Category Archives: Grimsby

A Girl's Day Out for Hilda, Nellie and Ida

A New Home for Girl’s Day Out

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A Girl’s Day Out in the East End for Hilda, Nellie and Ida 
mixed media • hand and machine stitch with acrylic paint
size 128 x 102 cms

Yesterday I delivered this piece to its new home in the North East of England. I was sad to see it go so I decided to revisit how I made it, however, I am very happy that it has gone to such a good home with new owners who love it so much. It was made in 2012 for one of the 50th Anniversary exhibitions by the 62 Group of Textile Artists ’62@50′ at the Holden Gallery at Manchester School of Art.

This is my Artist Statement for that exhibition.
Exploring displacement using old family photographs, images of distant relatives I never knew, cut into to a modern day environs, Girls Day Out enquires into and questions, the sense of belonging/not belonging whilst referencing the passing of time and the transience of life itself.

Image of Grimsby St E2
3 Sisters walk down the prom in Cleethorpes

Hilda, Nellie and Ida were 3 sisters and Ida, the tall, elegant one on the right was my sister’s mother-in-law. This piece combined the then, the now and alludes to a journey in-between. The street art in the background is by an artist called Stik and was found in Grimsby St London, E2 in 2011. The images above are the original images I combined to make the work and those below are of the work in progress.

work in progress
work in progress
work in progress

 

 

Retrospective • An Archive of Work 2015

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A Gallery of Work made in 2015

Most of the year 2015 was taken by the making of 63 • a Self Portrait made up of 63 images but I did manage to fit in a couple of other pieces. I began the year by making a partner piece for Portrait of a Grimsby Girl 2014 which was called Portrait of a Lincolnshire Lad a triple portrait of my Dad. It measures 76 x 55 cms and is mixed media : hand and machine stitch with paint.

image of Portrait of a Lincolnshire Lad 2015

Portrait of a Lincolnshire Lad 2015

I also managed a commission of Great Grimsby Ice Factory.

image of Great Grimsby Ice Factory

Great Grimsby Ice Factory 2015

About 63
63 is a self-portrait made up of 63 images, one for each year of my life so far. So why put myself through all this work, and, to be perfectly honest, the angst of self examination, a replaying of all the ups and downs of life?

There were several reasons, but the main one was that I was asked to take part in a self-portrait exhibition in 2015 and I was given a 6 metre wall to fill!

For this I had to work to a deadline and that in turn forced me to look at the way I work and helped me find a simplification of my mark-making.

I didn’t finish it in time as my thought process was slower than expected and so it was shown as work in progress. Numbers 1 to 42 were shown.

Numbers 1 to 57 were completed in 2015 and are shown below.

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Self portrait age 3 2015 one of an ongoing series of self portraits
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image of Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries

Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries

I’m proud to say that Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries 2015 shown above is now part of the prestigious Diana Springall Collection . It measures 25.5 x 30.5 cms.

Exhibitions 2015

Society of Designer Craftsmen Christmas Market – 14 – 20 December – Mall Galleries, London
Illustrative and Stitched Drawings – 28 November – 10 January 2016 , Customs House Gallery, South Shields, Tyne & Wear, UK
New Textiles Transformed – 3 October – 7 November – Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, USA
Shifting Images – 8 September 2015 – 7 February 2016 FHC, Grimsby, N E Lincs, UK
Face the World – 12 October – 25 October Sam Scorer Gallery, Lincoln
Festival of Quilts – 6 August – 9 August – NEC Birmingham with Through Our Hands
62 Group • NOW! -17 March – 10 May Upfront Gallery Cumbria
Designer Crafts at the Mall – 8 January to 15 January, Mall Galleries, London

Stitched Up Like A Kipper: Fishy threads loom large on the Humber.

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It’s been long time coming and we’ve been the butt of many a recent film and TV joke; in fact it goes all the way back to Music Hall days but as you can see from this fantastic new blog who have kindly featured my work, some of us are indeed trying to put the Great back in my hometown of Great Grimsby.

