Work in progress:-
Turnbull & Asser
Turnbull & Asser have supplied a wonderful variety of size and colour woven labels for inclusion in Winston Churchill’s portrait. The largest shirt label measures 8cm long and is shown below in Churchill’s chest size 46cm. The smallest label ‘Hand Made in England’ measures just 13mm, and a selection of colours will be used for Churchill’s signature spot bow tie and blue eyes. The smaller tie labels in black, white and brown are also essential and will be used to assemble the detail on Churchill’s face, hat and cigar. I use thousands of dressmaker pins to attach woven garment labels in neat rows, the pins add depth and texture to the work giving a 3D effect. The use of dressmaking pins also reflects the process of making garments.
The work will be exhibited in London later in the year to coincide with the issue of the new five-pound note featuring Sir Winston Churchill.
Lock & Co Hatters
Lock & Co's celebrated label will the largest to be assembled in Churchill's portrait and will appear as the ribbon hat trim on his distinguished Homburg. Churchill selected a Lock silk top hat for his wedding day in 1908, returning to Lock & Co in 1911 to order more hats, including his signature Homburg with its tightly curled brim on both sides and a dent or crease in the top of the crown.
Hats are forever linked in history, and as the oldest hat shop in the world Lock & Co will celebrate an amazing 340th birthday in 2016.
20,000 Used Labels at The Lally Gallery, Erewash Museum
For 15 years Joy Pitts has gathered used labels from local charity shops, unpicking labels from the neck of rag garments. The 20,000 used labels in this exhibition have all been gathered from Ilkeston; therefore local residents were once walking around in these garments. It took five years to gather sufficient red labels to produce the smaller Ayrshire Cow. Joy’s award winning ‘Dairy Cow’ work, which is made up of 5,000 used garment labels, is on display in the window at Ilkeston’s Sue Ryder shop on Bath Street for two weeks to accompany the exhibition. A highlight of the exhibition is a 1.3 metre Homing Pigeon assembled from 466 World War One names taken for the Cenotaph in Ilkeston Market Place. The image is a tribute to the men and inspired by the thousands of homer pigeons that lost their lives during the First World War when they were used to transfer important and life-saving messages.
Recent work includes a Commission for fashion designer Paul Smith and selection for The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Joy’s latest project is a portrait of Her Majesty the Queen to celebrate her 63-year reign.
The exhibition ‘20,000 Used Labels’ continues at The Lally Gallery, Erewash Museum, Ilkeston, DE7 5JA from 11th Sept – 30th Oct 2015. The Museum is FREE to enter and is open Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10am until 4pm and is situated just off the Market Place.
BBC NEWS - READ IT HERE & ALSO HERE
DAIRY COW exhibition at Sue Ryder DE7 8AH
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. I wonder what Sue Ryder would think of this Dairy Cow assembled from 5000 used garment labels, all generated through charity donation on Ilkeston 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.
The exhibition ‘20,000 Used Labels’ continues at The Lally Gallery, Erewash Museum, Ilkeston, DE7 5JA from 11th Sept – 30th Oct 2015.
The Museum is FREE to enter and is open Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10am until 4pm and is situated just off the Market Place.
READ BBC NEWS - NOTTINGHAM WOMAN MAKES ART FROM LABELS
PRESS RELEASE - ITV NEWS
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.
BBC Radio Nottingham 23rd Feb 2015
Follow this LINK to hear Joy Pitts chatting live to Verity Cowley on BBC Radio Nottingham on Mon 23 Feb 2015 about creating contemporary art from people and their garments.
Elite Labels Leicester Ltd
As a thank you to Elite Labels of Leicester for their generosity in 2014 I have reproduced their Logo entirely out of woven labels manufactured by Elite. This small sample of labels were selected for their colour and size and assembled on canvas using 100g of dressmaker pins, 62w x 109h cm.