Lou Baker

Knitting as process and product are significant parts of my fine art practice. For this research proposal I aim to find out how and why I can use knitting as a research method as part of a practice-based methodology.
   
I’ve identified key aspects of my knitting practice as a framework for my research. Unfortunately, there seems to be little scholarly writing specifically about knitting, so I’ve also researched the work of other artists who use similarly gendered and stereotyped textiles processes, like embroidery, weaving and crochet. I’ve considered knitting as a verb and as a noun, discussed my findings using critical theory and reflected it back to my own practice.

I’ve found out more about arts-based research (Gray and Malins, 2016; Leavy, 2015), researched other fine art and craft sources using books, journals, websites and videos and by visiting exhibitions and analysing my own knitting practice. I’ve also used relevant theories from a range of disciplines including psychology, psychotherapy, feminism, occupational therapy, neurology, anthropology, philosophy, fashion, art criticism and art history.

My preliminary findings show that there are many ways that I can use knitting as a research method. Realising the significance of my role now as research-practitioner as well as thinker, maker, connector and performer has been critical. Knitting in private enables me to reflect deeply, knitting in public has strong relational elements. Exploring these aspects and the construction, materials and contexts of knitting more thoroughly during my MA, I look forward to ‘knitting together’ a unique, rigorous and transparent practice-led research methodology using knitting as a research method, triangulating with other, more conventional methods.

Both Louise Bourgeois and Christian Boltanski appropriate used clothing in their work. With particular focus on Bourgeois’ Pink Days and Blue Days and Boltanski’s No Man’s Land, I will discuss how each artist subverts traditional representations of the body, constructing alternative identities and evoking the abject. However, each artist approaches the use of worn clothing in different ways with quite different effects.

I will consider the materiality of clothing and how it evokes memory, absence and loss. I will examine the idea of cloth as second skin and empty clothing as cadaver. I will explore Kristeva’s notion of the abject in relation to used clothing. I will also consider the multi sensory nature of cloth, particularly touch and smell, and how these elements can add meaning.

Gender dichotomies are key to my discussion. Referring to Rozsika Parker’s notion of the gendering of cloth, I will explore the femininities associated with cloth, the stereotypical divide between ‘high’ and ‘low’ art and the body in personal and public spaces.
Used clothing is possibly worn, faded, stained and dirty, and might have an odour. In the light of this, I will look at the work of Mary Douglas, who described dirt as being ‘matter out of place’ and explore the gendering of dirt as described by Julia Kristeva.

Key words
Used clothing - Body - Gender – Materiality – The abject

It's a question of balance. The darker side of Lou Baker's sculptural practice is balanced by a brighter side of social engagement, as she makes public things that are normally private. Her works are provocations-to thought, conversation and action. Stereotypically, hand-knitting is functional, perfect and finished, associated with garments, domesticity, comfort and the body. Baker subverts these expectations by 'knitting together' her ideas with her explorations of material, process,

Documentation of the research and development of Lou Baker's 'Social knitwork', a participatory and performative knitting project. It requires 4 components:
1. Lou Baker’s red knitted installation, 'Red is the colour of…' and a pile of more red knitting
2. The artist, knitting in the space
3. One wearable red, knitted sculpture, 'Body cocoon 3'
4. Participants - to make alongside the artist, to become living sculptures and to join the conversation.

It focuses on improving wellbeing by making connections and building community through creativity and conversation.

The research was compiled in this presentation for a specific proposal for a live event. Like my knitting, the project is extremely versatile, a shapeshifter.

For further research, development and documentation my work, please visit my
MA website: www.loubakerartist.weebly.com
Main website: www.loubakerartist.co.uk
Instagram: @loubakerartist @socialengagement @_livingsculptures

Documentation of the research and development of methods of installing Lou Baker's 'Red is the colour of… ' 2019-22. It's an extremely versatile installation of multiple thin, knitted sculptures of various lengths. The knitting can be installed in many different ways. It can be hung vertically, suspended horizontally, draped, heaped, tensioned, stretched on the floor, tied, worn… or installed in any other imaginable way. It's form could even change during the course of an exhibition… It's a shapeshifter!

This research was compiled for the curators when the work was selected for New Contemporaries 2022.

For further research, development and documentation my work, please visit my
MA website: www.loubakerartist.weebly.com
Main website: www.loubakerartist.co.uk
Instagram: @loubakerartist @socialengagement @_livingsculptures

Documentation of my final exhibition submission for my MA in Fine Art, Parts of me, 2021. It was installed thus at The MA Degree Show, Bath Spa University, Bath, UK, in September 2021.

It's an ensemble of multiple, modular, sculptural parts that can be configured to respond to the available space. It could be different every time it’s installed.

In these images, the Parts are arranged as an ensemble, a series of 3 separate sculptural assemblages, in such a way that visitors can walk around and through the space.

