Swiss artist, Clemens Wild and I were approached by Art et al to work collaboratively on a project as a part of the Peer/Peer Collaborations project.
Clemens works out of Atelier Rohling, a supported studio working with disabled artists based in Bern, Switzerland.
From Art et al’s website:
During the first Zoom meeting, Clemens and Harriet shared examples of their artwork. They had in common, an interest in memories, women’s labour and care. From this initial sharing of artworks, the ideas of memories, shared spaces, and community/communal were recorded.
In the following Zoom meetings, Clemens and Harriet continued to discuss shared interests. Conceptually this included socially engaged art, ideas of care and community, but documenting the labour of women remained central. They also discussed and noticed in each other’s artworks the use of memories; both invented and documented. Aesthetically, they also had in common a passion for line, and in particular, how as artists, they have different approaches to making lines via drawing and embroidery.
Following Clemens and Harriet looking at some historical textiles and Clemens’ interest in the work of artist Lucienne Hälg, they were inspired to make collaborative works with tablecloths. For them, the idea of tablecloths represented family, history, narrative, and a place for sharing and gathering.
The framework for this collaboration was that each artist would find a tablecloth and contribute to it creatively. The contributions were to be open-ended but also respond to the reoccurring themes of women’s labour, community, and memories. After Clemens and Harriet both completed working on their tablecloths, they shipped them internationally to the other. Once received, each artist then added another layer of creativity to the tablecloths, so that both textiles were completely collaborative at the close of the project. Each of the two tablecloths were embroidered by Harriet and painted and drawn on by Clemens.
