Sourced from a studio that contains 30,000 vintage books and magazines, Amelia Coward frames Hollywood glamour imagery of female icons within the traditional hexagons of patchwork blankets.

The work brings together the opposing elements of the sexualised images of women with the traditional domestic craft. 

Amelia explains her collecting process "I collect for their colour, texture, the aged nature of the paper and the vintage print methods. I take the books apart and categorise the types of imagery by theme and colour."

"This piece was made using a technique which I have developed of bonding, glazing and pressing paper onto birch wood. The pressed paper and wood panels are then laser-cut into individual hexagonal shapes and reassembled as single panel patchwork composition."

Amelia is influenced by both her woven textile training and Josef Albers' colour theory. She uses laser cutters in much the same way as she was trained to use a loom, cutting geometric shapes then reassembling them in patchwork compositions. Her knowledge of Josef Albers, German 20th Century artist and educationalist, has focused her work on the interaction of colours combined with the carefully composed spacial balance between geometric elements such as circles and stripes.

Made of images from original book pages, this is an original and no prints will be made of this piece.

Accolades

Amelia Coward holds a first Class Honours from Central St Martins and MA from the Royal College of Art. Her artworks can be found in both private and corporate collections worldwide.