Hand-knitting, wool, PVC, stitch, zips, steel, concrete, lead, the artist’s sandals, nuts and bolts

For full documentation please visit my MA Fine Art website https://loubakerartist.weebly.com/exhibition-ar7007.html

This research was compiled as a presentation for a submission for a Fine Art call out.

For further research, development and documentation my work, please visit my
Main website: www.loubakerartist.co.uk
Instagram: @loubakerartist @socialengagement @_livingsculptures

This is the documentation of the research and development of the idea of a cage as a frame. I was privileged to be selected for a month-long residency, Real Space, with two other MA Fine Art students, Tim Heath and Sarah Kniveton.

It took place at The Michael Pennie Gallery at Bath Spa University's Locksbrook campus from 1.3.-30.3.2021. Sadly, we weren't able to be open to the public due to the pandemic.

I used the time and space to trial a number of installation ideas and projection. I constructed a large cage in the space using Heras fencing panels and installed some of my sculptures inside it.

For full documentation of the residency visit my MA Fine Art research website: https://loubakerartist.weebly.com/real-space-8th-march---1st-april-2021-ar7007.html

Also, the Real Space website: https://mafashow.weebly.com/
Instagram @realspace2021

For further research, development and documentation of my work, please visit my
Main website: www.loubakerartist.co.uk
Instagram: @loubakerartist @socialengagement @_livingsculptures

Documentation of the research and development of 'Cocoons', a series of three lightweight, hanging sculptures made of monofilament, transformed through the process of knitting into a sparkling, ethereal web.

They were part of my MA Fine Art research

These sculptures were installed as part of Regeneration, at Stone Lane Garden, Devon from 1.6. - 31.10.21.

For more information please visit my MA Fine Art research website: https://loubakerartist.weebly.com/regeneration-stone-lane-sculpture-garden-devon-28221-12-noon.html

For further research, development and documentation my work, please visit my
Main website: www.loubakerartist.co.uk
Instagram: @loubakerartist @socialengagement @_livingsculptures

'Wishing trees' was a series of multi-site participatory and durational installations facilitated by artist, Lou Baker, in Bristol, UK, during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is the documentation of the research and development.

Research question:
How can I still facilitate participatory art when we’re self isolated, socially distanced and can’t touch what anyone else has touched?

A couple of days after the beginning of the first Covid-19 lockdown in England I set up the first installation on the small silver birch tree on the pavement outside my house. I used bright strips of cloth. I added a message inviting passers-by to bring things to add to the installation next time they walked that way. I decided that I would add more strips of cloth to the tree every day too. I called it a 'Wishing tree' and posted a photo on Instagram.

I was amazed that almost instantly I began to receive messages from friends and followers from around the world, asking me to add them to my Wishing tree.

As we were allowed to take walks further from home, I 'planted' 3 more 'Wishing trees' in more public spaces around Bristol. On our daily walks from then on, my partner and I would visit at least one of the installations to add any messages from Instagram and also to tend them, removing anything that became detached or too untidy.

It was fabulous to be part of such a heartwarming community of strangers, who wanted to connect with one another at such a difficult time. Each tree set up a socially distanced conversation, with some visitors visiting all four. It was a great privilege to have set the project going, but in the end, each tree took on a life of its own.

I was especially interested in the complaints that I received, mostly online, and reflect on that here. I think it's what Doherty describes as 'relational antagonism', caused by art in unexpected places.

Read on for more...



24.3.20 and ongoing

Documentation of the process of knitting of Body cocoon 1.

The day after the first Covid-19 lockdown in England started in March 2020, artist Lou Baker began to knit a complex wearable sculpture and subsequently recorded daily the development of the piece. She called it 'Body cocoon' and was knitted as a response to the shock and isolation of pandemic.

Normally Lou knits out and about, whenever and wherever she can; this piece had to be made exclusively in private, in her house and garden.

She was interested in the way this changed her relationship to the work, how it marked the passing of time, how it comforted her. It raised questions about identity, the self and the other; contamination anxiety, knitting as therapy, public vs private spheres and more.

She submitted images of it, unworn in her domestic spaces,  for assessment as part of her MA in Fine Art at Bath Spa University, together with her socially engaged project 'Wishing trees', as a diptych, 'Self and Other'.

It became the first of 5 'Body cocoons' knitted during the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.

