Portrait of Queen made from army uniform labels on show in Notts.... Read more
London Hat Week 6-12th October 2016
FREE - See a brand new portrait of Sir Winston Churchill created by textile artist Joy Pitts using bespoke labels from three of Churchill's favourite outfitters - Henry Poole & Co, Turnbull & Asser and Lock & Co Hatters. READ MORE
Sir Winston Churchill celebrated by Nottingham artist
Joy Pitts (MA Fine Art 2005) has completed a label portrait of Sir Winston Churchill to coincide with the issue of the new five-pound note featuring Sir Winston Churchill later in 2016. Continue reading....
Queen Elizabeth II 90th Birthday
Window installation at Military Tailors, London. Delighted to announce that my recent portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, assembled from Derbyshire WW1 nametapes will be exhibited at No 6 Sackville Street, London, home to bespoke tailors Meyer & Mortimer. With their historic connections to military uniforms, this unspoilt tailors shop in Mayfair will provide the perfect site-specific environment in which to remember these World War One fallen servicemen.
Since 1790 military wear has played a key historic role in their outfitting business, including the British forces, commanders and Kings. Meyer & Mortimer have held a Royal Warrant from Queen Elizabeth II since 1955, and still tailor uniforms for the Military Knights of Windsor today.
Meyer and Mortimer are thrilled to exhibit this Royal portrait reflecting on Her Majesty’s sixty-four year reign, and long dedication to our Armed Forces.
The Queen’s portrait took 136 hours to create and used 125 grams of dressmaker pins.
Exhibition runs from Saturday 9th April until Wednesday 27th April 2016.
An archive of the High Street.
Artist-in-Residence at Erewash Museum 11th September – 31st October 2015. This residency provided an opportunity for me to present a body of work to the specific community that generated the material to produce it. The response was overwhelming and over the seven-week period I received over 600 visitors.
For 15 years I have gathered used labels from local charity shops, unpicking labels from the neck of rag garments. The 30,000 used labels in this collection have all been gathered from the High Street; therefore local residents were once walking around in these garments. This 15-year project proved an excellent way to engage a local audience, both in terms of presenting my work and in supporting their local Museum.
The work allowed visitors to reflect on historic local garment manufacturers such as CHARNOS and DAKS, also shops that no longer occupy the High Street including Burton, Woolworths and Adams. Context lies within the detail of the work. Not only in the design of superseded labels in which we can observe the passage of time, but also in the unexpected detail which tells a story.
The award winning ‘Dairy Cow’ made up of 5,000 used garment labels, was on display in the window at Sue Ryder to accompany the exhibition. At age eight Sue Ryder was given two Jersey cows and subsequently began her own dairy herd, which grew to twenty-four. Young entrepreneur Sue sold the milk and butter from the door and scrubbing her dairy was her favourite job.
What would Sue Ryder think of this Dairy Cow assembled from 5000 used garment labels, all generated through charity donation on the High Street? ‘Dairy Cow’ has been described as ‘an extravagant rescue of fashionable waste’ and in the current global milk crisis offers the viewer a strong sense of community.
Joy Pitts.
EXHIBITION at EREWASH MUSEUM
The Exhibition of 20,000 Used Labels at Erewash Museum continues until Saturday 31st October, last entry is 3:30pm. The Lally Gallery, Erewash Museum, Ilkeston, DE7 5JA. Tel: 0115 9071141.
Press release - ARTS and LABELS!
ARTS and LABELS!
Many thanks to EREWASH BOROUGH COUNCIL, and to Councillor Mike Wallis for posting this press release about my forthcoming Exhibition at EREWASH MUSUEM.
QUEEN ELIZABETH II at Wirksworth Festival 10 - 26th September 2015
Queen Elizabeth II's portrait will be exhibited in the window of The Book Shop, Market Pl, Wirksworth, Matlock, Derbyshire DE4 4ET, from 10th - 26th September 2015.MEET THE ARTIST - I will be in and around the book shop on Sunday 13th September from 10am until 5.00pm, please call by, I will be handing out images of The Queen.
This contemporary portrait was inspired by the Queen’s 2014 speech, which recalled the Christmas Truce of 1914 as well as other peaceful ends to conflict during the twenty-first century. The portrait has been constructed using names taken from a Derbyshire War Memorial; these names have been machine woven onto tapes and assembled using only dressmaker pins.
The success of creating a likeness of Queen Elizabeth II using name tapes of World War One servicemen is astonishing. The result is a thought-provoking portrait reflecting on the Queen’s sixty-three year reign and long dedication to our Armed Forces.
LATEST NEWS
Thank you to everyone who came to visit my Exhibition - 30,000 Used Labels at Lace Market Gallery, Nottingham. It was a huge success. This work is touring to Erewash Museum’s Lally Gallery from 11th September until 30th October 2015. I will also be in Residence during the Exhibition when the Museum is open, please see previous post for the full details. Many thanks also to the BBC GET CREATIVE participants in completing the 450 MERINO Sheep labels. Exciting news, the work is going to be exhibited at HUNTSMAN bespoke tailors on Savile Row, London during WOOL WEEK 2015.
I have also been invited to exhibit a new piece of work as part of the Wirksworth Festival, September 2015 in the Bookshop Window.
More details to come, or for up to date information please follow me on Twitter @JoyPitts11 or like my page on Facebook, Joy Pitts - Contemporary art from people and their garments.
Wirksworth Festival Sept 2015
More information coming soon.....