Category Archives: Embroidery

Textiles: The Art of Mankind

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Just got my copy of Textiles: The Art of Mankind by Mary Schoeser. It’s an impressive and lavishly illustrated large tome 24 x 29 cms in size with over 1,000 full colour illustrations. Looking forward to reading and re-reading this fantastic reference book. I immediately looked in the index for my name as I had been informed that some of my work would be included in the book. Oh my goodness, my portrait of my husband in Barcelona ‘David as Dali‘ 2010 is there full page, in all its glory on page 350. My Grandparents portrait ‘Loaves and Fishes’ 2010 is also there on page 348. The book is  published by Thames & Hudson ISBN 978-0-500-51645-4 and is available on Amazon.

Georgie Meadows : Stitched Drawings at the Wellcome Trust

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I have just come across this exhibition at the Wellcome Trust by Georgie Meadows who is a Monmouth based artist and occupational therapist. The exhibition explores personal experiences of ageing and dementia. The stitched portraits are of people she knows or has cared for. It looks really interesting. Wish I was able to get there. More info at:

http://www.wellcomecollection.org/whats-on/exhibitions/georgie-meadows.aspx

For some reason none of the links to this exhibition from the Wellcome Collection site will work from this blog but if you paste the address or Google Georgie Meadows it comes up straightaway.

Review of the Knitting & Stitching Show, Alexandra Palace, 2012

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Now the dust has settled from my week in London I will show you some of the highlights of the 62 Group ‘Package Tour’ stand at Alexandra Palace. My favourite has to be Audrey Walker’s ‘Still Life’ a simple still life featuring a gin bottle. A masterful use of a simple straight stitch. The piece reminds me of what I was taught at Goldsmiths by Constance Howard in the 1970s which is that we stitchers don’t need to know hundreds of stitches we just need to use the ones we do know well. See my full review of the show at : http://www.textileartist.org/review-of-the-knitting-stitching-show-alexandra-palace-2012/

Two more highlights for me which show the diversity of the group are Heather Belcher’s felt ‘Blanket’ and Helen Weston’s ‘Chink in the Armour’ which are also shown below.


 

Link

Some Things never Change

The Knitting and Stitching Show is nearly upon us and I shall be travelling to London for the first show at Alexandra Palace next week. I am helping to install the 62 Group of Textile Artists’ ‘Package Tour’ exhibition and will also be on our Stand TGJ3 on Thursday afternoon.

My work ‘Some Things never Change’ can be seen in the exhibition. For more information about this work click on the “Some Things Never Change’ link above.

I am looking forward to seeing how fellow members of the group have risen to the challenge of fitting their work within a box of a set size. As I usually present my own work on a stretcher and sometimes frame it I decided to make my work as a hanging and roll it up to make it fit into the box.

It will be great to meet lots of new people at the show and there will be the opportunity to buy the 62 Group book, RADICAL THREAD, on the stand at a special Knitting and Stitching Show promotional price of £15 which is a saving of £4.50 on the recommended retail price. The book which celebrates our 50th Anniversary, is a great read.

Image

Paint • Stitch • in progress 2

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In the early morning listening to Radio 4 the news all seems to be bad. My most recent piece is called Some things never change. The need to make this work was triggered by an interview with a mother telling the reporter of the fate of her children aged 12,10 and 5 , killed by mortar fire in a war that was not hers. As a mother myself the interview deeply affected me. I have never been a particularly political person but I feel the need to speak out, in my own way, about the victims of these senseless conflicts. Born in 1913 my Dad was a child of the 1st World war, the so called the war to end war and I have used his image, along that of his siblings, as a mechanism to portray the plight of children still caught up in war in 2012. Thousands of kisses cover a concrete pillar for those who will never receive them. The images are of the work in progress.



62@50

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The 62 Group of Textile Artists, of which I am an exhibiting member, celebrate their 50th anniversary this year. Their largest exhibition of this celebratory year, 62 @50 opens tomorrow at the Holden Gallery in Manchester with the majority of the exhibiting members represented. I have had three pieces selected for the show and am looking forward with anticipation to seeing what other members have produced when I visit the gallery later this week. I am also looking forward to meeting visitors to the exhibition on 2nd and 3rd August when I will be stewarding. Find more information about this exhibition and my work for the show on my website : www.womanwithafish.com

one 3 pieces selected for 62@50

Stitch • Paint • In Progress

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 I decided I was getting a bit set in my way of working and becoming a bit formulaic! 

Time to experiment and take a slightly different direction. More of a development than a radical change but nevertheless a new challenge.

I have worked in mixed media before with varying degrees of success using photography and stitch and also weaving and stitch but this time I am combining paint with stitch.

Stitch is still very much the dominant discipline but in my new pieces, the paint , whilst bringing a new dimension is fully integrated with the stitch.

