Contrasts

If you are in Oundle this weekend you should call in to the Yarrow Gallery to see the wonderful exhibition by the All Threaded Together textile artist group.

I called in yesterday and was blown away by the diversity of techniques, superb craftsmanship and inspirational textiles on display.

Here are a few to whet the appetite.

Sarah Showers - Fishing for Supper

Gill Austen-Smith - Shot of Lime

June Jessop - Silver Birch

June Jessop - Branches

Sarah Showers - Irises

Sabi Westoby - Rising Rooks

Diana Sharvill - Countless White Crosses

This exhibition is certainly worth a visit and I am so pleased that the All Threaded Together group chose to exhibit their beautiful textiles in this lovely gallery. 

I look forward to seeing more of their work in the future.

Happy Quilting

Bev

Olympia Knitting and Stitching show

Today I had the privilege to help steward the Quilters Guild exhibition at the Spring Knitting and Stitching show at Olympia, London. 

  These are a few of the wonderful quilts from the exhibition commemorating WW1

Jacqui Coterill - Harbledown Great War Centenary Quilt

This wonderful quilt has been created from squares cut from military uniforms, interspersed with squares embroidered with the names of the men from Harbledown who fell during the Great War. The quilt has been embellished with  cap badges and buttons, medal ribbons and personal keepsakes such as silk handkerchiefs.

Irene MacWilliam - Shot at Dawn

Senga Bain - Returning Home

Judith Dexter - One Soldiers Story

and a wonderful group exhibition of journal quilts.

It was inspiring to see these beautiful quilts and to meet visitors to the exhibition and share their stories.

Bev 

A visit to Keswick

We have had a lovely visit back to my home town of Keswick in the English Lake District. Whilst we were there we popped into the wonderful quilt exhibition which is on at Rheged near Penrith. New Quilting Exhibition it is on until Sunday 23rd April.

These are some of the wonderful quilts on display.

Ramona Conconi - Under the Sea

Sara Impey - Bitter Pills

 John Winn- Jungle

There are also a few quilts on display from the Hellback Collection, by kind permission of Charles Blackett-Ord.
This is the wonderful 1799 patchwork coverlet which comprises over 4000 pieces. 

I would recommend a visit if you are nearby.

I am also pleased to announce another outlet for my range of patchwork patterns.  Needles & Pins in Keswick where you can see my patterns in the window and are available for purchase inside. 

This is a little treasure trove of a shop,  packed with knitting and crochet supplies, beads and fat quarters for patchwork, and now my patterns.

It was a great visit home and I am looking forward to returning soon.

Happy Quilting

Bev

Goldwork and Felt - A day out in Ely

We have just had a lovely day in Ely, Cambridgeshire. 

Firstly we stumbled upon a wonderful little restaurant for lunch called The Old Fire Engine House , which serves very tasty food using local produce. Fantastic.

I don't know if I should be recommending it or just keeping this hidden gem to myself. What made it even better was the exhibition of art by Lyz Gardner and Katrina Wilkie. Beautiful vibrant pieces evoking the spirit of the landscape.

From there we walked down to the Cathedral, which has the most spectacular octogon tower.

This month there is a beautiful exhibition of Ecclesiastical embroidery by the Royal School of Needlework. There are wonderful Goldwork embroideries on display and also a small piece of stumpwork and whitework. The half finished samplers are very interesting as you can see how the embroidery was stitched in more detail.

(These pictures have been taken of the catalogue.)

Student work from Kings Ely was also on display in the Cathedral, and it showed a high level of skill in the garments they had produced. 

We decided to save going to the Stained Glass Museum for another trip to this wonderful Cathedral and went in search of the Craft and Collectables Market. Here my husband spotted Mary Gostelow's fabulous book of Embroidery for the bargain price of £6.50  - lots of wonderful embroidery techniques from around the world for me to peruse.

Finally on the way back to the car my eye was caught by some vibrant handmade felt garments and bags in the window of The Handmade Hotspot   a shop and gallery selling work by local artists and designers. Just the place for a unique gift.

