The Found Object in Textile Art

By Cas Holmes

The Found Object

Found object can be anything from...• Safety pin• Pin cone• Silk fabric picked up from travelling• Big/small• Man-made or natural • Random• Sentimental/souvenier

The Found Object Uses

• Convey a meaning or to add decoration to a textiles piece.

• Printing or mark-making

• Tell a story• Abstract art

Cas Holmes• Trained in fine arts, work with

paper, drawing and textiles.• Reowned for her use of found

material in her work.• Atmospheric, multi-layered

pieces• Encourages using everyday

objects to create textile pieces. E.g Mundane objects like CD cases.

• Sentimental objects like broken jewellery

Cas Holmes Jul 2011

Technique using mom

igami (hand kneaded

paper technique)

Cas Holmes

Red bowl, m

ixed media

Mona Luison

• Works entirely from found objects and craft technique.

• Finds uninteresting commercial objects and brings them back to life by giving them a newly imagined second life.

• Huge range of colour and materials.

• Space- like/futuristic costume

Mona Luison “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to

remain an artists once he grows up.” - Picasso •Sense of joy, playfulness and artistry in her pieces.

•They are very childlike as the found objects can be children's toys/fabrics.

Robert Rauschenberg’s Bed

• Involved the appropriation of a traditional patchwork quilt, which was then embellished with thick paint.

• Referred to this type of work as ‘combines’.

Tracy Emin Confessional Art Layers and stitches

found objects and fabrics with writing to make quilt like hanging that are full of meaning.

Tracy Emin Confessional Art

Tracy Emin’s Tent is a form of found objects within textiles. This piece is called ‘Everyone I Have Ever Slept With’ . All the names of people she has slept with are included in the tent. The names have been applied using old fabrics and found objects. This is an example of how found objects within textiles can be made personal.

Textiles and society• In this society there is excessive wastage, so using old,

unwanted and discarded materials in textiles can reflect our political and social concerns and anxiety about global warming .

• Farming• Buildings• Overuse of world resources• These issues are worthy of consideration for a textile

artist, and how they can help the environment.