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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Introducing Halifax!

A while ago I tried out wet felting and made myself a necklace (I'll post it next post) and found it a lot of fun. I had heard about needle felting and seen the results, but it seemed complicated.... well it isn't! After listening to the Stitching 'N' Junk podcast interview with Moxie about needle felting I really wanted to give it ago.

The Loop, Halifax, Nova Scotia

While I was in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I found a craft store called The Loop. I didn't catch the name of the lady that runs the store, but she was super nice and really helpful, so the next time you're in Halifax go check out The Loop. I found a needle felting kit from Woolpets there. I was daring and went straight for an intermediate, instead of an easy, and this is the result - Halifax the Fox!

Woolpets kit in a cute takeout box


Needle felting supplies

Needle felting is really fun to do, so long as you don't stab yourself. It's really nice to see and feel what you are making coming together in your hands just from a few stabs of a needle. I want to try some more, I found some roving in Charlottetown in different colours. I think I'm going to try out some abstract stuff next. I'll keep you posted ;-)

Ain't he cute?? ♥