Earlier this week I had the privilege of helping to hang Alice Fox’s solo exhibition ‘Tide Marks’ at Gate Gallery, Grimsby. This exciting exhibition runs from 24 October to 30 November 2013. If you can’t wait for my full review of the exhibition for the Textileartist website, you can find more information about the show here.
Here are a few images from the show to wet your appetite. All images courtesy of Alice Fox.
In December 2013 The 62 Group of Textile Artists will be having an exciting exhibition at the Koyo Gallery in Tokyo, Japan. I am delighted to say that ‘ A Grimsby Girl’s World Tour • Stopover Tokyo’ (Detail shown below) and ‘A Tea Party in Tokyo’ have been selected for this exhibition and will very soon be on their way sailing to Japan. My girls (and boys) seem to travel far and wide nowadays. Shame I can’t always go with them!
Take a look at the 62 Group of Textile Artists’ new Facebook page and keep up to date with all of the group’s latest news and activities.
This wonderful exhibition at Salts Mill in Yorkshire features some members of the 62 Group and is well worth a visit if you are in the area.
CLOTH & MEMORY (2) is a site-specific exhibition located in the UNESCO World Heritage Site: Salts Mill, Saltaire Yorkshire UK. The exhibition features 23 artists drawn from a UK and international cohort and runs from August 18th to November 3rd 2013.
LESLEY MILLAR: Cloth & Memory Creative Director
Professor of Textile Culture, University for the Creative Arts
Participating Artists
UK: Jeanette Appleton – Caroline Bartlett – Hilary Bower – Maxine Bristow – Reece Clements –
Caren Garfen – Rachel Gray – Annie Harrison – Diana Harrison – Peta Jacobs – Philippa Lawrence – Hannah Leighton-Boyce – Celia Pym – Karina Thompson
Japan: Machiko Agano – Masae Bamba – Yasuko Fujino – Yoriko Murayama – Koji Takaki – Katsura Takasuka – Yoriko Yoneyama
Germany: Katharine Hinsberg
Norway: Kari Steihaug
The Cloth and Memory team are: Professor Lesley Millar UCA (Curator), June Hill (Project Co-ordinator), Jennifer Hallam (Project Advisor), Keiko Kawashima (Co-ordinator Japan)
There is an accompanying catalogue which I am definitely going to buy.
Well, what I thought was going to be a quiet month turned out not to be so! I was contacted out of the blue by Cupola Gallery in Sheffield to see if I had any work available for their next exhibition ‘Kilter Kelter.’ The exhibition on a recycling theme is an intercontinental collaboration between Cupola Gallery in Sheffield and Spaza Art Gallery in Johannesburg, South Africa and runs from 26 July to 8 September 2013.
I work a lot with recycled clothing and upholstery fabrics as a base for my stitching so I was delighted to be asked to be part of this exhibition. I also recycle images from my family and friends’ photo albums. ‘Loaves and Fishes’, made in 2010 is portrait of my Grandparents Harry and Annie Jane Smith. The title refers not only to their religious bent (they were both staunch Methodists) but also to the fact that Harry was a Master Confectioner and Baker who ran the village shop in Saxilby, Lincolnshire for many years. The ‘Closed’ sign refers to the demise of the village shop with the advent of supermarkets and my signature fish on Annie’s lap refers to their hometown of Grimsby, once the busiest fishing port in the world. The piece is made from applied recycled fabrics with hand and machine stitch. Even the wool used for Harry’s jumper is recycled, unravelled from an old cardigan!
I will also be showing some small studies including two pieces made from tray cloths embroidered by my Mum, Muriel May Stone.
‘Kelter’ is a local Yorkshire slang work for rubbish and ‘Takataka’ is Swahili for rubbish. So ‘Kilter Kelter’ meets ‘Take Takataka’ and on the opening night 26th July from 7.30 pm Cupola will set up a large screen and live web link so artists can share ideas and talk to each other across continents. Some of the smaller African Art works will also be available to order via Cupola.
Exhibiting Artists from the Spaza Art Gallery. https://www.facebook.com/Spaza.Art Jacob Ramaboya, Andrew Lindsay Dionne Macdonald, Gift Mangena, Justin Wells, Karel Miles, Imbali Arts, Hiltrud Aliber, Evil Jon, Stacey Macdonald, Bethuel, and many others.. I am particularly intrigued to hear that they have a sound piece. Recycled sounds!”
Cupola’s exhibiting artists include: Inguna, Susan Waters, Karin Walland, Jason Heppenstall (HeppoArt), Gavin Darby, James Lake, Lawrence Simonson, Ros Ingram, Klaus Pinter, Evelyn Albrow, Sue Stone, Sue Carter, Josie Beszant, Kimberly Werner, Hayley lock, Ella Robinson, Anne Menary, Aiden Spencer, Rachael Bennett
Work ranges from dresses made from salmon skins and old maps and elegant reclaimed steel scuptures, stunning portraits made from cardboard boxes to amazing paper and textile collages, miniature paintings on bottle tops and jewellery made from old colouring pencils.
