I have been busy making a new sign for my studio at 12 High Street, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk. Looking to forward to sharing new work made with 1000s of used clothing labels later in the year, when it is safe to open. #joynextthesea #wellsnextthesea #Norfolk
My journey
I wanted to go to Art College when I left school but my parents encouraged me to get a ‘proper job’. For 20 years I worked as a Civil Servant at The Nottingham District Land Registry and later at HMRC. I began to study art when my children started school, although I always did the school run and family was always a priority. That’s the thing with art you can work around obstacles and I often worked in the evening after their bedtime. I studied art for 7 years and loved every minute of it, I was awarded MA Fine Art with distinction in 2005 from Nottingham Trent University. My work with garments and labels simply evolved through a programme of exploring and manipulating a wide range of materials.
Joy Pitts #joynextthesea
Norfolk Open Studios 2020 goes Online
Norfolk Open Studios goes online, Saturday 23 May - Sunday 7 June
Artists have had to close their studio doors during this difficult time, but they are still artists all year round. To continue to celebrate them and our local art community, Norfolk Open Studios is being brought into your home …virtually!
Over 50 wonderful Norfolk artists have been busy filming themselves, their workspaces, their work (both in progress and completed) as well as art demonstrations. Others have been taking photographs of their work and studios along with recordings of their thoughts about what the creative process means to them, especially during this strange time.
All of this is now available on the Norfolk Open Studios website from Saturday 23 May to 7 June to view at your leisure. Grab yourself a cup of tea, sit back, enjoy and be inspired… you never know, you may even want to have a go at something yourself.
Studio research & new work
I have been sourcing materials and making new work launching in 2020.
Planning and making new work is such an investment as it takes time and research to produce a thought provoking successful image. The intense pinning process also takes its toll on my fingers which need time to recover between the specific stages of production.
I have some exciting work in progress including a Black Swan set in a landscape of used clothing labels, unpicked from rag garments. Other waterfowl are also of interest if I can locate the specific labels to reproduce these colourful birds. Following the success of 2019 I will be participating in Norfolk Open Studios again which runs from 23rd May to 7th June 2020.
Detail Black Swan.