Exhibition Report: Medway Open Studios

Recently I attended a Fabric Manipulation workshop at INTRA in Rochester. Through this 6 week workshop I developed some interesting techniques, the build up to which I will share with you in another post. But this weekend the artists of Medway opened their doors to the public in the Medway Open Studios & Arts Festival. My Fabric Manipulation piece was on display so I went to see it, the finished pieces of the rest of the class and some great local artists.

A particular favourite I discovered today was Heather Haythornthwaite who creates beautiful prints. Her three prints of historically notorious Medway prostitutes took my breath away. She combines interesting elements to create her images inclusing text, old maps and images imposed with regular printed shapes. She is a part of the Ridley Road group and can be seen at stop number 6 on the Medway Open Studios Map.

Stopping in at INTRA I saw my oen piece beautifully displayed along with work by Faye Lamb, Bernice Friend and Rebecca Davison.

My piece is in the top right of this photo.

 

Finally I saw some lovely textile work in Sun Pier House, a large work in process wall hanging by Jenni Burrows really caught my eye.

 

If you are in the area you should check out all of these artists and art venues.

Find out more about Medway Open Studios here

The Medway Open Studios map can be found here

Look at workshops on offer at INTRA and Unravel & Unwind here (highly recommended!)

Find Jenni Burrows here

Find Heather Haythornthwaite here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Wild Side

My ship is currently running an art contest, so while I had a little bit of spare time I decided to give it a go. There was no theme, no real rules, I just had to use the canvas, paint and brushes provided and then could add and do whatever I wanted.

I'd had a piece in mind for a while that was based on a photo I took of my ship in Alaska, but doing it just for fun seemed a little silly. Doing it for an art contest on the ship seemed apt though.

Originally I did think I was going to use any paint but then I started thinking about a mixed media piece and got excited. I used old schedules as a background and painted over them with white leaving a few words visible. I then painted in a pale outline of my ship from the photo I was using as a reference. Finally I added some Alaskan mountain in the background. Next came the stitching.

My ships always have fun, colourful images painted on the side so I incorporated this into my piece. I stitched the artwork down the side of the ship and also used a mixture of paint and stitch to represent colourful pearls on some sparkle net. This pieces is going to be about layers!

I emphasised some wording from the background with embroidery in colours to match the ship and then added a slogan in embroidery as well over chiffon.

I made a few changes to my original plan for this piece but I think it came out almost exactly as I envisioned it in my head. I'm really happy with it and I'll let you know how it goes in the contest!

Sketchbook Project Limited Edition

Goodness, it has been a long time! I have been settling in on my new ship, the install of the new cast was very busy and there is still soem work to be done, but I have five minutes right now to post a blog so I thought I's better pop in!

I'm currently in Alaska, enjoying the crisp air, inspiration and beer :-) I've already bought some lovely dyed fabrics from Juneau that I have plans for. I also have an embroidery piece in mind for a friend, now I just need to find time to start it.

Until then here is a little art to tide you over. I worked on a Sketchbook for the Art House Co-Op's Limited Edition project where one spread from each book entered will be put into a series of art books. I tried to express my process and show some experimentation with the theme Thread and Surface.

I experimented with surface design techniques and then used the fabrics I created to make mixed media collages at the end of the book. Some of the techniques worked really well and others need some work. I really liked flour paste resist once I got the hang of it and silk painting is always a winner.

I think I might turn some of these into prints at some point, or greetings cards - what do you think?

In a War....

A while back I saw this post on Mr X Stitch about Hanne Bang and her attempt to curate a collaborative piece around a quote she had heard. While slicking through the channels one night she caught sight of a news program where they were talking to an out of work African soldier who said when asked about death "In a war someone has to die". The quote resonated with Bang and she decided to get women all around the world to stitch the phrase one handkerchiefs and send them to her to create one huge piece.

I love the feelings and issues behind this idea. The combination on women stitching with hankies can mean so many things. Women loose their men to war, be it sons, brothers, husbands or lovers. Hankies are traditionally used to wave goodbye. I really like the juxtaposition between the harshness of the words and the softness of the materials used to convey it.