OneMichaelBrown's avatarThe straw that broke the haddock's back

womanwithfishSue_Stone_Textile-Artist_East-End-Girls-aka-Alice-Madge-and-MurielWoman With a Fish, AKA Sue Stone, is a totally unique and original Grimsby voice.  An artist and maker who works in hand stitch, machine embroidery and mixed media to juxtapose often gritty modern urban scenarios and graffiti art with between the wars, homely, nostalgia. The medium of thread making the contrast both jarring and engaging. It’s also funny, but in an odd sort of a way, as opposed to rolling round the floor in err… stitches. The quirky humour coming from a meme sewn into all of Stone’s work, which is the fact that at least one of her subjects is always carrying a fish. An all to common occurrence in this part of the world.

womanwithafish2 Big fish, little fish… hey we forgot the cardboard box again.

She is current chair and exhibiting member of the 62 Group of Textile Artists and Fellow of the Society of Designer Craftsmen. Born in Grimsby, Sue Stone studied Fashion at St Martins School of…

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Retrospective • An Archive of Work 2013/14

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image of Portrait of a Grimsby Girl

Portrait of a Grimsby Girl 2014

Portrait of a Grimsby Girl 76 cm x 55 cm + Book 29 cm x 26 cm

Statement about work 1: 2014 marks the centenary of her birth. The usual ups and downs of life preceded the diagnosis, in 1978 of a rare form of Leukaemia. In 1979 her family watched helplessly as her life ebbed away. As one life ends another begins. 3 weeks later her grandson, Sam was born.
Materials: cotton/ linen fabric, cotton threads, fabric and acrylic paints, bondaweb
Techniques: hand and machine embroidery, painting, bonding
Photo credit: David Ramkalawon

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Portrait of a Grimsby Girl Book 2014

image of the Unknown Statistic

The Unknown Statistic

The Unknown Statistic 100 cm x 70 cm
Statement about work: They stood in the doorway and watched. He whistled as he walked away. He didn’t look back and they never saw him again. The number of children left fatherless by WW1 was not accurately recorded either nationally or locally. Memories fade. Their young lives went on but were changed forever.
Materials: cotton/ linen fabric, cotton threads, fabric and acrylic paints
Techniques: hand and machine embroidery, painting
Photo credit: David Ramkalawon

The girls go to London Town 2014
Double Take 2014
Shopping trip 2014
Murals Day Out 2014
The Girls who made the Suits 2014
3 Girls and a Fence 2014
Family Gathering 2014
image of THE boys Go to London Town

The Boys Go to London Town

mixed media • 122 x 92 cms

A Group of small studies made in 2013

Study for East End Girls 2012
Auntie Madge 2012
Study for Double Take 2012
Study for Some Things 2012
Study for Tea Party 2012
hand stitch portrait
image of Do you come here often?

Do You Come Here Often? 2013

As usual my subject matter comes from close to home and I have combined three images. My Mum, my Dad and a church window are the component parts of the composition.
The piece is about my parents early courtship.
He was always a snappy dresser who was a Fish Merchant when Grimsby was known as the ‘Klondyke of the East Coast’. Working his way up he was first a barrow boy and then a filleter before starting his own business. She was a talented tailoress with a rich, and vibrant contralto voice and from a staunch Methodist family.They often met at Flottergate Methodist Church where she was in the choir.
My sister and I have a theory that he only joined the Men’s society so that he could court my Mum. They were married in 1939 when she was 25 years old.

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The Universal Child 2013

Statement for ‘The Universal Child’ and ’I listen to the radio and hear his voice’

Children are killed, maimed, physically and mentally scarred every day, caught up in the crossfire of senseless religious and sectarian wars
Each stitch on the recycled, linen fabric becomes a symbol of remembrance for the hundreds of thousands of lives lost. The cross-stitches used to represent the kisses those children will never receive.
On radio 4 the news is bad, the words of both bereaved mothers, and victims of horrific attacks are heartbreaking. Those words are depicted by machine embroidered graffiti.
Images of Fred, ‘The Universal Child’ and Harry,’I Listen to the Radio and Hear his Voice’ turn into a device to connect past with present and the materials used to portray them form the common link. The two boys are children of the first world war, the so-called war to end war. Almost 100 years on there is still no end in sight .

