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
Savile Row
Winston Churchill made with Savile Row bespoke woven labels.
Window Exhibition August 2020
Over the August Bank Holiday ‘99 Used Labels’ was exhibited in the window of Nomad & the Bowerbird, 19 Staithe Street, Wells-next-the-Sea, NR23 1AG.
CALLOUT FOR EREWASH
94 more names needed from Erewash essential #lockdown workers and #volunteers, these will join the 838 names already signed up for inclusion in the art work, see criteria below and email joy@joypitts.co.uk
Names of WWI fallen soldiers.
Invitation to Workers & Volunteers
Have you been working or volunteering in Erewash during Covid-19?
Would you like your name to be included in a free art project supported by Arts Council England?
This is a really exciting opportunity for important workers and volunteers like you who have given your time to help others. All you have to do is email your name and a brief note about the work/voluntary action that you have carried out during Covid-19 to the following email address joy@joypitts.co.uk
Example: -
NAME: Joy Pitts
JOB/VOLUNTARY ACTION: Bus driver/make PPE/visit neighbour.
No job is too small to be included so please put your name forward, all are welcome and I would love to hear what you have been doing. Examples might include checking on someone in isolation, delivering or preparing food, delivering newspapers, keeping in touch on the telephone, making PPE, organising volunteers, food bank deliveries, any other acts of kindness or essential work.
Your names will be presented in an artwork in the future similar to the WW1 Homing Pigeon made with the names of 466 Ilkeston men who gave their lives in WWI. These names are listed on the Cenotaph at Ilkeston Market Place.
Read more about the project HERE.
Joy Pitts is a local artist working with 1000s of clothing labels; these are unpicked from the neck of rag garments and used to make images on canvas. Joy has been commissioned by fashion designer Paul Smith to produce art using his clothing label brand. Joy has also collaborated with several famous Savile Row, London tailors using their bespoke labels to create famous portraits.
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.
INVITATION to Erewash workers
This is an INVITATION to all essential community workers, carrying out their job in EREWASH - the chance to take part in a wonderful Covid-19 art project. All acts of kindness and voluntary work count, such as checking in on an isolating neighbour.
Essential work could be a volunteer in the community, bus driver, refuse collector, cashier, shop assistant, organising or helping at a food bank, delivering news papers, post man, nurse, doctor, police. All jobs in the community are essential during Covid-19, so please put your name forward, all are welcome, I would love to hear what you have been doing.
All you have to do is submit 2 things including your name and a brief note about the essential work that you have done to joy@joypitts.co.uk
Read more about the project below.
Invitation to COVID-19 essential workers in Erewash to have your name included in an artwork.
In 2015 my art practice received funding from Arts Council England to develop a project using the names of 466 WW1 fallen soldiers, these names are listed on the Cenotaph at Ilkeston Market Place. Click here to see the project.
More recently I applied to the Arts Council Emergency Response Fund to develop this project further. My aim is to gather an additional 466 names of Erewash essential Covid-19 workers. They could be NHS Staff, care workers or anyone working on the front line, in communities, businesses providing services and volunteers. Examples could include anyone who has been working during lockdown in a shop, post office, petrol station, delivering food parcels, organising food banks, emptying bins, bus drivers etc.
At the moment this is a research project to gather an additional 466 names. Also to consider how they could be presented in an artwork in the future along with the 466 WW1 names remembered on the Ilkeston Cenotaph. Covid-19 has been compared to WW1 including loss of life, food rationing, social distancing, community spirit and helping the needy. I see this as a significant opportunity to bring together two groups of individuals separated by 100 years with the same commitment to saving lives.
If you would like your name to be included, or you would like to put forward an essential workers name (with their consent) please email joy@joypitts.co.uk and include: -
1. NAME and initial for example:- J. Pitts.
2. WORK/JOB DURING LOCKDOWN for example:- volunteer handing out food parcels.
3. EMAIL ADDRESS or MOBILE for future contact as the project develops.
Gathering the names is the first stage of this project which I hope to develop in the future, this will include an opportunity to share the work in a public space.
Arts Council England
Thrilled to receive a grant offer from Arts Council England. I will be carrying out some research and posting here soon. #LetsCreate
