Christine Elliott Grey

In the beginning, 2006

Final word of a woven text piece 'in the beginning was the waeve' as exhibited at New Hall, Cambridge.

36cm x 210cm. Cotton, hemp, wood

http://www.axisweb.org/seCVWK.aspx?ARTISTID=11842

Untitled, 2006

Woven word.

http://www.axisweb.org/seCVWK.aspx?ARTISTID=1184240cm x 50cm. Woollen warp, elasticated thread



Untitled, 2006

Vintage wooden window frame warped up and woven.

82cm x 62cm x 16cm. Wooden frame, fishing line, cellophane

http://www.axisweb.org/seCVWK.aspx?ARTISTID=11842



Untitled, 2007

Woven word.

28cm x 42 cm Wool

http://www.axisweb.org/seCVWK.aspx?ARTISTID=11842

 Text and textiles are bound together by their etymology: both words derive from the Latin 'texere' meaning 'to weave'. The parallels between how we construct a textile and construct a text have long captured my imagination, so it's always a delight when I find work that is exploring this principle. Christine Elliott Grey is one such artist whose work I long to see more of.  I first became aware of her work as it was part of the 'Marking Space' exhibition and symposium culminating the CIRIC project at Swansea Metropolitan University.

Warp threads are bound around a frame, or otherwise off-loom, and the choosen word/s are carefully woven in a tapestry / discontinous weft form, although much of the warp is left unwoven. The tension between the woven and unwoven is as poetic as the words theselves in my view.

I'm very much hoping I will get a chance to travel to see a forthcoming exhibition of her work at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre, 38 Newmarket Road, Cambridge CB5 8DT Tel: 01223 577553. The exhibition is on from the 24 May - 4 July 2011 and Christine is giving a talk about the work Saturday 28 May at 7 30, as part of a Cultural Exchange evening. 

In her own words:

The work is about the dynamic between language and the real. It questions the assumption that language is transparent rather than a well-worn local system that organises and structures perceptions down historical pathways.

Sub-texts, secondary thoughts, the underlying, refer to family, memory, the quotidian, the everyday, unless site specific.

April 2011