Artist Joy Pitts started working with garment labels 15 years ago in college. To build each piece, Joy uses thousands of recycled clothing labels collected from charity shops and clothes that would otherwise be turned into rags............CONTINUE READING
Sir Winston Churchill - label portrait
Working Title - Size 46
The opportunity to assemble a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill has been made possible through collaboration with his preferred outfitters. Churchill was certainly a man of style, choosing Henry Poole & Co, the most famous Savile Row tailor to measure, cut, fit and sew his bespoke three-piece suits.
Turnbull & Asser of Jermyn Street were also favoured by Churchill, pattern cutting and crafting his shirts and spot silk bow ties. Later referring to Churchill simply as size 46 and designing his famous ‘siren suit’.
Our vision of Churchill today would certainly not be complete without the addition of a Homburg hat, first ordered by Churchill from Lock & Co Hatters at No. 6 St. James's Street, London in 1911. Now the oldest hat shop in the world.
Henry Poole & Co, Turnbull & Asser and Lock & Co Hatters are proud to have been of service to Churchill and are delighted to supply their bespoke labels for inclusion in his portrait. The result will be a contemporary image of Britain’s greatest war leader, portrayed through dress and reflecting on quality couture craftsmanship.
Once assembled using thousands of dressmaker pins the portrait will be exhibited in London in 2016, more details and dates to follow.
FACEBOOK Joy Pitts - Sir Winston Churchill Portrait
LABEL OF SUCCESS Erewash Borough Council
LABEL OF SUCCESS read article here PAGE 4
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.
A WOOLY TAKEOVER ON LONDON’S SAVILE ROW
HUNTSMAN – WHILE SHEEP GRAZE ON SAVILE ROW - FASHION CAPITAL
Huntsman had a piece commissioned by the fine artist, Joy Pitts displayed in the frontage of No. 11 in the form of a brightly-colored sheep, patterned in pain staking fashion using a combination of Huntsman and Woolmark Labels (100 labels stitched by Woolaton branch of the WI with Merino wool to celebrate the WI centenary) with the help of 450 BBC Get Creative participants...... CONTINUE READING
HUNTSMAN Blog 6th October 2015 SAVILE ROW
Passers by on Savile Row this week will notice a large, imperious sheep in the Huntsman window......CONTINUE READING
The Bespoke Merino of Savile Row 5 - 11th October 2015
Joining our Lalanne friends is a specially commissioned artwork by UK based artist, Joy Pitts. Joy has created her Bespoke Merino of Savile Row from over 1000 Huntsman labels......... ..........READ HUNTSMAN BLOG HERE
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