STONE,SUE,I hear his voice

I Listen to the Radio and Hear his Voice 2013

detail world tour

Grimsby Girl’s World Tour  Stopover Tokyo 2013

A girl from Grimsby, a tuna from Tsukiji, a holiday in Harajuku combine. Travel through ethereal layers of time and place to Takeshita Street. The artist’s mother was born on 6th December 1914 in a fishing port in the UK. 99 years later this Grimsby girl meets modern day Tokyo.

Linen/cotton fabric, cotton threads, fabric paint. Hand and machine stitch, painting. 59 x 145 cms

Tea Party in Tokyo

A Tea Party in Tokyo 2013

Grimsby, UK, once the world’s busiest fishing port, is the artist’s hometown. East, west, past and present, connect when three sisters from 1920s Grimsby have a tea party in Tokyo. The youngest of the three, Irene, the artist’s mother-in-law was an avid tea drinker all her life.

Linen/cotton fabric, cotton threads, fabric paint.Hand and machine stitch, painting. 60 x 115 cms

image of RIP GY ST version 2

RIP Grimsby St E2 version 2 2013

Retrospective • an Archive of Work 2017

Retrospective • an Archive of work 2016

Retrospective • An Archive of work from 2015

Retrospective • An Archive of work from 2013/14

Retrospective • An Archive of work from 2011/12

Retrospective • An Archive of work from 2009/10

Retrospective • An Archive of work from 2007/8

Retrospective • An Archive of work from 2003 to 2006

 

Image of The Unknown Statistic

From Conception to Creation

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Read about the making of my piece ‘The Unknown Statistic’ at Textileartist.org

detail of the Unknown Statistic

Detail of the Unknown Statistic

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63 – A Self-Portrait – Work in Progress

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63 is a self-portrait which, when complete, will be made up of 63 images, one for each year of my life so far. So why put myself through all this work, and, to be perfectly honest, the angst of self examination, a replaying of all the ups and downs of life?
Well, there were several reasons, but the main one was that I was asked by Alf Ludlam, the curator of Shifting Images an exhibition of self-portraits at the Muriel Barker Gallery at Grimsby’s Fishing Heritage Centre, to produce something other than a straight forward self-portrait and this was the idea I came up with. I also thought it would benefit me personally because I would be working to a deadline which, in itself, would force me to look at the way I work and help me find a simplification of my mark-making.

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63 work in progress 2

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63 work in progress – 4

Although I work in mixed media I consider myself primarily an embroiderer, more specifically a hand embroiderer and because I find hand stitching a therapeutic process, I have a tendency to overstitch. I’m hoping that, in this piece, the viewer will find that my stitching have been given more breathing space and as a result more status. My stitch vocabulary is considered and limited. I don’t use many different types of stitches and but I try to get the most out of those stitches by using them in an original way. I was once given some advice by Constance Howard, when I was studying at Goldsmith’s College in London who said that “you don’t need to know a vast array of stitches but you need to know how use the ones you do know well” so that’s what I try to do.

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63 work in progress -7

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63 a work in progress – 12

I don’t really look at the work of other embroiderers in an inquisitorial way. This is deliberate, an attempt to keep my own work fresh. One of the ways I do this is by mixing different colours and different weights of threads in the needle leaving the eye to mix the colour. You can read about my favourite stitches  here.
I have deliberately tried to be sparing with my stitching of the faces in this piece to produce a more illustrative style. Mood, quality, expression, character can all be changed by the position of each stitch and a lot of drawing and re-drawing, stitching, unpicking and restitching has been done before moving on.

