I'm a looper

Here are some pieces I have created by knitting my wires with needles instead of a loom. 

I began knitting coloured 0.315mm copper wires on 4mm knitting needles. The results are a lot different from using the loom as needle knitted wire creates a lot less routine pattern. I quite like the imperfect, messier appearance, and feel it works well with the sisal. Also, the scale of each pieces is much easier to play about with. However, after a university lecture on 'Marketing and Branding', I had the divine realisation that it was the loop pattern made from my loom is what really stood out in my work. I'm a looper. I am eager to develop of course, but the needles were making me lose a quality which made my work individual.

Bitta Craic

Sometimes you have to just mess things up a little to develop. I always think of presenting my work in routine patterns, it just seems to be an auto-pilot style reaction when thinking of how to present my pieces. To rebel against the short-sighted pilot in my head I decided to have some FUN. I took these photos in January  hoping they would inspire my next project. The degree show project. The big one. What better way to get started the next, very important, soon-to-be well developed project than to just friggin' mess up the previous one?  

Wires and Threads Piece

Using the domestic sewing machine to cord my wires with coloured thread became a big focus me, and greatly influenced the piece which I created for assessment in January. This technique opened up the beautiful world of colour theory to me, something which drove my ideas forward. I chose to work with the analogous harmony of purple, to red, to orange, to yellow as my colour palette. Aesthetically, these colours are also vivid and eye-catching, giving the work a more playful atmosphere as well.

Compositional influences from the work of artists such as Anne Wilson and Marian Bijlenga, informed my decision to create multiples which would work together as a large scale piece. I looked at pattern, as well as positive and negative space. The work is intended to be viewed from above and walked around, as during experimentation it has proven to be the most interesting point from which to view the work. By leaving space in between the pieces, they interact with the table, creating some added shadow play.

Here is a photo of some of the lovely sketchbooks I filled with my thoughts, drawings, ideas, inspirations. It really does help to just sit with a sketchbook for a while when there is too much going on in your head. In previous years I've definitely neglected my sketchbooks, which was a serious mistake, and probably due to sheer laziness. However, I have wised up and realised how important they are in helping me get it together, whether my imagination has hit a brick wall or it's overloaded with ideas, even a few scribbles can sort you out. 

Art Pieces Jan 2013

I have been eager for my work to be a continuous development of knitted structures in the final year of my degree. The circular, repeat motifs of knit have been the foundation of my work, which lead me to use a circular knitting loom in my current work.

At the beginning of the semester I experimented with various qualities of yarn, from man-made to natural. I encountered technical issues as the work I was creating was not self supporting. Further experimentation led me to work with wire.  Its flexibility makes it pliable and therefore knittable, and it holds its shape whilst standing. Once I had developed a successful structure, I wanted to add individuality to each piece. I introduced horse hair, melted plastics and used red yarn to bunch together rows of the knitted wire. I also began to wrap the wire with coloured thread on the domestic sewing machine to create pieces with colour at one end, which I will talk more about later.

Here are some samples of my work...

  White Unravel (2012)

Cathryn Hogg

Knitted white and sugar wire with plastic fibre centre 

11cmx20cmx5.5cm

 White Wrap (2012)

Cathryn Hogg

Knitted silk covered wire with horse hair

7.5cmx16cmx7cm

Copper Heat (2012)

Cathryn Hogg

Knitted copper wire with interlacing threads and pre-knit wires

10.5cmx6.5cmx6.5cm

 Red Thread 1 (2012)

Cathryn Hogg

Knitted wire with thread

10cmx9cmx7cm

Bottle Neck (2012)

Cathryn Hogg

knitted blue and red wire

10cmx6.5cmx6cm

Blue Melt (2012)

Cathryn Hogg

Knitted navy and blue wires

9.5cmx8.5cmx8.5cm 

Colour Fill (2012)

Cathryn Hogg

Knitted wire with pre-knit wire in centre

15cmx9cmx10cm

 Twine Barrel (2012)

Cathryn Hogg

Knitted wire and twine

8.5cmx6.5cmx6cm