Unseen by All But Me Alone
Bluestockings (Elizabeth Montagu), Catherine Bertola, pen on paper, 135 x 80 cms 53.19 x 31.52 inches, 2008 (courtesy of the artist and Workplace Gallery, UK)
Gateshead’s Workplace Gallery is holding its first solo show of work by Catherine Bertola (until 7 November)
Called Unseen by All But Me Alone, the exhibition’s about Bertola’s on-going fascination with the historic role of women both as keeper of the (clean) home and as often unacknowledged, undervalued craft producers. It also explores the old hierarchy of crafts, which placed textiles (traditionally made at home by women) below such ‘male’ crafts as furniture production or ceramics. The undervalued textiles here are represented by a series of beautifully made delicate cobwebs carefully hidden in the gallery corners. Made out of gold thread, they also explore the idea of elevating rubbish (ie cobwebs) into art, an idea Bertola developed when she collected dust to make a series of wallpaper patterns for Out of the Ordinary at the V&A in 2007.
The show also includes pieces from her series Bluestockings. The title references the Bluestocking Society, an 18th century, proto-feminist literary society and each piece is named after one of the group members. They consist of ink drawings of Bertola’s tights each decorated with elaborate lace patterns, reflecting her on-going interest in the historic production of lace – often produced by working class women and worn by the type of wealthy women who were members of the Bluestocking Society.
www.workplacegallery.co.uk
