My Egg. Do not Sit

My Egg. Do not Sit. 

A sculpture in International Exhibition

My Egg. Held by a Male.
Photo: Ivaylo Petrov

One of my sculptures: My Egg. Do not Sit! is going to an international exhibition in Finland.

The work is a textile sculpture of a human egg in the process of fertilisation. It contributes to the debate about ownership, choice and human rights. Who owns a woman’s egg? The complex multi-layered textile sculpture is informed by a microscopic photo of a human egg. It is built through both solid and hollow shapes that are intertwined together. The sculpture uses warm colours associated with beginnings and round shapes both as negative and positive spaces and shapes in various textile making methods: shibori, lace, nunofelt and solid felt. Colour, shape and method unite to further emphasise the depth and complexity of the arguments the piece embodies. The artist’s stance is expressed in the mount. It looks like a vessel, in this case- a chair, but the artist’s instructions are clear. It is mine and I do not give you my consent to use it in this way. It is Not Your Vessel. The owner has expressed their desire. It is also made delicately so that you cannot actually sit on it. You will break it if you do.

Still, the choice stays with you.

The choice of materials in developing the piece was also reflective of the complex history that women have with reproduction and birth. It is a considered selection of merino wool, silk fibres, the staple of any felting texture. Then in the nuno felt I have embodied knit mohair from a friend that knits many wraps for new mums. and vintage silk from my grandmother as well as Russian silk from mum who had experience a really scary childbirth with me. There is Blueface Leicester fibres as they are the foundation and ever lasting presence in all my core work. And a bit of a raw and hairy fibre from a the dog of a friend. She shared with me a story of her miscarriage and I asked her if it would be ok to use the fibre from her best friend , her dog.  And as it is always in this situations I have used a handful of fibres that are from a sheep whose name I know and whose owner is a friend of mine.

The piece looked impossible to make as with its complex structure took a while to digest from the microscopic photos I have seen to the 3d object I have developed. I have tried it in several sizes and also experimented with various ways to incorporate the complex shapes and textures. It took half an year to develop the prototype. And I have discussed it with several mentors.

Please note that in the next photo I am wearing the One Hat. The one hat always come out when we are at a cross roads and need to make a hard choice. A choice that might make us grow out of our comfort zone or our understanding of what is right to us, might not be right to others.

Pulling Fibres
Photo: Simon O'Pappon

The most insightful conversation was with Marjolein Dallinga who gave me a generous insight into the connection between fibre authenticity and structure.

I have also discussed it with Brigitta Varadi at its early development as I needed insight of developing a mounting that would reflect the message consistently.

The positive and insightful feedback that I have received from my mentors enabled me to work further in the direction of creating the work.

The exhibition is a collaboration between Feltmakers Ireland and Finnish Feltmakers Association.

The call out was for ‘A touch of Red’ pieces that interpret the colour or the concept in the pieces developed for consideration of the judging panel.

The exhibition runs from 1st July to 4th in Jämsä, Finland

The gallery is an old bank building overt two floors in the town centre.

Feltmakers Ireland is the national organization with members throughout Ireland. It supports work in felt to both amateur and professional crafts people.

My Egg. Held by me
Photographer: Beta Bagjgart

I was so glad that my work was selected for this exhibition- it is such a core story in my practice.

St George is a Saint to Many

St George 6th May A story from Celebrations

The search for the St George story started with what are my demons? 

What would be the dragon that we all want to slaughter? 

What is our biggest fear?

For centuries the answer to this question would have been- bad health. So for me the story became the ritual of killing all illnesses with one heroic gesture. The dragons in this story are viruses. So the story is sculptures of the viruses slaughtered by a doctor. Viruses as living organisms are still both a challenge and a mystery regardless of our scientific advances. Doctors as part of the current perception of ''The Establishment'' are often held hostage to our perception of them being heroes rather than humans.  Here the concept of small and significant are juxtaposed using scientific concepts to mirror our own fears. As viruses are necessary ingredient to life on our planet the destruction of them explores what is an act of heroism and an act of fear? The interrelation between personal fears - our vulnerability and how they influence macro decisions related to health and life.  It is also a dialogue of what makes an object beautiful to us- its form or its function?

