Whiteknights Studio Trail

In a few days I take up residency in the home of my benefactor for the Whiteknights Studio Trail. This blog is seen across the world so I will not bore you all with the background of this event. It is enough for me to say for me in Reading UK it is a huge privilege to be accepted and take part. For two days in the streets that surround the vast Whiteknights Campus of Reading University, homes and studios of artists and creatives of all genre become  massive gallery of works of art. Artists display their recent collections to neighbours, friends and family, who wander from  home/studio to home/studio with a view to browse, buy, listen, chat or partake in refreshments as they go.  I am a local artist reluctant or unable to describe my art coherently or in a few words.

Two years ago, after I graduated from University with a MA in textiles, I began a venture into stop motion animation and storytelling. Using my textile skills, I made 1:6 dolls with coat hanger wire, sculpted them a little with felt and designed costumes so that they could potentially enact stories.  I began writing when I was an artist in residence in the Turbine House, Reading Museum in 2023 and 2024. During both these occasions I was joined by filmmaker Matt Hulse. Fortunately, I was ‘spotted’ by a local charitable fundraiser who encouraged me to make an application for a grant to make a film and publish a book. The application was successful, and the book(s) and film have been completed.  The illustrated stories document the lives of an imagined family who may have lived in Reading by the Thames and Kennet and Avon Canal in 1850, tells the story of how they coped with the coming and arrival of the Industrial Revolution and it wasn’t always a happy story. 

The film while does show some of the stop motion sequences made during the last 2 years, it is much to do with my ‘magical’ world as an artist and my relationship with river life in the 1950s. Highlighting the cultural differences between town and country and coming to terms with peace, where there had been so much devastation and the subsequent rebuilding of homes. Going on to show how I found solace in doll making then and now as I look towards life as an elderly person at a time when the world is not so kind.

I would like to thank RGSpaces for their financial support in this project, Annette Haworth who has kindly allowed me the use of her home this coming weekend. Also, Matt Hulse the filmmaker and Anne Nolan the book publisher who have worked relentlessly with me dragging me into a world of art and social interaction which is nor always comfortable for me.