For further research, development and documentation of 'Self and Other' please visit her MA website https://loubakerartist.weebly.com/3-selected-work.html

www.loubakerartist.co.uk
Instagram: @loubakerartist @socialengagement @_livingsculptures

‘The materiality and multi-sensory nature (of cloth) blurs the boundaries of visual and tactile experience’
(Bristow, 2011, p45)

There’s a merging of the senses of touch and sight associated with cloth; ‘The eye…does not simply look. It also feels. Its response is both visual and tactile…’ the senses are ‘…each enfolded in the other.
(Barnett 1999: 185)

‘The materiality and skin-like nature of cloth provides an alternative range of meanings to the use of cloth in art, operating ‘both through the haptic and the scopic simultaneously, the two modes of perception provide differing points of access to the viewer’
(Dormor, 2008, p240)

As the first Covid-19 lockdown in England was declared, Lou Baker gathered her research about textiles, touch and participation in this presentation. She was searching for ways to be able to continue to facilitate socially engaged art when there were social distancing regulations, valid issues with contamination anxiety and we had to self isolate.

Her research led to her set up 'Wishing trees', a series of 4 participatory installations in public spaces. There was also a fifth, virtual 'Wishing tree' on Instagram.

For further research, development and documentation her works, please visit her
MA website: www.loubakerartist.weebly.com
Main website: www.loubakerartist.co.uk
Instagram: @loubakerartist @socialengagement @_livingsculptures

This is the documentation of 'Living sculptures'', a participatory art project at 'For Art's Sake', a day conference for CMS Pioneers in Oxford, UK, on 3rd March 2020. I was invited to talk about my socially engaged art practice and wanted delegates to experience some participation and creativity so I invited delegates to wear some of my interactive 'Living sculptures' as part of my talk. This is the documentation of the fabulous responses.

For the slides and transcript of my talk, please see 'Lou Baker, Curiosity, creativity, conversation and community, 2020'. I also  I set up 'Safety net', my walk-in participatory netting installation and invited delegates to think about what made them feel safe, write it on a label and attach it, with some coloured strips of cloth. The space was transformed very quickly. Please see 'Lou Baker, Safety net at For Art's Sake, 2020'.

Somewhat ironically, this event took place just a few days before the first Covid-19 lockdown in England.

For further research, development and documentation Lou Baker's works, please visit
MA website: www.loubakerartist.weebly.com
Main website: www.loubakerartist.co.uk
Instagram: @loubakerartist @socialengagement @_livingsculptures

This is the documentation of 'Safety net', a site-responsive, participatory art installation at 'For Art's Sake', a day conference for CMS Pioneers in Oxford, UK, on 3rd March 2020.

I was invited to talk about my socially engaged art practice and wanted delegates to experience some participation and creativity so I set up my walk-in netting installation and invited them to think about what made them feel safe, write it on a label and attach it, with some coloured strips of cloth. The space was transformed very quickly.

I had only ever facilitated this project over weeks so it was very interesting for me to experience a much more intense version of it.

For the slides and transcript of my talk (slides and transcript), please see 'Lou Baker, Curiosity, creativity, conversation and community, 2020'.

I also used some of my interactive 'Living sculptures' as part of my talk. For documentation of the fabulous responses, please see 'Lou Baker, Living sculptures at For Art's Sake, 2020'.

Somewhat ironically, this event took place just a few days before the first Covid-19 lockdown in England.

For further research, development and documentation her works, please visit her
MA website: www.loubakerartist.weebly.com
Main website: www.loubakerartist.co.uk
Instagram: @loubakerartist @socialengagement @_livingsculptures

Documentation of Lou Baker’s ongoing practice-based research and development of her socially engaged project, 'Living sculptures', at ‘Make space’, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol, UK, 18.7.18, at ‘disquiet’ exhibition, Walcot Chapel, Bath, UK, 18.9 - 23.9.18 and elsewhere.

Normally, in an art gallery, there are signs saying ‘Do not touch’; what happens if the viewer is not only encouraged to touch but is invited to become a living sculpture by wearing an abstract soft sculpture? What would it look like? How would it feel?

Identity is often communicated through the clothes we wear, but, at a deeper level, the multiple selves we reveal to the world can conceal our true sense of self.

Using traditional garment-making skills and unexpected materials, I am developing a selection of more readily wearable sculptures which can be put on and removed independently by visitors.

This research will all inform the next stages of this project. Many thanks to all my fabulous participants!

Documentation of the research and development behind 'Safety net', Lou Baker's participatory art installation over 17 days at Fringe Arts Bath, Bath, Uk. It was part of an exhibition called 'Refuge: in search of safety', 26.5.17 –11.6.17.

Lou constructed a walk-in installation using large pieces of garden netting and provided strips of bright cloth and coloured labels. Visitors were invited to sit in the den, think about what made them feel safe and add their thoughts to the installation with some strips of cloth.

Over 17 days, the space was transformed. Read more about that transformation here.

'Safety net
an invitation to participate:
Please touch.
Go in to the space.
Sit, stay a while.
Write your thoughts about
Safety net on a label.
Tie it to the netting.
Weave some fabric into the structure.
Post photos on social media.
Come back and see how the space has been transformed.'