The rest of the art work is a metro style deconstructed top, a scarf of red blood cells and a red belt- to show the red cross that stands on the St. George's shield.

George is a student of medicine from Trinity College Dublin. He came for a fitting and we straight away fell for his Dr Mike type of charm and good looks. He was a wonderful model- generous with his time, beautiful and graceful. I asked him how he describes himself as he has been living in Ireland since he was 10 - longer here, than in Bulgaria and has been through many formative experiences here. Among a group from the Bulgarian community his answer was : ''Bulgarian'', but I wonder... His girlfriend is Irish, and I am not sure he had plans to be living in Bulgaria any time soon. 

The story of St. George sparked up most conversations during the showing of the exhibition. It seems that it is transient  with who ''owes'' St. George. Obviously the first problem I encountered were certain Irish friends- why would I dare to include the ''English'' saint in the Celebrations? Trying to discuss that he is Not English, was a long conversation, but at least not as hard one as the one I had with some Bulgarians when I explained that St. George is celebrated by the Roma community in Bulgaria and he was born a Jew. As for most Bulgarians St George is the saint of the Army.

Eventually, I realised that in many ways St. George stands for the male privilege culture which sees treat where none is meant.  

My hope, with his cross and the die hard attitude maybe we would soon start accepting him for one of the worriers of healing.

Celebrations profiles the evolving makeup of community through change - geographical, cultural and personal. Each festival and custom is reflected and manifested in a combination of felt art and photography. The models are members of the Bulgarian community- each has a personal connection to the celebration they represent.

Celebrations is Niki Collier’s response to our fear of change. Her felt artwork is created to send us a positive message of growth, change and strength. It is her act to shift our personal and collective boundaries towards empathy and acceptance.

Niki Collier is an award-winning visual artist and designer based in Dublin. Her work is regularly exhibited in curated exhibitions and design shops around the world. www.nikicollier.com

Ivo Petrov is a photographer based in Kildare. bayivobg70.wixsite.com/ivphoto

Support

The project was commissioned for the Bulgarian Presidency of EU.

It was made possible with the generous support of the Bulgarian Embassy in Ireland; Dublin Culture Company; Popovo Municipality, Bulgaria; the Arts Office, Ballyfermot; BECA and various private sponsors.

This year Celebrations is going to be at Airfield Estate from 16th April to 7th May. 
Come and see the wonderful Woolplaza Festival on the 5th and 6th May.
I would be doing a great celection of events:
Take your photo  with a statement hat
Come and make a farm animal.
Or just chill in our Outside In and Inside Out interactive exhibition.

St Valentines, Dionysus and  all follies

St Valentine's Art and concept Niki Collier Photo Ivaylo Petrov

This year I look into celebrations with the help of the Bulgarian community. The project argued change as growth by looking into positive community blending as a consequence of geographical, career or personal move.

It is my way to understand why and how people choose 'special and spectacular' days. Also why and how we define and redefine us and them through cultural, geographical and demo-graphical boundaries. This month and in particular 14th of February is an interesting one from my perspective. I grew up celebrating the God of Wine on the 14th February.  It is the day the vineyards cut the vines in Bulgaria to secure healthy crop of grapes. But then I came to Ireland and it was as if the God of wine has yielded its reign to the God of Love. Arguably they both cause an array of follies. And arguably we love falling for both. Throughout the years I came to realise that we have developed a complicated relationship with both wine and love. So I started asking as a joke: ''What do you celebrate today? The god of wine or the god of love?'' I have chosen love. I knew I wanted to present love as an elevating rather than smug experience so I comment here on gay love.  The acceptance that love is love is something that my current home has proudly embraced and  regrettably something my original home Bulgaria still struggles to accept with open heart.  As the whole inspiration in the project Celebrations comes from the conviction that we can only move forward I chose a Bulgarian gay activist to help me tell the story.  Finding her was a journey that proved a learning experience. I found her through a mutual Irish friend as it turned out that Bulgarian community has not accepted its gay representatives. So I chose the narrative, which shows love in all colours and shapes with the firm stance that  as community we all need to accept that love is love. For the sake of live.

