Category Archives: Embroidery

Figurative Textile Workshop – Unlocking the Family Album

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A couple of weeks ago I travelled to Durham to deliver a figurative weekend workshop to the very friendly and welcoming ‘Embroidery 15’ group. Many of the group had never worked figuratively before so I was pleasantly surprised by the resulting work. The workshop started with my presentation about the way different textile artists use the figurative image and by looking at my own handling collection which comprises of lots of small samples of different techniques that can be used for figurative textile work. We continued by experimenting with composition in collage and finally started to work with fabric and thread, mixing hand and machine stitch with appliqué and paint.

Here is a selection of the student’s work that was produced over the weekend.

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student's work

student's work 1
student's work 2P1090112
student's work 6

student's work 9
student's work 11 student's work 12

student's work 13

A new art fair inspires the North

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I have just finished sorting out my work for the Same but Different Art Fair which has been organised by the Bowery Gallery on Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th April 2014 at Temple Newsam Walled Gardens in Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK. I will be showing lots of small studies  one of which is shown. Read more about SBD Art fair.

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It’s always challenging finding a box into which it will all fit but that is done and I can now move onto my next deadline and my next box for the ‘Beside the Sea’ exhibition at Bilston Craft Gallery in Wolverhampton which runs from 12 April – 14 June 2014. I will be showing some of my ‘Life on the Coast’ series at this exhibition including ‘Bathing Belles shown below.

Read more about the exhibition.

Steve Thornton

Great articles on www.textileartist.org

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textileartist.org is a great resource for textile artists, textile enthusiasts, students and educators.

Here are just a few of my favourite articles and interviews.

judith scottTextile artist Judith Scott: Uncovering innate talent

Fiber Art Now

How to Photograph Textile Art

25 amazing WordPress themes for artists

wordpress templates

Interesting interviews on textileartist.org from

Nigel Cheney, Arran Illingworth, Tilleke Schwarz, James Fox , Jacqueline Treloar , Ann Goddard

and many others including myself.

Anna Scott : I am inspired…

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Anna Scott who is an Australian embroiderer and blogger has kindly posted about my work.

Anna Scott : I am inspired….

It was so refreshing to get an email from Anna asking if she could use my images for her blog. Usually people just help themselves nowadays. I don’t really mind this on the whole as the images are usually used by students as reference material. Reproduction for financial gain would be another thing but images of my work can be found all over the internet and I like to share. She asked me why I use the image of a fish so often. It ‘s quite simple really. My hometown is Grimsby in Lincolnshire in the UK. Grimsby was once the largest and the busiest fishing port in the world and was known as the ‘ Klondyke of the East Coast of England’. Sadly this is no longer true, the northern cod wars with Iceland put paid to that and the place has gone to rack and ruin. Actually there are quite a few of my pieces that are about this very thing with references to a Grimsby St in London which has been knocked about somewhat in recent years. My family was very involved in the fishing industry both as fishermen and fish merchants so the fish has become my signature if you like, a symbol of where I’m from and I usually try to include on somewhere on my major pieces. The image below shows the first work in which I included a fish.

Public voting for the craft&design selected awards 2014 is now open

To vote for me please go to at the bottom of my makers page  http://www.craftmaker.co.uk/suestone/

image of Woman with a Fish 2007

Woman with a Fish 2007

Penny Burnfield’s Japan – introduction

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Penny Burnfield is a fellow member of the 62 Group of Textile Artists and has a keen interest in gardens and gardening . Here she tells of her recent trip to Japan to help hang the 62 Group exhibition.

Penny Burnfield's avatarpennyburnfield

I’ve wanted to go to Japan for most of my life. One of the first gardening books I bought was “The Gardens of Japan” by Sima Eliofsen. I remember reading it from cover to cover. I longed to go and see these wonders for myself. So when an opportunity arose at the end of 2013, I took a deep breath and said “I’ll go”.

I belong to the 62 Group of Textile Artists and by dint of persistence and good fortune we were able to send an exhibition out to Tokyo. So the primary reason for the trip was to help our Japanese member, Atsuko Yamamoto, to “hang” the show.

Those people who visit art shows but have never been involved with their organisation, can have no idea how much it involves: unpacking – arranging a disparate selection of work into a harmonious whole – lugging moveable boards and display…

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The Last Picture Show

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detail 5 outside the pub

The Last Picture Show will sadly be the last exhibition at Gate Gallery which closes its doors for good on 21 December 2013. It runs from 5 December until 21 December 2013 and is a mixed show by gallery artists including Sue Stone, Sarah Webb, Nick Ellerby, Steve Upton, Wayne Sleeth, Alf Ludlam, Anthony Housman and Letitia Thompson. The gallery will close after six and a half years of wonderful exhibitions. I have been showing my work there since it opened in April 2007 and was one of 3 artists in the inaugural exhibition. It will be missed.

Tea Party in Tokyo

A Tea Party in Tokyo version 2

gate gallery 2

images of paintings by Steve Upton (left) and Alf Ludlam (centre and right)

Pinpoint 13 at One Church St Gallery

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2 pieces of my work were selected for Pinpoint 13 which is an exhibition of contemporary miniature works that express a sustained conversation with materials. The selecting panel included leading figures within the textile art world, Polly Binns and Linda Brassington, who worked in collaboration with the Directors of One Church Street Gallery. The panel reviewed submissions from hundreds of applicants from around the world, seeking a breadth of approach in the construction or application of cloth and thread. Submissions came from an international arena including Israel, Finland, United States as well as the United Kingdom.

The exhibition runs until 9 November 2013 at One Church St Gallery, Great Missenden, Bucks, UK and also features work by my fellow members of the 62 Group of Textile Artists Ann Goddard and Jan Miller.

More information about these works.

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Alice Fox • Tide Marks

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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.

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Grimsby Girl’s World Tour takes a stopover in Tokyo, Japan

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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.

detail world tour

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.

CLOTH & MEMORY.

Something new for The 62 Group of Textile Artists

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The 62 Group of Textile Artists will be exhibiting as part of Somerset Arts Weeks  in Pinkwood, near Bruton

. Hannah Streefkerk image

Image ‘Restoration’ work by Hannah Steefkerk

If you go down to the Pink Wood near Bruton in Somerset  during Somersets Arts Weeks you will discover the 62 Group of Textile Artists taking up the challenge of working in this beautiful woodland environment.

The 62 Group is an international group of textile artists, with members in Japan, Germany, Sweden, Australia as well as this country. The group usually exhibit in galleries but this year they have been invited to create innovative installations out of doors.

This challenge was set by a former member, Hannah Streefkerk, a Land Artist working in Sweden and Norway. Her work often involves ‘mending’ the environment by stitching across voids or cracks in trees. Image by Hannah Steefkerk of work called ‘Restoration’.

More information about this exhibition can be found at Womanwithafish/Pinkwood