RETURN TO OLDER WORKS
repeat pattern, 2004
Details
Site-specific installation of new, related works. Installation dimensions variable.
Photography: Ruth Clark
DESCRIPTION
As a result of the severe decline in the textile industry, a trade that was once synonymous with East Ayrshire itself, the museum has been the beneficiary of numerous objects that survive the cottage industries, and a wealth of paraphernalia from defunct local mills. Within these collections, Borland identified a number of items that were to function as catalysts for the production of several new pieces of work.
Raised in the local village of Darvel, Borland worked as a teenager within the design section of a local textile mill, transferring stylised depictions of nature (which form the majority of designs for the lace pattern curtains) onto graph paper. These would be used as keys that were fed into mechanical lace machines, which would in turn weave lengths of lace. This process generated an enduring preoccupation with the associations generated by the lace weaving industry: production and reproduction, pattern, repetition, and the incorporation of mistakes and flaws inherent in copying. Together with wider ongoing concerns relating to life, death, renewal, and the cyclical phases of existence, Borland has since employed elements of the area’s industrial heritage as a conceptual impetus for much of her work.
Repeat patterns, interpretations from nature, translations from an ‘original’, and the incorporation of flaws in copying all have strong links with the production of lace. The exhibition title, “Repeat Pattern” derives from an intricately carved wooden printing block belonging to the collection of East Ayrshire’s Museums. Borland became intrigued by cracks and flaws on the block which had developed over time, the imperfections having gradually become an integral part of the existing pattern. In response to the apparent decay of this once grand and now historical object, these cracks were transposed onto a new print block and used as the blueprint for a new pattern.
Extract from Press Release