The fascination with love and its power to destroy or save us is as old as humanity. The festival of love arose from the ancient Greek tradition that gave the month its name- February.  The customs of today to smother ourselves with chocolate and pre-written cards is a product of consumerism and Middle Ages views.

The desire to say that love is love has inspired the choice of our gay activist - Vessi to be the model.  At the time Vessi was in between relationships so the felt art of rainbow coloured hearts is developed in different surfaces showing the multiple ways of breaking and putting together of ones heart. 

For the month of February the work was showcased in The Constant Knitter, Studio Space.

Celebrations The Evolution of the Bulgarian Community in Ireland

The work profiles the evolving make up of a community through geographical, cultural and personal  change.  The artistic conversation is how festivals and customs reflect and manifest this.

The models in each visual narrative are authentic members of the Bulgarian community. They are selected on the basis of their personal connection to a festival, holiday or custom. 

For each scene the artwork in felt is purposely created by Niki to reflect the message about growth, change and strength which is connecting to others. It is a research into what shifts our personal and collective boundaries of empathy, acceptance and strength.

This is a collaborative project between Niki Collier- an award winning visual artist and designer based in Dublin and Ivaylo Petrov a photographer from the Bulgarian community based in Kildare.

Favourite Colour? Wool! Just Don't Mess with it!

What is your favourite colour? I was asked this question in an interview. Wow, well, let me see... No when I think of it… Hmmmm I have been thinking about it for a month?!!! Why is it so difficult to answer a simple question like that? How shall I go about it? Historically? Conceptually? Trendwise? How do I reveal the truth without committing to something that is not at the core of me? As a design and textile woman colour is obviously part of the form and often it determines the function. In fashion, on the edge of what I am skirting with my handmade pieces, colour is sometimes just another school yard game of In & Out. Or in the words of Galinda the White: “Popular? You wanna be popular?”. Yep in fashion, one day Red is the New Black, another day – you are to throw out everything that is not signal green.

Which could be either amusing, confusing or irritating depending on how much coffee you have had. Let’s take red. You see, I think I am an expert on red- I grew up in communism. Red was the brand colour of communism. So even today when I get red it has to be the one on the left of the above picture. The scarlet is a bit too orange for my understanding. Look for reference in the communist scout uniforms that those girls are wearing. Well, maybe red is the answer to my struggles with my opinion on colour. I have seen colours rise and fall with political regimes, seasons, people and even movies. The things is whatever we claim to be the In & Out, roses would be red and violets would be blue you do not need trends, just do what you do. Here is what I am thinking for next year:

Yep, I seem to be not able to play the popularity game... If you have asked me through the years the answers were: Red, Green, Purple (and I am getting into Blue really seriously lately). The irony is that if you look at pictures of what I wore these colours would have been far and in between. You would have seen the hand knitted sweater from mum in beige and brown. I still wear it often to work. The skirts in black, which were my first projects in sewing. And then a lot of my clothes, which I picked from the Shanghai fake brand market: in skin, ivory and brown and black... And yep, I do wear a white punjabi suit at the Taj Mahal (take picture), and a Beige trench coat when I arrived in Ireland. A splash of colour in an abundance of naturals- both in colour and materials. I look in these reflections. What actually IS my favourite colour? So today I will brave it: my favourite colour is the colour of wool. And here are three reasons why: It is Rich and Yet Unassuming: I love it for the richness of its blends- if you look closely it is never just white, beige or brown, it is usually a blend of ivory streaks with oatmeal overtones and a few coffee streaks. Black is never black and grey has more than 50 shades… Each breed of wool has almost a unique colour and the overall visual impact comes from seeing the blend. The difference between the more blueish grey of the Gotland to the more browner beige feel of the Jacobs is stunningly subtle, but fascinating to relish. But then put Jacobs next to Blue Faced Leicester and you know that grey overtones are complex affair. And that is before we even start discussing lustre and texture, which make all the difference when we compare a white think Wensleydale and Merino wool tops. At the other scale wool which is almost black in its dark browns such as Finish becomes a wonderful blend which binds all these colours together. With all wool colours though it is like a bouquet of a pallet rather than a single colour. And although it carries rich undertones and overtones it would never blind you or be too loud. It is just there to soften and comfort.

