Cornelia Weinmann: Portfolio: 8/2/09

August 8, 2009

Papier mâché sculpture: Agony

When I made this small sculpture, I needed to express exactly such feelings. Wire and paper are quite suitable materials to this end!

Wire, paper, acrylic paint, acrylic varnish. 2008.

Height: 50cm

August 7, 2009

Recycled furniture: Table

This design was created by masking off successive parts of the beechwood tabletop and painting it in different colours. I wasn't thinking of a particular motive, but I began to see an image:

Deserted place,

trees stretching toward the horizon.

Dust on the sidewalk,

dappled with sunlight.

Curtains drawn to block out the heat.

Branches yearning

for the cool of concrete.

This image reminds me of a still and brooding Sunday Afternoon, which I chose as the name for this table.

Beechwood, acrylic paint, varnish. 1999.
Size: 64 x 64 x 74cm

Fabric design: Place mats

Some of my earliest designs were for place mats. They belong on a table, so I decorated them with food and kitchen themes.

Acrylic paint, acrylic varnish, cotton cloth. 1994.
Size: 40 x 30cm

August 6, 2009

I wanted to embellish something more interesting than T-Shirts and found tunics in a simple cut. I dyed them by hand and printed them, using my own stamps. The stamps were cut from different materials: Speedball Speedy-Cut and foam lining. The fine lines were added with fabric paint in small bottles with a fine nozzle. Tunics in this style were my bestsellers in Canada.

Cotton fabric, Procyon fabric dye,

Setacolor fabric paint, hand made stamps. 1998.
Length: 92cm

Printmaking: Cardboard print

I could have called this print Tenby backwards, because that's what it is: the harbour front in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales in a mirror print. I worked from a photograph and didn't bother to reverse the image as I was interested in cutting all those intersecting lines. The print is now called Night Harbour.

Cardboard, carborundum, PVA glue,

acrylic relief ink on grey paper. 2007.
Size: 33 x 44cm

Painting: Oil

After painting Achill Gate (see previous entry) I did this scene, seen from the road that connects Achill with the mainland. The yellow sign behind a shrub near the right edge points out where the highway runs... The fiery orange sprigs of Montbretia can be found in copious clusters all over Ireland - they stand out in a landscape usually dominated by blue and green hues.

Achill Montbretias
Oil, texture medium on linen on board. 2007.
Size: 46 x 61cm

August 4, 2009

Painting: Oil

The island of Achill in the West of Ireland is blessed with landscapes that would be at home in any scenic calendar, especially when the weather is good. I painted one of these beautiful sights, the Menaun Cliffs opposite Keel.

Achill Gate

Oil, texture medium on linen on board. 2007.
Size: 46 x 61cm

August 2, 2009

Clay sculpture: Little Female

This sturdy figure is part of a group of two women immersed in conversation. I'll soon introduce her partner.You'll find more of my clay sculptures in older and newer posts - click on Clay sculptures in the blog archive!

Air drying clay, unfired, burnished. 2009.
Height: 24cm

Papier mâché sculpture: Conversation

Papier mâché sculpture: The Conversation

This group of three figures is arranged in a wooden box, covered with glass and frame (not in the picture in order to avoid reflection). I was looking for a way to make papier mâché sculptures less susceptible to humidity and change of temperature in a room. If the figures aren't too big, a shadow box casing like this one proved to be a good solution.

Wire, paper, acrylic paint, oil varnish
Wood, glass, hardboard. 2004.
Size: 42 x 42 x 16 cm

Here is another group: The Interpreter.
See the earphones?

Wire, paper, acrylic paint, oil varnish
Wood, glass, hardboard. 2007.
Size: 40 x 40 x 16 cm

Recycled furniture: Tall boy

Recycled furniture: Tall boy

Yes, it's from IKEA, and it was actually new, so the title is misleading. But no matter - it is hand painted like all my other pieces of really recycled furniture. Eighteen drawers - perfect storage! I added strips of copper foil for extra sparkle, and the tiny drawer pulls were painted in different colours to aid with finding things quickly.
The Green Tower was a custom order by my Vancouver friend
Debra Drayton who later moved to Mexico, couldn't take this piece with her and had to sell it on. So I lost track of it.

Wood, acrylic paint, copper foil. 1999
120x30x20cm

About my work

I have always been a maker of things, for as long as I can think back. My innate sense for colour, shape and balance first found expression in painting on glass, making linocuts and collages, assembling three-dimensional scenes in cigar boxes, sculpting with papier mâché and weaving. All these creative skills were put aside when I embarked on a career in the ivory towers of university. However, the call to be a maker rather than a university teacher did not remain unheard. I integrated academic experience with creativity and started working as an exhibit designer in my birthplace Munich, Germany. Making things became my profession after moving to British Columbia in Western Canada, where I opened a home based studio for functional art in the Upper Fraser Valley near Vancouver. I started painting furniture and fabrics. My work was part of the rapidly growing trend to refinish and reuse creatively: I mainly used vintage furniture and transformed it into bright focal points for unique interiors, complemented by my hand dyed, hand printed fabrics. These pieces, with bright colours and abstract designs, were shown in exhibitions and window displays.

I have since moved back to Europe and lived for a long while in the West of Ireland before taking up residence in Wales, and since 2014 in Perthshire, Scotland. During that time my focus shifted from functional art to more decorative work, to printmaking and painting applying a variety of techniques.

Then came the moment when I was asked to help promote the idea of reusing and repurposing materials by running classes in vintage furniture painting. This task reconnected me with expertise acquired in the past and led to many contacts with organisations and projects advocating waste reduction, recycling, the need to introduce new economic models of sustainability and circularity.

Learning how the fashion industry that we are familiar with harms the environment and fashion workers rights, and how much waste we produce because we treat clothing as throw-away items gave me a veritable shock. My response was to start altering some of my clothes rather than buying new ones - and I rediscovered my love of sewing. I attended sewing and embroidery classes and eventually decided to make textile art the new direction in my creative practice.

Now I hand-tailor unique garments made mainly from repurposed fabric and contribute to the production of sustainable fashion of high quality, and thus to a section of the circular economy. I feel proud that I was able to transition my small business in this direction, and I definitely like being noticed when I wear my own creations showing flamboyant colours and contemporary designs in my unique signature style.

My studio is located near Coupar Angus in Perthshire (check the business hours on my Facebook page). I sell from my studio, from my own web shop and and from my Perthshire Artisans shop.

For an easy overview of my work visit my website:
www.corneliaweinmanndesign.com
www.perthshire-artisans.scot

Or my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/CorneliaWeinmannArtist