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63 a work in progress – 27

I am a ‘glass half full’ sort of person but the process of making this piece has, so far, and I am only just over half way there, been an convergence of mixed emotion. The process has, at times, evoked difficult and even desperately unhappy emotions, the reliving of all that teenage angst, hurt, heartbreak, and loss, the business problems and burglaries, but alongside that the uplifting and happy memories of friends and family and an optimism for the future.

Overall it is proving to be a quite cathartic process.

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63 a work in progress – 32

63 will be shown as a ‘work in progress’ in Shifting Images from 8 September 2015 to 6 March 2016. – contemporary self portraiture
Working in partnership with Abbey Walk Gallery the Muriel Barker Gallery at the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre will host an Exhibition of of self – portraiture by Lincolnshire Artists past and present.

Inspiration for Stitch – Part 2 – The East End of London

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In this second post about my inspiration I take a look at the East End of London, and my love affair with the Grimsby Street area. The street is situated in E2 and shares its name with my hometown. In the early 2000s both my sons lived in London so I was a regular visitor. My younger son, Sam lived in Hackney at that time and had come across Grimsby Street E2 when visiting a friend nearby. The next time I visited he took me there and it was love at first sight.

Here are some of the images I fell in love with. They may seem strange. It’s quite rundown, but an art school education taught me to look and to see beauty in the smallest detail and to enjoy the ‘out of place’. When I look at these vistas I see my next piece of work.

The images above inspired pieces that depict the then, the now and the journey in-between. The first pieces I made were East End Chair and Closed pictured below.

East End Chair is a portrait of my Grandmother Annie Jane Smith sat in an abandoned armchair nursing a fish. My hometown of Grimsby is best known for its connection with the fishing industry and the fish represents the prosperity the fishing industry brought to the town.

Closed depicts the demise of the Grimsby fishing industry. The closed shop sign represents the end of the town’s prosperity after the Cod Wars in the 1950s and 60s.

This series made in 2012 combine 2 or more images to represent the passing of time and the transience of life. A Girls Day Out, East End Girls and RIP Grimsby St E2 version 1 & 2.

East End Girls combines an image of my grandmother, Alice Ann Stone, her daughter Madge and my Mum Muriel May Sone with an image of 2 abandoned east end sofas. It’s 128 cms wide x 104 cms high.

A Girl’s Day Out for Hilda, Nellie and Ida combines an image of 3 Grimsby sisters Hilda, Nellie and Ida with an image of Grimsby Street E2 graffiti by graffiti artist Stik.

RIP Grimsby Street E2 versions 1 & 2 chronicle the knocking down of part of Grimsby Street E2 in the run up to the 2012 London Olympics. An analogy between 2 different eras and 2 different environments .1930s Grimsby girls meet London 2012

The ever changing images of street art are fascinating. I have now been documenting the area for more than 10 years. Part 3 of the inspiration for Stitch posts will look at my documentation of the South Bank and more recent pieces inspired by the East End.

Ebb & Flow • Behind the Scenes

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image of Portrait of a Grimsby Girl

Portrait of a Grimsby Girl

The opening of the 62 Group Ebb & Flow exhibition is getting closer but the project itself has been almost two years in the planning. 

It started with an invitation from Grimsby Minster to show our work in the Minster which is a busy and vibrant resource for the people of North East Lincolnshire, an “architectural gem” tracing its history on this site for more than 900 years. I soon realised, however, that because we are such a large group of very diverse artists that there would not be enough suitable hanging space and display for smaller 3D work in the Minster for all of our work to be shown.

A second venue was sort and we were offered the upper floor, the mezzanine, of the Muriel Barker Gallery at the Fishing Heritage Centre in Grimsby. The Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre was purpose built and opened in 1991. Its permanent exhibition tells the story of the Grimsby Fishing Industry in its heyday in the1950s. The white-walled space at the Fishing Heritage Centre contrasts nicely with the grandeur of the Minster.

image of All at Sea

Lucy Brown
All at Sea

The Ross Tiger, GY398, is an ex-working 1950’s trawler and the largest item in the heritage collections. Lucy Brown, one of our exhibiting members has made site specific work to be shown on board the Tiger. The image left shows Lucy’s ‘sea bags’ which will be installed around the living quarters on the Tiger. Once the venues were in place we worked on the detail of the project and funding bid to Arts Council England by Grimsby Minster which was successful. This enabled us to work with freelance writer and curator, June Hill who has been on hand to advise the group throughout the project and who will be opening the exhibition on 13th September. It also helped the group to put together a full education programme and to produce a full colour catalogue with professional photography which will be on sale at both venues.