It is Vernacular and Yet Sophisticated; the shades and their proportion come as they are because the season was wet or dry, because the sheep was roaming in a particular grass field, because the Sheppard sheered it on a particular day. It gives lustre and blends which, with their complex hues of grey, ivory, white and black always convincingly revealsthe nature of the material as well as the conviction of the person that wears it.

It is Classical and Yet Edge; a colour range that is never pertinent to time and place- its honesty and simplicity makes it relevant to any age and any context. It looks stunning in a royal parlour and a farmer’s pen. It is as fashionable today when we have access to the most stunning colour as it was in the olden days when it was The Colour, and that’s that! And whether you wear it on an elaborate designer outfit or something you made yourself it just enhances the rest without overpowering it. And then it has this amazing quality to reflect mood and concept that makes it the household colour to all futuristic and apocalyptic visualisations.

Yes, undyed wool is the best colour. And that is that.

Easter and other passions

Fever Pitch in Smart Textile

When you grew up in communism. like me, religious celebrations have been beaten into you in their pagan form. So when we celebrated Easter it was a lot about coming of spring and the craft of colouring eggs and Not at all about Christ.

Funny that today the discussion about how little Easter is about Christ and more about chocolate eggs seems a bit dramatic to me.... I have been there before. As a child...

The thing is  for me celebrations are very much about us- people. And they reflect the art of us being able to share common passions and rituals. Rituals that regardless of how mystic or simple they look to others make us human.

So this Easter I would share with you my new Smart Textile project. It starts with a ball, a football ball for that matter.

The project 

It is about fever pitch rituals and how they are embodied in our senses through the objects that we associate with the game.

It addresses football game as a community experience. Myself and a wonderful textile designer Paula Byrne would look into memorabilia from the Bohemians FC and create six pieces using smart textile technology. It is part of Phizzfest and they have awarded us a grant for our proposal. It aims to send a message about the all-encompassing rich sensory experience which is an essential ingredient in our human connection with our football club. The memorabilia is a way to reflect on design and political status quo, but also to show what we choose to materialise our feelings into- a scarf, a picture, a photo?  It would also look retrospectively into the scarves, the photos or the boots but addressing them as not just things in a box, but a treasure-trove of objects that are viewed by the fans and players as heirlooms. We use these objects to comment on historical characteristics associated with form, function and material choices.

It is going to run as an exhibition with an exhibition- the football club would curate an exhibition based on fans memorabilia- photos, jerseys, hats, footballs, boots. Paula and I have picked a few of these to develop a smart technology piece. There would be 6 pieces in total.

It seems a good thing to do in Year of Irish Design 2015.

Influences

 Nick Hornby's book is an influence  and it would come across in the story. I could see the football pitch through the eyes of a 11 year old and feel the hand of his dad in his hand. Because watching a game at the stadium is about sharing your passion with others. And in a way the pieces that myself and Paula are developing would allow an 11 old to ''see'' the past as well as the future of the club. It would be less obvious to see Marina Shkolnik's influence on the project, unless you are into felt or or you are mad about handmade scarves. But she would be my inspiration behind creating one of the pieces that I am creating; the Shaking and Shouting Scarf. Very rock and roll, right?

The Shaking and Shouting Scarf

It would use alternation of black and red superfine merino and silk fibres, the football club colours and it would replicate football balls in three sizes.

It would also use Arduino Flora, accelerometer, and speakers to cheer up with you every time when your team scores a goal. So even if you are not at the football pitch you could wrap your self up in the scarf and it would transport you into a dimension in which you would be one with the whole stadium.

You might wonder why I am not showing you the scarf, well, in its fifth iteration it still looks a bit dishevelled I have to admit. But you know it is just a stage. This is the good thing when this is not your first project- you know that each failure is there to be turned into your vision.

Here let the experimentation begin. All the fun is ahead.... 

This is my Easter- new collaborative project in smart textiles telling the story of 125 old Dublin football club. We have submitted the pieces to Dublin Maker 2015. Such a great month April.