In Stitches is a recent exhibition at Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), showcasing work by British artist Su Richardson. Su is a trailblazer of British Feminist Art. She started creating in the 70s and with fellow artists, Monica Ross and Phil Goodall, created the Birmingham Women’s Art Group.
You may recognise Su’s intricate use of textiles as much of her work is crocheted and hand-sewn. Su transforms traditional female pursuits to explore themes of motherhood and female and environmental concerns. Each unique piece tells a story, whether it is caring for family members, complexities of the maternal body, love, loss or illness.
The important, complicated and overlapping messages Su portrays in her work remain as relevant in our current political climate as in the 1970s when Su began creating.
The exhibition highlights recent work including many pieces that Su has never displayed before, a point of excitement for the artist. It is Su’s first solo exhibition in her hometown of Birmingham and the largest showcase of her pieces to-date.
Read on to learn more about Su’s creative background and process.
In Stitches began on Saturday and is your first solo exhibition in your hometown. Do you feel differently about the opening of In Stitches compared to how you felt opening previous exhibitions, like those with the Birmingham Women’s Art Group?
The exhibitions with Birmingham Women’s Art group were 50 years ago. I can’t remember how I felt, except that they were a cooperative effort between the women in the group. We did everything including curating, funding, organising and publicising. For In Stitches, the exhibition curator Roma Piotrowska and MAC, organised all of that with the technicians. So it’s different in that regard.
Have you noticed a dramatic shift in the messages you want your work to convey in this current political climate, or do they remain similar to when you began creating?
The messages mostly remain the same. Things have changed but not that much around women’s issues, motherhood, recycling, food, post-work and saving resources.
How does location, culture and political climate affect your work?
Location doesn’t affect it at all. What is happening in politics and culture affects it as it brings things to mind and highlights issues. Sometimes I am involved in what’s currently happening as well. I spend a lot of time focusing on this now that I have the time, especially as I did not have the time in years gone by when I was working for a living alongside creating art. Now I have the time to keep up-to-date with the news. I also have more time to read, I read a lot.
Do you find it harder or easier to create following motherhood?
It’s easier to create when you’re not working to earn a living, because you’ve got enough headspace. All my creativity went into whatever job I had. I was able to create in the 70’s because I didn’t have a job. Prior, I taught secondary education and (in this time period) when you got pregnant that was it, you lost your job. There was no maternity leave and little access to childcare which would have been far too expensive at any rate.
Luckily, I met other women in a similar position, from Baby Clinic and so on. We looked after each other’s children to give ourselves time for creative stuff. This lasted for a short time, until my son went to a play group and I could find part time work. I continued to create for events we had organised or local exhibitions but only occasionally. I only really started to create again in 2012.
So, more than becoming a mother, it was a change in situation that allowed you to create more?
It was meeting other women in the same position. We encouraged each other to be creative and to make work which was relevant to us – different from the work that would have been relevant to a single person without children. My work focused on motherhood and women’s issues. At some point most of us were separated from our husbands, so although we may have had some help, we weren’t always in a secure position.
Do you use real women as sources of inspiration in your work and if so, how do you collect stories from these women?
Yes, it’s all through friends, family and what I read in books and newspapers. Mostly it is through personal experiences and the experiences of those close to me but I also get information from novels as authors have done so much research. Especially now that I have time to read.
Do you ever struggle to think creatively and if so, do you have methods for getting over a creative slump?
I sometimes worry that might happen, but it usually doesn’t. If I haven’t got an idea, I start making something using materials, colours and objects that I like, using these as a starting point. I can always crochet, there is always something to make.
What is a tool you would never part with?
Crocheting. And if not that, a pair of scissors and a needle. I’ve discovered that I love hand sewing. All my sewing work is done by hand, I do not use a machine. It is therapeutic.
I can’t imagine how long it must take to create pieces in such detail, all with your hands?
I’m very quick and because of the nature of the work I can fit it in easily with life. I can create on the sofa at home. Although, I have been able to complete the majority of my work in recent years because I have either worked part time or have retired (apart from making art).
Name an artist whose work you would collect and why?
I wouldn’t collect artwork, although I do collect postcards of people’s work. I think actual work should be in public collections so more people can see it. I like the idea of postcards and any way you can reproduce things cheaply.
There are a wide range of artists I like. I have always enjoyed work related to screen printing, because that is what I did when I studied graphics in college. I didn’t study fine art,
my background is graphics and print making. I like Matisse, Warhol, Pauline Boty and Jann Haworth. I like my mentor, Kate Walker, who is not as well known but one of the main reasons I create in the way I do. She’s far more talented than I was but always encouraged me to work from when I met her in the 70s.
Your best ideas come from…?
They come from everyday life. They are all different. I make notes whenever I think of something that seems like a good idea. Sometimes they come from reading novels.
Best piece of advice you’ve been given?
If you get a chance to do something and it seems like a good idea, do it. You might never get the chance again.
I’ve been lucky. I have had chances to do things that were maybe a bit unusual, but they seemed like a good idea. When I look back at these chances, I’m really glad I took them.
Is there anything specific about In Stitches that you are excited about?
It’s a good chance to show current work. I haven’t shown much of the exhibited work before, so I am really pleased about that.