Whenever we show our shiftWorks exhibition we invite our audience to collaborate with us and make their mark on our Graffiti Shift Dress. It is a black linen shift dress, a blank canvas, for visitors to embroider with sequins, buttons, ribbons, threads and fabric scraps.

Graffiti shift dress at start of shiftWorks exhibiting in Yeovil as part of Somerset Art Weeks early October 2015

Graffiti dress being worked on at Select Showcase October 2015

The Graffiti Shift Dress has been really popular, we estimate over 400 people have made their mark and we are now on our third dress. It is fantastic to see the graffiti on the dresses growing and changing. They become wonderfully wild and colourful, exuding an energy and sometimes a little subversion (a belt was added to the first Graffiti Shift Dress)…

Graffiti Shift Dress detail with contributions from many different visitors

Shoulder detail Graffiti Shift Dress – flower made from scrap from Anna Glasbrook’s dress

Some quotes from our comments book:

“Love the stitch me dress. Can I buy it?”

“Great fun, especially to add to a dress.”

“Lovely exhibits – enjoyed making the yo-yo flower on the neckline.”

and from our younger audience:

“We had fun. We marked the dress!! We have named the dress Mary…”

More work on same Graffiti Shift Dress at Trowbridge Arts

Not much space left! Graffiti Shift Dress at Trowbridge Arts late November 2015

A big thank you to everyone who took up a needle and to Joy Merron who expertly made all three Graffiti Shift Dresses.

There is one last chance to make your mark on a Graffiti Shift Dress – come and see the shiftWorks exhibition from 24 April until 5 May at Bath School of Art and Design, Bath Spa University, Sion Hill Campus, Sion Hill Place, Bath BA1 5SF.

Penny Wheeler