All in all a grand day out

Bev         

Packing and a Day Trip

Well it has been a busy time trying to pack my studio up into a container

As my husband said it is like the tardis but in reverse. But with a lot of careful stacking we have managed, and there is even room for the golf clubs ( one day we may start playing again )

During the "Big Clearout" we also had to clear the attic which gave me the chance to check my wedding dress. Wow that was a blast from the past and there is no way I'll get into it again. But it is in perfect condition so I will top up the mothballs and put back in storage.

I also managed a day catching up with my son in London. We went to see the Poppies in the Moat at the Tower of London

 Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red   

It is a fantastic public art installation with over 800,000 ceramic poppies. The poppies are available to buy ( see the link above ) and I'm looking forward to having one in my garden when the exhibition finishes.

From the Tower we wandered along the  north bank and ended up on the strand where I was taken for lunch 

And then onto Piccadilly to the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy for the Arts.

I have to say that this years was ( in my opinion ) the best I have seen. There was something for everyone - nearly - as textiles are still absent. With Grayson Perry's tapestry's being included last year I had hoped for more. Although I suppose with most of the paintings being done on canvas you could argue that textiles have always been represented. 

And finally back to textiles

I found these cushions during the packing. Rather than storing them away, they have found new home in my conservatory.

Bev

Fresh Take At Burghley House

We were delighted by international exhibiting textile artist Anita Bruce on Saturday at our branch of the Embroiderers Guild. Anita is well known for her sculptural forms knitted in wire, and came to share her new work and the work of five local artists in the Fresh Take at Burghley exhibition.

Fresh Take is a contemporary art exhibition with artists responding to the history, interior decoration and collections at Burghley House in Stamford.

Burghley was built by William Cecil, Lord High Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I. He hoped that Elizabeth I would visit Burghley but an outbreak of smallpox prevented this from happening. This event has been depicted as a wonderful pair of shoes by sugar craft artist Kathryn Parsons. Kathryn has also made another pair of shoes full of delicately crafted flowers

Anita was influenced by the bird imagery found throughout the house and blended photographs of tapestries and paintings with feathers she had drawn. The result is a beautiful heavy silk fabric with rich feather designs.This has been used to create the silk Trophy Birds which hang at the top of the Hell Staircase. 

Jason Duckmanton's Danse Macabre zoetrope, 

Lindsey Holme's the Little Bedlam Club 

Sue Shield's delicate narrative fragments 

And Street Artist, Stuart Payn's innovative cabinet all make for an exciting new Fresh Take on Burghley

Meet the Artists at Art Pop-up

Anita brought some fabric remnants to whet our appetites

Certainly not an exhibition to miss and with the Burghley Flower Festival starting this Saturday (5th October) there is even more reason for a day out.

Bev

A Homely Pursuit?

Having had a break from blogging to remodel a bedroom I thought I would pose a question or two.

Does the 'Art World' accept Textile Art as an art form? Is is just a homely pursuit?

Each year I visit the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and hope that there will be some art textiles included. Perhaps most of it should be classified as textile art as the canvas most artists work on is a textile.

 I wasn't expecting to see any textiles and so was delighted to see a whole gallery devoted to Grayson Perry's wonderfully quixotic tapestries. It is fantastic that such a high profile artist should choose textiles as one of the mediums for his craft. His exhibition last year at the British museum proved what a versatile artist he is.

The cover of the exhibition catalogue is taken from 'The Annunciation of the Virgin Deal' 2012 Grayson Perry

The six large tapestries show snapshots of life which are thought provoking and full of Grayson Perry's trademark wit and humour. I wish that I had had more time to really get up close and personal with them as there was so much detail in each. Having spent just a short time with them left many of the other works on display feeling flat for me. There was much that did inspire discussion with my son and pieces that he liked that I didn't and vice versa. That is what is so great about the Summer exhibition it is a mixed bag but there is something for everyone.

And now there is the Festival of Quilts where I can get my textile fix for the Summer and look forward to the Knitting and Stitching shows in the Autumn.

