds from Tony!

When a fellow plot-holder offered me her excess apples and pears today I politely declined at first, thinking that she would find something else to turn them in to, another apple tart, another crumble – really! too many apples? We have had a poor year in that regard. But there is a great sense of pleasure in offering ‘help’ in accepting the produce. We really are the winners in this hand-me down act, but it also feels as if we are doing a great favour in accepting the gift of free, home-grown food, enabling the grower to experience their own sense of generosity, good-spirit and community mindfulness, and saving them the feeling of not letting down the very fruit that served them so well this year – not bad for a bag of apples and pears – thanks!

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the CURRANT project – black and white

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Harvest is such a great time for gardeners and at this time of year we have fruit and vegetables making up for the muddy digging in the winter and months of patience paying off.

In the first few years after these currant bushes were planted on our plot I had to commit myself to the practice of hand-squashing the caterpillars of the sawfly as they crawled and ate their way across the leaves, stripping the plants bare as they left their homes in the earth below to climb up the bushes. I ticked the box of organic, even if it wasn’t particularly vegetarian of me, but now we have stronger plants that can provide us with ingredients for Summer Pudding – and that’s not bad!

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July colours in the garden

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Following on from the last few months of colour charts that I have created documenting colours growing in the garden I have made a July 13 one too. The weather has been hot and dry but somehow the slugs have enjoyed the marigolds so there is a lack of orange in this colour palette this year. The Foxgloves are pretty much over but the Hollyhocks and Dahlias are stunning in their part of the garden relay race through the summer schedule.

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