Interventions Exhibition, Platt Hall Manchester

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On a dull, drizzly day in February I visited  Interventions,the first exhibition of the 62 group’s 50th Anniversary year at Platt Hall, Manchester which runs until 19 May 2012.
The Gallery of Costume is housed in an imposing Grade 2* Georgian building set within
Platt Fields Park and I was looking forward to seeing how other members had responded to the Museum’s Collection. 
26 members of the group are represented in the exhibition and the work shown covers the 
whole gamut of disciplines. 
The main exhibition space is small but beautifully curated. The contrasting styles of work 
sit well together and give a glimpse into the ethos of the group.

The juxtaposition of Jeanette Appleton’s Dressed to Dine, a beautiful life size felted china 

collection, the contrast of hard and soft reminiscent of the work of Claus Oldenberg, and the cast concrete of Ann Goddard’s impressive piece Secret Support ( Extra Firm Hold) was sublime. 

images below : top : Jeanette Appleton : Dressed to Dine/ bottom: Ann Goddard ; Secret Support (extra firm hold)


Quite a few members used construction: of cloth, of paper patterns, of garments, of lace and of undergarments, as a starting point for their work whilst others found inspiration in the Museum’s Accessories Collection. Boots & shoes, hats, baby bonnets, bags, parasols, and neckties were all represented as was the Museum’s fascinating Button collection. 
A number of members used collected and/ or recycled clothing to give a more personal 
and autobiographical response. 
All in all I thought it was a great start to the year for the group.

Don’t forget you can buy the new 62 Group book RADICAL THREAD which showcases and celebrates 50 years of the group at www.62group.org

Thrunscoe Community Learning Centre

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As someone who struggles with her actuaI embroidery technique when I was recently asked to present a City & Guilds Gold medal at Thrunscoe Community Learning Centre I felt a bit of a fraud. This is a fantastic achievement as only one medal in each discipline is awarded per year. This one was for Level 3 Embroidery.
My own knowledge of stitches is very limited and I adapt my basic 4 stitch vocabulary to suit what ever piece I am working on.

The recipient of the gold medal, Lynn Haith, on the other hand has definitely mastered the technique of embroidery in all its forms and her wonderful use of strong colours is sublime.
 images below work by Lynn Haith.


 I went to see the end of year show at the Thrunscoe Centre two days prior to the medal ceremony and was blown away by the standard of the work produced by Jan Dowson’s students. I have been going to see this show for a few years now and the diversity of the work produced never fails to amaze me.
As usual the things I liked best were the sketchbooks , containing little gems of samplers waiting to be developed in to finished pieces.
images below from various sketchbooks.
For me the highlight of the exhibition was a moving and empathic piece by Sue Normandale which was inspired by a visit to the Foundling Museum in London.
I would urge that anyone thinking of doing a creative arts course in the Grimsby and Cleethorpes area to go to Thrunscoe  and see what they have on offer.
image below : Sue Normandale work inspired by the Foundling Museum
 

7 Strands Symposium • What happened on the Day

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 Tuesday, 12 July 2011 saw the first 7 Strands Textile Symposium take place in the historic surroundings of Grimsby Minster. This was the first event of this kind I have organised and  participants traveled from as far and wide as Hastings, Heckmondwike, Hull, York and Lincoln to take part in the one day event.
During the morning International textile artist Tilleke Schwarz delivered a workshop entitled ‘Telling your own story’ . Everybody made a collage about their interests, likes, dislikes and life in general and then Tilleke invited them all to tell the others about their work. It was a great ice-breaker and some interesting tales were revealed.

 Then, after a break for coffee and delicious home baked cakes and scones courtesy of the Minster coffee shop which I can thoroughly recommend , it was time to practice Tilleke’s favourite stitch which is couching.
Couching is often overlooked in favour of more complicated techniques so it was fascinating to be reminded of the versatility of such a simple stitch. I have used the technique myself with difficult threads such as recycled stranded rope as well as finer threads to create varied results. Tilleke uses it for drawing and also for text .The couching threads may be either the same color as the laid threads or a contrasting color. When couching threads contrast with laid threads, patterns may also be worked in the couching stitches.
The feedback I received indicated that the workshop was thoroughly enjoyed. For me it was great to see simple activities like collage and hand stitched couching with fresh eyes. A real inspiration and I will definitely be using those techniques myself in the future.

The afternoon started with a talk by Lucy Brown , a conceptual artist from Brighton. Lucy practice is a complete contrast to Tilleke’s so the different styles gave some insight into the breadth of contemporary textiles in the 21st century. Lucy uses vintage and second hand, mainly women’s, clothing as the raw materials for her work and it was fascinating for me to hear about how she collects and stores these items in her studio as well as seeing the finished pieces of work. Her talk ‘Other People’s Clothes’  discussed the works presented in Seven Strands exhibition in context with her wider practice. The materials and the process alongside narratives around femaleness, re-invention and body absence and presence were also covered .http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=5805

The final part of the afternoon session was an illustrated lecture by Tilleke Schwarz  ‘Making Sense out of the Non Sense’ . http://www.tillekeschwarz.com/ The lecture covered not only her own work but that of others that she finds inspiring . I was particularly interested to find out that she enjoys the work of Michael Raedecker , an artist I greatly admire myself .http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/michael_raedecker_about.htm
All in all I think the event was enjoyed by all who attended.