Darren Ball’s work is a celebration of the many visual, textural and expressive qualities present in fabrics and threads. He focuses on mark making and the surfaces that can be explored through applique and free machine embroidery. Darren uses vintage and found materials that he’s collected over many years. This imbues uniqueness and a ‘slowness’ of handmade production to each piece.
The narratives and imagery explored are largely from Darren’s memory, personal experience and specifically his impressive collection of ‘Stitchcraft’ magazines from the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s. These reflect his interest in domestic making, social history and a love of fashion.
Darren creates unique embroidered artworks which are framed behind glass to emphasise their visual and graphic qualities, rather than their tactile ones. His pieces are domestic in scale and relate to the photographic images of knitwear used in the magazines. The work also draws on the economy of fashion illustration.