So here is my contribution to the piece. The hankie I used is from when I was a child so there is also a little bit of history with it.

I can't wait to see the whole thing which will be on display in Denmark later in the year.

Exhibition Report: Passing Reflections

Today I wandered over to Rochester to see Rosie James' latest exhibition Passing Reflections.

As always, Rosie's work is beautiful in its simplicity and impressive in it's scale. I am always excited by the way she chooses which lines to stitch and how these lines really capture the figures. On her larger pieces I like the smaller details she includes that really adds to the character and personality of the people.

Trafalgar Lunch

I particularly liked Trafalgar Lunch in this exhibition and Indian Ladies at the Gurdwara. James' use of not only line figures but also silhouettes in brightly coloured fabrics add to the sense of place and culture in these pieces.

Detail - Indian Ladies at the Gurdwara

I was very glad that I got to see Rosie's installation of hanging stitched figures. I had not yet been able to see these pieces in the flesh and being able to view them in this intimate setting was a joy.

The exhibition is open in Rochester until April 13th. If you are in the area I urge you to go see it. You can find out more info here:

More Work In Progress

Well, it has been a while since I posted - sorry my dears, I have been traveling back home from the end of my current ship contract and settling in. Finally I have had the chance this week to start work on some pieces for an exhibition in LA in June called Home is where the Needle Marks. Find out more information about it here

I have two pieces in mind, here is a WIP of the first one:

I haven't started stitching yet, the background has taken some time, but keep an eye out for more progress reports soon!

Sketchbook Project 2012

My Sketchbook project is finally finished! After four months I have finished my sampler with 70 different stitches on it!

My theme this year was Stitches and Folds which gave me the chance to experiment with shibori dyeing and new stitches. I set myself the goal of trying out all the stitches for fabric in Betty Barnden's Embroidery Stitch Bible. I think I did pretty much every one and then a few more I found online. Some I like and think I will use again and others don't really work with my style.

My one challenge this year was the new restriction that the sketchbook could only be 1 inch thick when finished. This is because the sketchbooks are touring to Canada, the UK and Australia this year, but it meant I had to think really hard about my presentation. No quilted pages for me this year! Instead I decided on a fold-out sampler (because of folds, right?!) attached inside the cover. I'm pretty impressed with how this came out in the end, I didn't think it was going to work for a while!

I'm proud of the work, but I'm also very glad it's finished and I can move on to something else now. Usually my projects are pretty short or varied so this one took a lot of effort for me to keep going on!

More photos can be seen on my Flickr page here

Elephants on Parade

While my ship was out of Copenhagen this summer I was lucky enough to see a couple of outdoor art exhibitions dotted around the city. Elephant Parade was an open air art exhibit in which proceeds from the sales of the pieces were donated to charity in aid of the Asian elephant. The painted elephants flaunted many different styles and colours and were certainly eye catching. They were not around for long but I managed to get a fair few on camera to share with you here...

Aren't they beautiful? I hope they all went to great homes and lots of money was raised for the cause.

This one is for the ladies....

Over the summer I purchased a needle felting attachment for my beloved Bernina. I also found out about the Capture Cure charity auction which was accepting donated works of art to auction off in aid of breast cancer. My mother and best friend from high school are both recovering from breast cancer so this was a cause near to my heart.

I created a needle felted and embellished wall hanging that is a tribute to the strength of women. It uses skills taught to me by the women in my family and the new techniques I have learned after being inspired by them. Only 40 pieces were accepted into the auction, mine being one of them. I am fiercely proud of this and hope it went to a good home.

I am also about to start a little cross stitch I downloaded, designed by Emily Peacock. It is a pink breast cancer ribbon which I am going to make for myself and my mother. I haven't followed a cross stitch pattern in a while so it will be interesting to try that out again! I encourage you to go and get the pattern yourself and donate to breast cancer research in the process. Check out the Mr X Stitch post about it here