Angie Salfield

The work in this exhibition has it’s own unity, but is also part of an ongoing project looking for new and hopefully exciting ways of working with well established textile skills and processes. Angie Salfield has been working, in what can loosely be called textile art, for a number of years learning and using the skills of screen printing, photography, felt, silk and paper making, knitting and crocheting. Now she is finding that she can revisit these skills with a very different perspective which is more fluid and intuitive combining and integrating them in experimental ways. She has been working on large scale grids, depicting aspects of the Derbyshire countryside. In this instance the work is based on images from Bradford and Lathkill Dales and Caudwell’s Mill in Rowsley. Initially the photos were merely a way of recording and documenting, but quickly became an integral part of the final art form. The grids are made up of individual units of photographs, screen prints and knitting integrated together allowing the same images to be explored in different ways through these different mediums.This opens up new possibilities of expression by the artist and hopefully new ‘ways of seeing’ by the viewer. Angie is a Grayson Perry fan and is influenced by both his challenges to conceptions about what makes a piece art and the current trend and acceptability of the ideas around the crossover between art and craft. Textures and patterns are always an important focus for this artist. Symmetry and asymmetry are explored and experimented with. The knitted and felted textures in the framed wall pictures t are compelling and extremely tactile. The size of the wool and knitting needles used has allowed large pieces to be made in which the textures have become accentuated. Angie considers art to be more than something to be seen and has been working on 3d sculptural pieces which are there to be touched, moved around and used by the audience, thus involving them in the work. The large knitted screens and blocks are both pieces of art and usable furniture. The large scale French Knitting Machines are made from old cable drums and are there to ‘have a go’ with. The use scaling up of the size of knitting, and it’s tools is exciting and fun, as well as pushing the boundaries of traditional textiles. ‘Lucille’, a large white felt ball is open to your own interpretation. Angie likes the work of the architect Frank Gehry and his view that in constructing buildings the rules are there to be broken. She has taken on board his now famous saying of ‘Why can’t I?’ when questioned on whether it is possible to carry out some of his architectural ideas and has applied this to textiles. Angie is also a crafter and her love of colour and their combinations is used in the accessory designs which complete the work to be found in this exhibition.