I make sewn pictures from fabric and thread. My subject matter is varied, but usually figurative and conversational. My work incorporates language and explores the relationship between fabrics, design and words.
The works are not designed in advance, they stem from an idea and tend to develop as fabric is placed and thread worked. The type and provenance of the materials used to make the pieces are important- a set of old wooden cottons reels bought from a charity shop were used to stitch a piece exploring place and identity and a set of linen tea napkins, a family heirloom, reworked into acot quilt. I used kimono silks to work on some images derived from Japanese wood block prints and a 1940s child's handkerchief in a picture about a nursery rhyme. I enjoy using fabrics that have been used for other purposes and often allow the fabric to inform the design and sometimes subject matter of a particular piece.
I occasionally work on a theme or idea through a series of pictures, for example exploring the place birds have in our consciousness in an exhibition at Slimbridge WWT during September 2008; from the way we anthropomorphise them in traditional children’s stories to the way we exploit them and try to protect them.
More recently I have used a beautiful 1920s hand- painted fan as the inspiration for a short series. The fan is pulled to pieces in picture one, the remnants carried over a second world war silk map in picture two and finally put together as a nest in picture three.
I am currently exploring the place buttons have in our culture in collaboration with a button phobic and a clinical psychologist. I intend to make about 15 pictures exploring a particular button phobic's reactions to buttons and also looking at the button phobic presence on the internet. The resulting pictures will be exhibited in Harvey Nichols, Bristol in 2010.
At the heart of my work is the craft, the use of a needle and thread. But crucially, the key for me is to take the tools and traditional methods of creative utility and use them to explore diverse ideas and challenges, creating a new layer of meaning in the conversation between the medium and the message.
I welcome commissions and have undertaken portrait work of people and landscapes incorporating houses.
Please contact me at penelopeleavergreen@gmail.com or on 07884 181136 for further information.
You can also find me on flickr