Plodding on

November already... hard to believe but so it is, and a long time since I visited my blog. Sorry patient readers. I have been busy doing things in other places, both on the web and elsewhere. If you want to catch up on what I have done in between you can follow my visual travels on Instagram.

I have been trying to slow things down a bit; finding time for some fun things and some restful things. This stitching of indigo dyed thread on antique printed calico, has been a welcome combination of activity and rest, while I think about plans for next year. Keep an eye on my website for some new workshops to be announced very soon.

Pacing myself

The last few weeks I have been focusing intensely on organising all my 'walks' for the installation for Pinpoint II at One Church Street Gallery. I have been working on this project since early spring so it was helpful to get all my thoughts together and consider the presentation of the work. The pieces will be a series of linear maps, documenting a sequence of walks from my home near Bingley, and also from my Mother's home in Buchinghamshire.

It seems I now have rather longer to plan the work as the exhibition has been postponed until next year... more thinking time I suppose.

Taking time to think

I haven't had much time in the studio recently. Taking some time there this afternoon I spent a long time cleaning and tidying. It always makes me feel guilty 'wasting' time like this, but later I felt I got a breakthrough. It seems I need to do mundane tasks, 'setting my stall out' before my mind can settle.

I finally feel like I am getting somewhere with my work for Pinpoint II.

Bundles from walk 9

Eco print on silk, walk 9

Darning on the surface

My teaching samples for the Repair & Disrepair workshop at Harewood House last weekend.

Preparations

Final touches

I have been busy making the final touches towards my installation for the Bowery. Above you can see a few of the pieces hanging up in the studio.

At the moment I feel a mixture of mild panic and excitement at the prospect of hanging the work. I still have so much to do but feel as though I might be making some interesting developments in my practice. I think I will probably only know what I think when the work is up - but then perhaps that is what an exhibition is for, to test ideas and to put them in front of an audience of critics.

The exhibition 'In Search of Green' runs 4th May to 5th July 2013, but if you would like to join us for the private view on Friday 4th May you are very welcome between 6 - 8pm for wine and arty fun! Alice Fox will also be showing a new hanging of Textures of Spurn at the Bowery.

Blue and green

Stitch and cyanotype, finishing details.

Studies in blue and white

Work in progress.

Blending colour and cloth with stitch.

Stitches in search of green

Stitches in time and place

Today an unexpected walk provoked some new ideas towards work for a forthcoming exhibition. I have been spending many contented hours stitching in the studio.

I also noticed an uncanny relationship with some quiet soulful materials I collected/research back in 2001.

Red cross - emergency stitching!

 

I have a few additions to make to 'Visible Mending'. Some things became apparent only when I had 'finished' the piece and was able to step back and take stock. I have to hang the work later this week so I am really up against my deadline now.

Visible Mending

In a flurry of activity and with my back up against an impending deadline, before Christmas I had the linen printed in preparation for stitching. The work reflects on personal experiences of WWII; those of my Grandmother and Great Uncle. My uncle served in the army and was captured at Dunkirk. He spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war in a German POW camp. Although little is spoken about their experiences my Grandma recalls that when he returned her brother's uniform was 'all darns'. Suffice to say the Christmas holidays have been filled with darning.

I can't help but feel my darning is rather inferior by comparison with the beautiful Vicorian darning samplers I remember seeing at the Museum of Costume & Textiles in Nottingham. If you are looking for inspiration for your own mending project Clarabella has a wonderful pin board of exquisite darns and mends here. I only wish mine were as beautiful.

Wise words on time

May I recommend a trip over to Spirit Cloth for a really poetic and thought provoking posting. Such a beautifully simple concept I wish I had thought of it myself.

Busy Stitching

The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy, and it's been hard to find the time and space to get my work done. However, as always, a deadline does help to focus the mind and two deadlines even more so. I have been working on some new work (towards applying for a couple of things) and after many weeks of waxing, cutting, stitching and pondering, I finally feel like I might be getting somewhere. I had a big breakthrough today when I took the plunge and decided to use the back of the piece. I feel as though I have moved on enormously as a result.

