Master’s Degree in Contemporary Design Craft
The Fair Woman – from conversation to object, an artistic response to the life of a female showman
Responding creatively to underrepresented heritage
This body of work is inspired by a journey undertaken with female ‘Showman’ Louise Jennings, an octogenarian who has lived and worked on Fairgrounds all her life.
Lou generously invited me to record her biography. Two years of interviews, along with further contextual research, give an insight into a community living in plain sight of us all, but one we know little about.
This research informed the development of a palette of materials and symbols. The resulting work is not a commentary; it is the essence of a story, presented through objects. The work is created to stimulate interaction, discourse and reflection. It takes the form of an assemblage of symbols and signs, translated into two distinct elements that work with each other to tell the story.
Wearable pieces, inspired by the more personal aspects of Lou’s story, held in mixed media reliquaries, representing the wider notion of the fairground we are more familiar with.
Want to know more? Download a low-resolution proof of my final report below. This can be purchased as a hardback copy here
Images below taken by Matt Davis.
Thanks to Sophie Ferrier Chadwick for modelling.
My study culminated in exhibitions at:
Jan 2024 – Maylords Orchard – Hereford
Feb to Apr 2024 – Craft in the Bay in Cardiff
Feb to Mar 2024 – selected works – for the Precious Collective ‘The Space Between’ tour, in Munich Jewellery Week
Mar 2024 – ‘Ferrous’, Hereford
Apr 2024 – Cagnes-Sur-Mer Jewellery Week – France
If you would like to hear Lou Jennings talk about the materials and symbols that are incorporated in my work, click the link below.
The image below shows Lou on her wedding day, when she married Billy Whitelegg. They have now been married for over 60 years. I am indebted to Louise for so openly sharing her inspirational story.
To give you an insight into the processes behind this work I have kept an online scrapbook journey of my process testing and the project evolution on an Instagram feed which you can find here.