Wise words from Karen Sherwood is the Founder, Director and Curator, Cupola Contemporary Art. “Next time you go to throw something away, just consider that thought and talent can transform almost any object into a thing of beauty and wonder. I hope you enjoy both exhibitions, even if you can only experience one of them ‘virtually’!”
My mini textile: ‘Study for Some Things Never Change’ (below) has been selected for the 9th Baltic Mini Textile Trienniel at the Museum of Gydnia, Poland . Exhibition runs from 28 June to 1 September 2013. The piece was hand and machine embroidered onto a recycled cotton Damask tablecloth.
I am delighted to say that one of the major pieces from my Stuff and Nonsense exhibition will soon be going to a new home in London although I will be very sorry to see it go. I have a soft spot for this piece as it combines some of my favourite people with one of my favourite places. It was first exhibited in the 62@50 exhibition at the Holden Gallery at Manchester School of Art in 2012.
http://http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/lichtenstein
First to the Lichtenstein at Tate Modern on Friday. I really enjoyed this but having read a review saying that all rooms looked the same I wasn’t sure I would. This review was grossly unfair.
Perhaps I am a bit sentimental about Lichtenstein because his work reminds me of time spent in London in the late 60s/early 70s but I particularly enjoyed the later collages and also the small drawings and of course the old favourites such as Whaam!
Then on to the White Cube in Bermondsey to see Chuck Close’s print exhibition. His work is fantastic and to see the prints broken down into there individual colours was amazing. An enthralling exhibition for anyone who is into the technical side of printmaking .
http://whitecube.com/exhibitions/chuck_close_prints_process_and_collaboration_bermondsey_2013/
On Saturday I gave a talk to the Contemporary Quilt AGM at the American Church in Tottenham Court Road. They were a great group of people who made me feel really welcome. Contemporary Quilt are a specialist group of the Quilters Guild of the British Isles.
http://www.contemporaryquilt.org.uk/
On Sunday the highlight of the weekend which was a visit to the Kurt Schwitters exhibition at Tate Britain. I’m a big fan of collage so it was a treat to see Schwitters small collages which were definitely the best part of this exhibition. I had seen his work first at the Armitt museum in Ambleside a few years ago but I knew nothing of his period of internment on the Isle of Man so it was fascinating to see the work from that period as well.
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/schwitters-britain
Now I’m back in GY and all cultured out!
Designer Crafts at the Mall 2013 is nearly here. I’m frantically trying to get organised along with my preparations for Christmas. I will be showing some large textile mixed media, embroidery in the exhibition and also some small hand embroidered studies and handmade cards and postcards will also be for sale in the Shop within the Show. Click here for more images and information .
My visit to the Victoria Miro Gallery did not get off to the best of starts. I began by taking a wrong turn down City Road out of Old St tube. Having walked to its end at no 1 the realization suddenly dawned that I was going to have to retrace my steps back to the station and start again. This time going in the opposite direction!
I eventually arrived at my destination a little footsore but with great anticipation. I was not disappointed. The gallery is set in a Victorian building with my destination, a large white cube extension on the roof. The daunting number of steps which have to be climbed to get to the roof extension should not put you off. It’s well worth the climb. On reaching the top there is a beautifully landscaped terrace to cross before arriving at the gallery extension itself which gives you a fantastic view over London’s East End.
The Vanity of Small Differences tapestries by Grayson Perry, which I had made the journey from Grimsby to see, are both powerful and perceptive and the scale is impressive. His use of colour is sublime. I loved the humour within pieces which explore taste and class. There are six of them in total displayed in this modestly sized gallery along with five of Grayson Perry’s ceramic pots as a bonus. As I perused the work I found myself wondering what it would actually cost to produce a 4 metre x 2 metre tapestry !
Based on Hogarth’s 18th-century narrative paintings Rakes Progress which tell the tale of Tom Rakewell, as he rises from working-class obscurity to greatness – and then falls again, the images are full of references to brands, to celebrity,and to religious paintings. Perry’s hero is Tim Rakewell , born to a working class family, he goes to University, and journeying up through the Middle classes he ends up as a multimillionaire who comes to a tragic end in a car crash.Looking at my watch I was amazed to find that an exhibition with only eleven pieces of work in it had kept my attention for over ninety minutes.Well worth a visit.
Grayson Perry’s new tapestries are at Victoria Miro Gallery, London N1 from 7 June to 11 August.
The accompanying TV series All in the Best Possible Taste can be seen on 4oD.
Just back from the opening at Museum Rijswijk which was great. The Museum is housed in an old mansion that dates from 1790 with a brand new extension. Imagine my amazement when I found my work amongst some impressive paintings and separate from the other textiles. They looked fantastic and it gave the pieces great status.
Check out the pictures of Bathing Belles amongst the Old Masters in Museum Rijswijk
The exhibition was very varied and well presented. It was a joy to see all the variety of textiles in such a lovely setting . See more at : http://www.museumryswyk.nl/rtb2011/uk/index.html
womanwithafish 