Skip to main content
Read page text
page 4
Cover Image: Haute Couture Collection “Frida”, SUSANNE BISOVSKY, www.bisovsky.com, model: Alexandra Liedtke, photograph by Atelier Olschinsky Selvedge Magazine Editorial Office 162 Archway Road, London N6 5BB editor@selvedge.org www.selvedge.org T: +44 (0)20 8341 9721 Publisher: Selvedge Ltd Founder: Polly Leonard editor@selvedge.org Editor: Elizabeth Smith editorial@selvedge.org Advertising and Marketing Manager: Clare Bungey marketing@selvedge.org Communications Manager: Penny Gray communications@selvedge.org Customer Service Manager: Catherine Harris customerservice@selvedge.org Distribution Manager: Ronja Brown distribution@selvedge.org Editorial Interns: Laura Brainwood intern@selvedge.org Copy Editor: Peter Shaw Available from: TISSUS D’HÉLÈNE Ltd London M M V I 421 Design Centre East, Chelsea Harbour, LONDON SW10 0XF, Tel : 020 7352 9977, showroom@tissusdhelene.co.uk www.tissusdhelene.co.uk SELVEDGE (ISSN: 1742-254X) is published bi-monthly six times a year in January, March, May, July, September and November by Selvedge Ltd. Registered Office 14 Milton Park, Highgate, London, N6 5QA. Copyright © Selvedge Ltd 2014. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. The editor reserves the right to edit, shorten or modify any material submitted. The editor’s decision on all printed material is final. The views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of Selvedge magazine, Selvedge Ltd or the editor. Unsolicited material will be considered but cannot be returned. Printing: Westdale Press Ltd UK. Colour Origination: PH Media. Web Design: datadial. Distribution: Spatial Mail. Postmaster send address corrections to Selvedge Magazine, Spatial House, Willow Farm Business Park, Castle Donnington, Derby, DE74 2TW. Subscription rates for one year (6 issues): Paper Magazine, UK £50.00; Europe £75.00; USA & Rest of World £100.00 DON’T MISS OUT ON YOUR COPY OF To avoid any difficulties obtaining selvedge ask your newsagent to place a regular order for you. It will then be delivered to you or can await collection in the shop. Just fill in your details and hand this form to your newsagent. Please reserve/deliver (delete as applicable) my copy of selvedge on a regular basis, starting with the ........ issue. Title ...................First name ................................ Surname ........................................................ Address........................................................ ................................................................... Postcode ..................................................... Daytime phone no.........................................
page 5
BI AS CONT R I BUTORS We asked our contributors what they love about Folk Art? I recently had lunch with Gudrun Sjödén during the preview of her retrospective exhibition Gudrun Sjödén: 40 years in Fashion, pg 7, at the Kulturen museum, in the South of Sweden. After we had eaten the curator suggested we look at the goodies – it wasn’t figurative painting or sculpture she had in mind but the folk art embroidery. These gems, produced by ordinary people with no formal art training, had a Joie de vivre that is often harder to find in traditional “high art”. The brightly coloured, sometimes crude, sometimes sophisticated, pieces seem to have a depth of meaning that “fine artists” can struggle to communicate. In contrast folk art effortlessly demonstrates the hand of an individual maker, as well as the history of an entire culture. This summer’s exhibition at Tate Britain is British Folk Art, pg 36 Curator Martin Myrone discusses the highlights and hopes the show will bring this genre to greater public attention. Another curator, James Russell, thinks he became infected with the folk art bug after visiting the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. James is the author of Peggy Angus: Designer, Teacher, Painter, pg 46, the subject of an exhibition at the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne. Many of Angus’s contemporaries working in textiles in the mid 20th century, including Phyllis Barron, Dorothy Larcher and Enid Marx came to the fore using block printing, pg 57. Design historian Lesley Jackson traces the genealogy of this process and finds that, although the appeal of folk art is still strong, economic necessity is driving makers towards different means to communicate their ideas. If we examine art history an interest in folk culture is a recurring theme. In Denmark photographer Trine Søndergaard, pg 51, has captured the iconography of folk culture in her arresting series of images Strude. The artist Frida Kahlo was fascinated by the folk culture of her native Mexico. For a closer look at this vibrant culture read Hilary Simon’s whistle stop tour of Mexican textiles or visit the exhibition at London’s Fashion and Textile Museum Made in Mexico, The Rebozo in Art, Culture & Fashion, pg 69. Images of Frida wearing traditional costume has enthralled many, including Susanne Bisovsky, pg 31, a Viennese fashion designer who puts her own Austrian twist on the familiar image and whose photograph of Alexandra Liedtke graces our cover. This mix of cultures, histories and styles updates folk art for a contemporary audience. In the Selvedge office we are lusting after Stella Jean’s collection, pg 14, which blends 1950s inspired fashions with references to her Haitian roots and demonstrates how fantastic fusions can be... Polly Leonard Founder Folk art has an honesty that feels increasingly rare. Not everyone likes the term but when used as a positive folk art is less about clever references and more about pleasure in material beauty – something that feels real in all the illusion and subtext of the world today. JESSICA HEMMINGS, pg 20 JAMES RUSSELL, pg 36 ARIANNA FUNK, pg 46 I became fascinated by folk art while living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. My study of 20th century British art has introduced me not only to Peggy Angus but also to Barbara Jones, Enid Marx, Edward Bawden and other artists whose work was enriched by their enjoyment of the 'popular arts'.. As an American fashion historian living in Sweden, folk dress helps me understand the history of my adopted country. Nothing can compare to weaving, sewing, and embroidery for creating a connection, and I admire the modern spin many artists put on their traditional crafts. SELVEDGE 3