Below are a few images of my stitching, which is more embroidery than I have done for a long time. These are just details but I will show some more once it is 'finished'.

Bundles from Shipley Glen

Phenomenological Perspecitives

In preparing a proposal for an art festival I have been referring back to the wealth of material I collected for my MA research. I hadn't appreciated what a valuable resource this is and just how much I had accumulated. One of the things which really resonated with my current ideas and projects was Sandy Gellis' 'New York Rainfall: 1987', which I first read about in 'Earth Mapping: Artists Reshaping Landscape  by Edward S. Casey. In this work Sandy Gellis responded to a specific site (just outside her window) where she placed an etching plate, coated with a water sensitive medium, each day for a year. Each square plate was marked by the amount of rainfall that occurred on that day. The entire work was created as etchings and also as an installation of the plates themselves - both beautiful and eloquent. I am interested in how these works respond to and record the essence of a space and time. I think I could learn a great deal from the simplicity and directness of this vision.

Although Sandy's website is rather light on text, if you want to read more take a look at Jonathan Novak gallery website.

Infinite Variety

Probably one of the most amazing exhibitions I have ever seen, Infinite Variety nearly brought me to tears as I stepped into the 55,000 square foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall of Park Avenue Armory. The vast space was hung with 650 red and white quilts spanning three centuries or American quilt making. The show was created as a true visual spectacle, making you feel as a tiny Alice might have done with a whole pack of playing cards falling around her. Despite being the stars of their own show the visual impact of the quilts relied upon their display; contrasts of pattern juxtaposed in such diversity. To see so much pattern in one glance is a very rare thing indeed, and completely joyful. As one lady commented 'everyone is walking around with smiles on their faces, I've never seen that before at an exhibition'. 

Organised by the American Folk Art Museum, Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red & White Quilts showed just part of the vast quilt collection of Joanna S. Rose. 'While the idea of hundreds of quilts is impressive in the abstract, in actuality it is an unprecedented and immersive experience, both visually and physically.' The exhibition was designed and installed by New York company Thinc Design and is an absolutely inspired creation. 'This magical but ephemeral moment will ultimately be captured in the pages of a fully illustrated catalogue'... I can't wait, but I am so glad I was able to experience this phenomenon for myself. I will cherish the memory.



If you would like to see further photos or read more about the exhibition design take a look at this blog.

Fragments

Visiting the Manchester Antique Textile Fair today, it felt strange not to be looking to buy anything. I still remember the first time I went to the fair as an undergraduate student (living just round the corner) and my shock at the way people rummaged through these antique treasures like it was a jumble sale!

Anyhow I made a valiant effort today and still managed to come home with some of my own treasure; buttons and scraps of old French patchwork. On the way home I was thinking about the nature of 'fragments'. What is it about a fragment of something that makes it so desirable and precious?

I was disappointed to find out that I had missed the exhibition 'Threads of Feeling' at the Foundling Museum, but you can still see the poignant textile tokens on the exhibition website .

Created and destroyed

I realised that I have never uploaded the images of the other shop window I worked on for the Keighley Green Trail. For this window I collaborated with two of my Bradford College students (thanks Dawn and Alice) to create a series of 'banners' as a backdrop for Louise Fyffe's upcycled fashion garments. You can see more about creating the eco-print fabrics here.

I think the display worked really well; combining the subtle marks and colours of the natural dyes on recycled fabrics, and they complimented Louise's garments really well.

The unfortunate ending is that due to some mis-communication all of the fabric banners were lost or thrown away at the end of the Keighley Green Trail. Although I was pretty upset when I found out they were gone, I am now more philosophical about it; some things are meant to last only a fleeting moment... plus I still have the photos to share.