Emma Blackmore

Material Confusion, 2016

Emma Blackmore was the recipient of the Sofitel / Craft FRESH! Emerging Craft Practitioners Award in 2015.  The award includes the opportunity for the winning artist to exhibit new work at Sofitel Melbourne On Collins in the following year.

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A 20th century ceiling moulding crossed with a stitch, gives birth to a hybrid fabric that is confused about its identity. Part plaster moulding, part cross-stitched embroidery, the two materials become entwined, transferring and exchanging qualities. What is left is a material uncertain about its identity. Chalky rigid plaster, stiff and inflexible, becomes a pliable fabrication embellished with plaster embroidery.

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The work by Emma Blackmore stems from an investigation into the (embroidery) sampler, and exists as a modern interpretation.  Samplers were conventionally composed of pattern and stitch trials for embroiderers; similarly to the sampler, this work is comprised of a selection of material trials and emulated patterns, the techniques developed are repeated onto surfaces and forms. During the 18th century making a sampler became part of a school girl’s education, these samplers where depictions of surroundings, in this work I have been inspired by the decorative mouldings in my bedroom. This work moves through the process of a sampler, in an open framework, combining decorative elements allowing the viewer to consider the possibility of hybrid embroidery.

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Tiny stitches allude to French decorative mouldings of 1900. Through the application of embroidery, the pattern has morphed into a geometric pixilation of the original moulding. Groups of clustered crosses arrange themselves in a lace like configuration where pattern is created through the contrast between patterned and non-patterned space. Unlike stitching, plaster sits tentatively on the surface, stable but fragile. The material moves between the body and the interior navigating identity, searching for an intersection between its two origins, unsure where it belongs. The material experiments with formation, emerging as a sculptural intersection of clothing and interior decor. It decorates both the body and surrounding environment. 

Emma Blackmore, 2016

 

Emma Blackmore is a multidisciplinary practitioner, who explores ideas of materiality, temporality formation and disintegration. Emma’s approach to creating is through process. Her work emerges through experimentation and investigation.

In 2014 Emma completed a Bachelor of Fashion Design degree with Honours at RMIT University, debuting her graduate collection at Melbourne Spring Fashion Week.

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