Joy Pitts
Joy Pitts makes work from thousands of discarded clothing labels, together with found materials such as neck ties, shirt collars and cuffs, toy soldiers and plant labels. She began gathering labels in 2000 during a Consumer Culture project, sourcing garments at jumble sales and second-hand shops and dissecting them for their labels, and the technique has driven her practice ever since.
She took a BA in Fine Art in 2004 and an MA in Fine Art in 2005, both at Nottingham Trent School of Art and Design, and was awarded a distinction for her investigation of site. Her MA work involved manipulating 30,000 used garments to produce 31 installation sculptures. After the first three label pieces she assembled won prizes in open competitions, she wrote to the fashion designer Paul Smith and left a Civil Service job to work on his commission, Red Rabbit.
She has received Arts Council England Grants for the Arts three times, and her work has been shown at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. She works from 12 High Street in Wells-next-the-Sea, open by appointment, and takes part in North Norfolk Open Studios.
Artist Statement
I don't really know; I think art chose me. It gave me purpose at school when other subjects were difficult. My art teacher wrote on my last school report 'Joy has a natural flair for art and could excel'.
Experimentation has always driven my work. Second hand is an area that I am familiar with and I suppose it has filtered into my art work. I have always loved searching for an individual garment in a second hand or vintage shop, I also prefer second hand ornaments, old furniture and old houses that can tell a story.
Found objects that I have manipulated include floor boards, wardrobes, wallpaper, shoes, wooden and metal ornaments, toy soldiers, buttons, all manner of clothing including nylon tights and bra fasteners. I have cut, unpicked, pinned, stacked, arranged, dissected, chopped, mashed, melted, burnt, taken objects on journeys, made a suit from an old pair of curtains, and grown grass in a knitted cardigan.
What I do know is that trial and error, freedom to experiment, risk taking, planning, collaborating, and realising that worthwhile things are difficult to do are all still part of my journey.