Details of our education programme can be found here. Many of our members visited Grimsby in February when we were given a tour of both venues and of the museum collections store. All of our exhibitions are selected by a selection panel of 5. The panel is different for each exhibition and can include a representative from the venue. The selection process has now been completed and 37 pieces of work were selected for the exhibition made by 28 artists.

Photography

Photography Day at the Minster

This week we also completed the photography for the catalogue which is now in the design stages. The catalogue will be on sale at both venues.

The photographer for the majority of the pieces is David Ramkalawon who came to Grimsby from London for 2 days to photograph work at both venues.

The snap left shows David photographing work in Grimsby Minster. 

Next week the hanging process begins. Watch this space for more ‘behind the scenes’ glimpses of Ebb & Flow.

A Feast of Textile Exhibitions in Grimsby

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Grimsby, my hometown in North East Lincolnshire, UK will be hosting an exhibition of work by the 62 Group of Textile Artists in Autumn 2014. The ‘Ebb & Flow’ exhibition, which is supported by Arts Council England, has been 2 years in the planning and the will run concurrently over 2 very different venues. The first is the Grade 1 listed Grimsby Minster is often described as ‘ an architectural gem’. The second is the purpose built, white walled Muriel Barker Gallery at Grimsby’s Fishing Heritage Centre on Alexandra Dock. These 2 contrasting venues will give the group the scope to show a variety of textile related work from many different disciplines.

The 62 Group was formed in 1962 and has no premises or paid administrators. It does, however attract professional members who are willing to give up some of their time to serve on the 62 Group committee to insure the smooth running of the Group. Membership is achieved by a 2 stage selection process and members can’t relax even then as each of the 62 Group exhibitions are also selected. It is this rigorous selection process which ensures the quality of the Group’s exhibitions and has helped to establish the Group’s international reputation for professionalism.

Textile enthusiasts will not only be able to view the 2 ‘Ebb & Flow’ exhibitions between 9th September to 2nd November 2014 but will also be able to see a fantastic exhibition called ‘Sleigh Belles’ on the Lower floor of the Muriel Barker Gallery. This exhibition, which is part of the ‘Unlocking the Collection’ series of exhibitions is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Joan Sleigh was a textile teacher at Grimsby College who collected good quality costume and accessories all her life and this extensive collection was donated to the North East Lincolnshire museum collection . It will be an exhibition well worth seeing.

The Fishing Heritage Centre will also host an exhibition of textiles by Jan Dowson’s C&G students in its Café Gallery. Jan Dowson is a local teacher of textiles who has recently been awarded the City & Guilds Medal for Excellence for her teaching of textile art and mixed media at NEL Community Learning Services at Thrunscoe Centre in Cleethorpes. Jan was also 1 of only 4 people to be shortlisted for the prestigious Beryl Dean Award for Teaching Excellence this year. Her student’s work is always fresh and vibrant.

All 4 of these exhibitions run concurrently. In conjunction with their exhibitions, the 62 Group will offer a programme of talks and workshops. More information about the Education Happenings which will accompany ‘Ebb & Flow’ will be announced on our ‘Ebb & Flow’ Facebook page as soon as we have the dates confirmed.

image above is work in progress by Sue Stone

 

10 Things to be Proud of

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Our hometowns and familiar environments can be taken for granted and I have to confess that I am guilty of doing this to a certain extent. Something happened just recently to make me look at my own hometown, Grimsby, N E Lincolnshire, UK  through fresh eyes. So what was it that made me do this? Well, the 62 Group of Textile Artists came to town for a Members’ Research Day.