Thank you for being part of #safetynet  @loubakerartist
www.loubakerartist.co.uk

'Don’t wash your dirty laundry in public' documents the research and development of my work at a month's residency, Bodies, with Synecdoche art collective. We were based in an empty shop in the centre of Bristol, UK in September 2016.

I decided to use the time and space at The Unit to try out different installations with used clothing. The clothes belonged to my family. As the days went by, I decided to give them away to our visitors. This act provoked many wonderful conversations and interactions, many of which are documented here.

For more research into the use of second hand clothing in art, see my Undergraduate dissertation, 'Second skin: used clothing in the works of Louise Bourgeois and Christian Boltanski', 2014

'Do you mind if I write that down?' documents what I call my accidental introduction to social engagement.

In 2015, as Embroiderers’ Guild Scholar,
I was invited to exhibit my work as part of The Embroiderers’ Guild Graduate Showcase for 5 days at The Knitting and Stitching Show in London in October and 4 days in Harrogate in November.

I was, frankly, rather nervous about exhibiting in this context as I imagined that most visitors would want to see beautiful, colourful, benign textile art. My abstract, hanging soft sculptures are far from that; they explore the possibilities of there being a dark side to the idea of embroidery as a gendered, decorative, safe, clean, perfect and private pursuit.

Made using skin-like materials and rough, gestural stitches, my work is troubling and emotive, with an undercurrent of dark humour.

I call it the dark side of stitch.

My intention was that my sculptures should be provocative and, at The Knitting and Stitching Shows, I quickly realised that I had been successful!

As the show opened I wanted just to sit and become absorbed in my knitting but I quickly realised that if I didn’t actively engage with the public, I’d miss an unprecedented opportunity to get valuable feedback.

In  a gallery setting the artist might usually only be present for a couple of hours during a private view or when invigilating. In this setting I was going to be with my work from 10-5 for 9 intensive days.

Because it was so busy and I felt it was very important for me to record the responses of my public, I began to ask people, as we were talking, whether I could write down their comments.

And so it began; it hadn’t been planned, but it became something invaluable to me – documentation of the event and the fabulous range of responses to my work mixed in with my reflections of our conversations.

Reda more about the comments and conversations I documented mixed in with my reflections. It was definitely an accidental introduction to social engagement, but from this experience my passion for connecting with me audiences has developed.

For more, follow my Instagram account specifically for social engagement @socialengagement

www.loubakerartist.co.uk

I was selected as an Embroiderer's Guild Scholar at the end of my undergraduate degree for the year 2015-16. I was awarded £1000 and given the opportunity to exhibit at The Knitting and Stitching Shows in London and Harrogate, UK in September and October 2015.

I was also invited to speak at various regional branches of The Embroiderers' Guild and finally at the Embroiderers' Guild AGM in Birmingham in 2016. This is the slide show that accompanied my talk.

Please also see 'Lou Baker, Do you mind if I write that down? My accidental  introduction to social engagement.'

For further research, development and documentation my work, please visit my
MA website: www.loubakerartist.weebly.com
Main website: www.loubakerartist.co.uk
Instagram: @loubakerartist @socialengagement @_livingsculptures

I was invited to present my socially engaged and participatory work at 'For Art's Sake', a conference for CMS Pioneers in Oxford, UK. It was just a few weeks before the first Covid-19 lockdown in England. 

This is the presentation that accompanied my talk. Please see the transcript for the talk itself.

As part of the talk, I provided some of my wearable sculptures, inviting passive viewers to become active participants by wearing them and becoming 'Living sculptures'.

In a separate space, I also set up another iteration of the participatory installation 'Safety net'. It's a walk-in space for reflection, made with large pieces of garden netting and strips of brightly coloured cloth. Visitors are invited to think about what makes them feel safe and then add a label and some cloth to the netting. The space was transformed as the day progressed.

See the documentation of these two projects in 'Lou Baker, Living sculptures at For Art's Sake, 3.3.20' and Lou baker, Safety net at For Art's Sake, 3.3.20'

I was invited to present my socially engaged and participatory work at 'For Art's Sake', a conference for CMS Pioneers in Oxford, UK. It was just a few weeks before the first Covid-19 lockdown in England. This is the tarnscript of the talk. Please also see the slide presentation for the talk which accompanied the talk.

As part of the talk, I provided some of my wearable sculptures, inviting passive viewers to become active participants by wearing them and becoming 'Living sculptures'. In a separate space, I also set up another iteration of the participatory installation 'Safety net'. It's a walk-in space for reflection, made with large pieces of garden netting and strips of brightly coloured cloth. Visitors are invited to think about what makes them feel safe and then add a label and some cloth to the netting. The space was transformed as the day progressed.

See the documentation of these two projects in 'Lou Baker, Living sculptures at For Art's Sake, 3.3.20' and Lou baker, Safety net at For Art's Sake, 3.3.20'