Nancy Farrington
Design Crafts BA(Hons)
Swansea College of Art UWTSD
Graduates: 2024
Specialisms: Glass / Textiles
My location: Swansea, United Kingdom
Nancy Farrington
First Name: Nancy
Last Name: Farrington
University / College: Swansea College of Art UWTSD
Course / Program: Design Crafts BA(Hons)
Graduates: 2024
Specialisms: Glass / Textiles
My Location: Swansea, United Kingdom
Website: Click To See Website
About
Nancy
Farrington works with kiln casting to explore the materiality of glass through
a textile lens. Using fabric manipulation techniques such as smocking and
gathering, she has developed her own unique processes to translate textiles
into glass, allowing her to explore the interplay between opposing material
qualities - soft and hard, transparent and opaque, fragile and robust. Working
with both the natural drape of fabric and the constraints of casting, she
allows her sculptural forms to arise spontaneously during the making process,
resulting in an eclectic mix of shapes with aesthetic links to geology,
confectionary, and bodily forms. The cultural histories of stitching imbue her
work with themes of femininity, women’s work, historical fashion and nostalgia,
also reflecting her own personal interests and research.
‘Sugar and spice’ is a collection of sculptural cast and polished glass. Cast directly from smocked fabric, these pieces explore the interplay between the materiality of textiles and glass, reimagining the role of decorative stitch within the contemporary landscape. During the various stages of the making process, the pieces undergo many transformations of form, from the waxed fabric, to the mould, to the eventual glass piece – each preceding form being destroyed in the process. The journey from positive, to negative, to positive again draws parallels with the ever-changing nature of women’s bodies, roles and societal expectations, with the resulting glass sculptures having an abstracted and distorted resemblance to bodily forms. Research into the material connotations of vintage underwear, interiors, makeup and upholstery has informed a nostalgic colour palette of dusty nudes, chartreuse and pink, inspired by the tactile satins, silks and velvets of times gone by. The material of glass gives a new perspective to stitched textiles that would otherwise go unseen, as the polished facets offer a view into the negative space of the folds from the inside out.
Competitions