I'm now off to finish my shopping list

Bev

I wish I had done this sooner

It has been a busy week with teaching and getting ready for an exhibition.

I belong to a textile group called Calico, which meets at Botolph Barn in Helpston near Peterborough.

We are having a small exhibition this coming weekend as a prelude to a main exhibition in September at John Clare Cottage, in Helpston.

I have been looking through some of my work and decided that I really should document some of my pieces as it would be a good to have a portfolio. It would also save time when deciding which pieces should be exhibited as all the information would be to hand.

This is the page I have started for the 3D vessel 'If I had Wings' which I have mentioned in an earlier post.

Doing all this cataloging put me in mind of a speaker we had to the Embroiderers' Guild many years ago. She had worked for Norman Hartnell in London and spent time drawing and sketching the outfits that were chosen by members of the Royal Family. She told us that the sketches were kept in portfolios for the Royal Family members to look through when choosing outfits for state visits and occasions. Certainly easier than looking through racks of clothes. 

I wish I had taken note of this and started my own portfolio of work years ago. I am now trying to remember where and when each piece has been exhibited. It is proving to be a bit of a headache but will be worth it in the end. 

Will you be starting to catalogue your work?

Bev

Embossing and the MDF Man

I have spent this morning creating textured surfaces using an embossing tool (and dreaming of my friends card making machine)  for the City & Guilds courses.

It reminded me that the MDF Man gave me his recipe for homemade embossing paste when I saw him at the Hobbycrafts show in March.

I have not tried it myself yet but he gave me permission to share it on my blog

There are two versions.

1. Equal parts of PVA glue, Acrylic Paint (black in this example) and corn flour.

2. One part PVA Glue,  one part Acrylic paint ( black), Two parts Brown decorators cork.

MDF Man uses black acrylic as he spray paints his demo models black first.

Using a spatula and a stencil he applies the paste, and cleans the stencil straight away.

Leave to dry and brush with treasure gold.

I haven't tried it yet.... but watch this space.

Happy Stitching

Bev

SIX and Friends - Orientation Exhibition

I am a little late with the blog today as I took the opportunity to visit The Bramble Patch in Northamptonshire. I was eager to see the "Orientation" exhibition by SIX and Friends before it finishes tomorrow.

I have to say that I was not disappointed. The work was stunning and of a calibre I just dream of  and aspire to. I am not posting  photos of the work on display but the links will take you to their blogs

I have been following Annabel Rainbow's Blog for a while, but to see her finished quilts was wonderful. 

The depth of feeling in Shall I be Mother? is exquisite. The link takes you to the story behind the quilt.  

Both Laura and Linda Kemshall were showing work with an Oriental theme, and I am always pushed to think about my designing when viewing their wonderful work.

It made me get out my old sketchbooks and have a look at the work I did with a Japanese theme. 

Here are a few pages

I can see me revisiting these in the not so distant future

Happy Stitching

Bev

African Textiles at the British Museum

On Thursday I had a lovely time at the British Museum. I had gone to visit the Pompeii exhibition but took the opportunity to see the Modern African Textiles too.  Social Fabric - African Textiles Today. 

You are greeted with the words 'Karibu mgeni" which translates as 'Welcome stranger' A lovely way to begin exploring this gallery.

Welcoming Kana

War on HIV

The Kangas in the exhibition show the political affiliations, the health concerns, religious and social feelings of the wearer. A Kanga is a rectangle of cloth with an inscription. They are worn in matching pairs principally be women in Eastern Africa.
They are a remarkable method of communicating many issues.

This has the inscription  "We young people declare war against HIV and AIDS because we have the capacity and the will to do it"

Guinea Fowl Kanga

The Kiswahili word for the guinea fowl is kanga. The spotted plumage may have been similar to patterns on early cloths.

Three Cats Trademark

And there was the Three Cats trademark which I have become familiar with whilst working on my Manchester Blue Throw

 This is just a taster of the exhibition. It is on until the 21st April

Happy Stitching

Bev