'One to Twenty' at Make, Create, Cultivate symposium

In the year 2012 I developed an inflatable sculpture in collaboration with the artist Steve Swindells called One to Twenty inspired by the glove making industry in Yeovil. Although initiated as collaboration between myself and Swindells it soon became apparent that there were many other processes of collaboration that were central to the artwork. There were diverse people, places and memories which added poetry to the process of engaging with our subject of gloves and that helped inform the participatory and interactive modes of engagement with glove heritage and contemporary craft based industry, as well as our collaboration with specific locations in Yeovil such as St Johns Church, the Yeovil Glove Factory and Southcombe Brothers Glove Factory. The work also negotiated a personal collaboration with past works and ideas, presenting the opportunity to pursue lines of enquiry and tacit understanding of materials during the conceptual framework that this commission presented. This presentation hopes to reveal the nature of these collaborations as a rich area of resource and inspiration for One to Twenty. It should be noted that the presentation is pitched from my perspective as a textile practitioner and artist, with an interest in textile narratives and metaphoric associations as an underpinning current to my response to the glove heritage. Thus the language and lexicon of fabrics construction, pattern cutting, dye and colour will form a distinctive and personal voice within the presentation