History of Printing on Fabric.

 

I’ve always loved modern history. At school we had a wonderful history teacher. who taught us to embrace controversy - probably the most useful life skill in all my schooling.

I also loved my term of modern art history. And when I studied architecture, Le Corbusier became my idol.

 

Bottisham Hanging, 

Cary and Ricki Outis with young people 

from Bottisham Village College.

 

For the past many years (not saying how many) I have been a screen printer, so I was delighted to find that there was a talk on 20th century textiles, put on by Marketplace Arts in Chatteris today. Just up my street - both the topic and the location, being just the literal street from one of my great friends' house!

The talk was by Mary Schoeser, a respected fashion and textiles curator. The topic was ‘English Artist-Designed Textiles, c.1905-1945’.  In this period, many fine artists turned their hands to textile design. The dynamic marks they made created a new textile idiom that was informal, lively and experimental. And connects to all the other histories of 20th century modernism.

Interestingly, this is an aesthetic that has had a resurgence in popularity today.  Perhaps, as Mary says, as we face an increasingly dangerous future world, the hand made mark can provide the human touch and with it a sense of deep comfort.  

 

Screen printed cloth - Ricki Outis

Which, of course, brings me to screen printing: 

Screen printing is a skill developed in the 20th century. To me, it is very much about the dynamic hand of a human being, leaving direct evidence of our complex existence on the cloth. In an age of digital and industrial printing methods, we can still be artists creating new textiles, describing our own lives and reflecting the times we live in....with all it's contradictictions and flaws.

 

Ricki Outis - screen printed cloth using paper masks and screen filler.

And so, if you’re like to participate in making your own flawed and dynamic patterns on fabric, we have Screenprint Sunday, once a month at Prickwillow ArtSpace.  And in the last week of July, we will be doing our own summer school - 4 whole days of screen printing.

Contact us at prickwillowartspace@gmail.com to find out more.
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