Geraldine Clarkson

Italy •

Artist (Textile Art, Painting) •

Born unknown date •

I have always been fascinated by transformation – in the ancient sense of ‘changing the form of something’. Transformation is not turning something into something else, but changing how it appears, presenting it in a different form. Nothing comes from nothing; even the first man is said to have been made out of dust or clay.

Likewise artists, craftsmen, creatives transform their chosen medium (paint, wood, etc.) into a tangible expression of what they see in their mind’s eye…

This feeling for transformation found its first expression in childhood when, armed with a pair of scissors, glue and a pile of my mother’s glossy magazines, I marched enthusiastically into the vast world of collage.

It is only in recent years, though, that I am discovering the creative power of fabric, and how perfectly it lends itself to transformation. And so remnants, scraps, cast-off clothes and worn-out but still-loved pieces of fabric take on a different form through collage and become art.

And here I am again with the scissors and glue...

When an idea comes to me for a fabric collage I leave it to mature a long time before getting started, and when I do start I dedicate very little time to planning. I have never been able to ‘preconstruct’ the picture I want to create, I don’t seem to have the discipline. Likewise, in shaping and placing each piece of fabric it is the work itself, and my vision of what I want the result to be, that guides me. Often it is a process of trial and error, of experimenting with effects; usually the first part I spend practically feeling my way, but this is a medium that is forgiving, and generous, and immensely versatile. It demands only total attention and the use of obedient hands. For the rest it creates itself.