Later in the year the group, of which I am the current chair, are having an exhibition in the town which will run concurrently at two very different venues, the first, Grimsby Minster is an “architectural gem” tracing its history on this site for more than 900 years. The second venue is the Muriel Barker gallery at the purpose built Fishing Heritage centre which opened in 1991.

I decided to try and find 10 things about my hometown which would fill me with pride. The town was once the largest and busiest fishing port in the world and was known as the ‘Klondyke of the East  Coast’ and in the 1980s it was also known as ‘Food Town, Europe so the obvious place to start was with food so here goes.

1. Grimsby Traditional Smoked  Haddock.

In 2009 Grimsby Traditional Smoked Fish was awarded a Protected Geographical Indication from the European Union. This means that only fish produced in Grimsby using the traditional method can be called Grimsby Traditional Smoked Fish.

Find out more : http://gtfsgroup.co.uk/

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2. Grimsby Fish Market

Grimsby is of course famous for it’s fish, Grimsby Fish Market is the focal point of the local industry and its importance is recognised by the UK and EU Fishing Industries.

Find out more : http://www.grimsbyfishmarket.co.uk/

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3. Local Fish & Chips

When I was a child we ate fresh fish 2 or 3 times a week . Fish so fresh it still tasted of the sea. Today the Captain’s Table fish restaurant in Cleethorpes serves sustainable fish which tastes just as fresh. In my opinion better the Magpie café in Whitby and I’ve tried both.

Find out more : http://www.thecaptainstable.co/

4. Lincolnshire Sausages

The John Pettit’s butchers has been making sausages for over 100 years. Their Lincolnshire sausage, is  still made to an original family recipe dating back to 1810.

Find out more: http://www.johnpettitbutchers.co.uk/category/sausages

5. Grimsby Minster

Grimsby Minster is known for being the only parish church in England to have its own Choir School, St James’ School. The building has been changing and evolving over many centuries.

Find out more: http://grimsbyminster.com/

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6. The Fishing Heritage Centre.

Opened in 1991 the FHC has a permanent exhibition depicting the Grimsby deep sea fishing industry in its heyday of the 1950s. It also has a temporary exhibition space. Over the last 5 years it has housed the ‘Unlocking the Collection’ series of exhibitions. The current one ‘ Treasures from the Collection runs until 21st April 2014.

Find out more : https://www.facebook.com/FishingHeritageCentreGrimsby

7. The Museum Collection of N E Lincolnshire

For about 10 years I volunteered to work with the fantastic costume collection.The collection represents the history of North East Lincolnshire, from its geological origins to the modern day. It currently consists of approximately 60,000 artefacts across Archaeology, Natural Sciences, Local and Social History, Costume, Art and Maritime History.

Find out more : N E Lincs Museum Collection

8. The Great Grimsby Ice Factory

This grade 2* listed building was was built in 1901. Its purpose was to supply ice to preserve fish on its journey from the deep sea fishing grounds to the nation’s plates. It closed its doors in 1990. The Great Grimsby Ice Factory trust are fighting to save this fantastic building.

Find out more : http://ggift.co.uk/

To help to save this important building donate : http://ggift.co.uk/make-a-donation/

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9. The Dock Tower

For 137 years Grimsby Dock Tower has dominated the town’s skyline and is a well known landmark. The 309ft high tower has played a fascinating role in the town’s industrial history.

Find out more :  Dock Tower

10. Cleethorpes

Most of my life, apart from a brief sojourn in London, I have lived within 6 miles of the East Coast of England. Its huge skies and vast beaches are second to none. Cleethorpes developed as a fishing village but with the coming of the railways in 1863 it soon became a popular seaside resort. The town adjoins my hometown of Grimsby.

Find out more : Cleethorpes history and heritage

Now I have taken a fresh look at my hometown and surrounding area why don’t you do the same. It’s amazing what you’ll see.