Page Text

View plaintext

Cover Image: Haute Couture Collection “Frida”, SUSANNE BISOVSKY, www.bisovsky.com, model: Alexandra Liedtke, photograph by Atelier Olschinsky Selvedge Magazine Editorial Office 162 Archway Road, London N6 5BB editor@selvedge.org www.selvedge.org T: +44 (0)20 8341 9721

Publisher: Selvedge Ltd Founder: Polly Leonard editor@selvedge.org Editor: Elizabeth Smith editorial@selvedge.org Advertising and Marketing Manager: Clare Bungey marketing@selvedge.org Communications Manager: Penny Gray communications@selvedge.org Customer Service Manager: Catherine Harris customerservice@selvedge.org Distribution Manager: Ronja Brown distribution@selvedge.org Editorial Interns: Laura Brainwood intern@selvedge.org Copy Editor: Peter Shaw

Available from:

TISSUS D’HÉLÈNE Ltd

London M M V I

421 Design Centre East, Chelsea Harbour, LONDON SW10 0XF, Tel : 020 7352 9977, showroom@tissusdhelene.co.uk www.tissusdhelene.co.uk

SELVEDGE (ISSN: 1742-254X) is published bi-monthly six times a year in January, March, May, July, September and November by Selvedge Ltd. Registered Office 14 Milton Park, Highgate, London, N6 5QA. Copyright © Selvedge Ltd 2014. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. The editor reserves the right to edit, shorten or modify any material submitted. The editor’s decision on all printed material is final. The views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of Selvedge magazine, Selvedge Ltd or the editor. Unsolicited material will be considered but cannot be returned. Printing: Westdale Press Ltd UK. Colour Origination: PH Media. Web Design: datadial. Distribution: Spatial Mail. Postmaster send address corrections to Selvedge Magazine, Spatial House, Willow Farm Business Park, Castle Donnington, Derby, DE74 2TW. Subscription rates for one year (6 issues): Paper Magazine, UK £50.00; Europe £75.00; USA & Rest of World £100.00

DON’T MISS OUT ON YOUR COPY OF

To avoid any difficulties obtaining selvedge ask your newsagent to place a regular order for you. It will then be delivered to you or can await collection in the shop. Just fill in your details and hand this form to your newsagent. Please reserve/deliver (delete as applicable) my copy of selvedge on a regular basis, starting with the ........ issue. Title ...................First name ................................ Surname ........................................................ Address........................................................ ................................................................... Postcode ..................................................... Daytime phone no.........................................

read next page

My Bookmarks

Buy this Book
Skip to main content