Summer Schools

This year i was lucky enough to do 2 Summer Schools back to back and at the same place; even better.
The first was with the Textile Study Group and tutor Gwen Hedley. It as just perfect for me, wrapping and playing around with construction. After an initial evening of colouring cloth, paper and thread with acrylic paint (my kind of colouring, Gwen showed us some of her techniques for wrapping, creating 'textiles' and assembling items.
i loved this workshop as she then let us decide on what we wanted to do - so grown up and not prescriptive. As usual i came home with only a very few samples but i feel i have learnt such a lot.
i chose to construct some samples using soluble sandwiches.

i had brought with me some black card pieces, no idea where i got them from and i assume they might be waste product? anyway the plan was to create a complete linked 'piece' by placing items on a sticky water soluble surface and then covering with a thin transparent water soluble layer that you stitch into. i started by wrapping each piece with thread to create substance to link into. the dark running stitches are horse hairs and then i used transparent nylon thread to link with the black 'dots' making sure all was linked together and knots joined the threads where they crossed over.

after washing away the soluble papers what was left is a delicate, light mesh. i am soooo happy with this but it did take a time!

i can remember making samples of machine embroidery on this type of paper and hated it; this is much more ME.

 

i then created another with pine needles and pieces of umbrella metal.

 

the pencil is there for scale. this time i used cross linking.

my second Summer School was with Distant Stitch and tutor Alice Fox. not in my comfort zone but i enjoyed it thoroughly. collecting leaves for eco dyeing (botanical contact printing), printing and making inks/ dyes from what we had around us.

i produced a long thin book made from Alice's favoured silk noil and a combination of stitch and eco dyeing/printing with leaves.

i love the minimalistic piece i have achieved. definitely something to save for future reference.

 
 

Textile Study Group Summer School 2016

Can it really be a week already since i came home from York where this years Summer School was held?
this year the tutors were Bobby Britnell, Sheila Mortlock and Alison King. i chose Bobby's workshop 'Drawing the Line' as i wanted to spend some time getting back to 'drawing' and mark making which i seem to do infrequently at home.
Bobby's quote for the week was 'Drawing is putting 'a line' around an idea' Henry Matisse. i chose the right course for me as she certainly got us thinking about lines and ideas.

she plunged us straight in with black pens and paper and a small square template to work within. starting with the basics of a straight line drawn freehand.

gradually getting more complex as the afternoon progressed. we moved on to using graphite and gesso.

making squares of textured gesso to work on when dry. we then went on to explore the use of different papers and textile and gradually introducing one colour. i am becoming a bit predictable as i chose green but varying shades.

i used abaca, cotton organdie, tissue paper, varnished paper and photocopies. as usual i got some text in there with the use of bonda web. Bobby tried to then get use working big or bigger which proved difficult for me.

so here is a larger one on ramie which i love for the flat smooth surface it has.

our workroom was the largest which was great because it was quite a hot week and although it doesn't look it from the above image we were a positive hive of industry. since coming home i have continued with this theme which i hope to use in an exhibitable piece.
James College was our accommodation this year, absolutely beautiful is surrounded by a lake with geese, ducks, coots, moorhens etc wandering around.

lines can be seen everywhere especially where the sun shines. a thoroughly good week. 
i feel that the next course i do should be something completely different to stretch me and take me away from my comfort zone: ceramics or metals?
 
  

From Bristol to Fish and back again

i have been on the TSG (Textile Study Group) annual summer school at Farncombe in the vale of Evesham. Since last year the hotel has re branded and is now The Fish Hotel. Strange name but it's all to do with fish, monks and hills.
This year I chose to work with Jan Miller who was a great inspiration and a lovely tutor. the course was called 'in and out of the landscape' and our starting point could have been 'from postcard to photo; map to novel; JMW Turner to Richard Long; Norman Ackroyd to Hockney; reflection to shadow; inside to outside; images to ideas; your choice' so basically wide open!
i have been working for a while with bus journeys, wet ones in particular ending at the sea, so i went with that. 
we were asked to bring foraged items and things that had been used before. i am not a great forager of natural products(except beach finds) but i love picking up man made discarded items. 

some of my collection of foraged items

 we were able to work on a number of things so initially i made some 'tools' from foraged/found items that i could use as drawing implements.

flint, lolly sticks, plastic and metal tools

we also used tea and other things to colour fabric and papers. again this is something i have never done because i am always concerned about light fastness. Why?

binding a wooden fork with ramie and fishing line

items bound and dipped in tea and ink

some of the papers i dyed were then printed/marked with the tools i had made

abaca, ink, paint and graphite

 i am very keen on making things that will then themselves be made into something else. so i used this paper to make some thin strips that were folded and then waxed.

the strips with added graphite

i then put these aside and learnt how to twine. Jan has used twining in her work to great effect and as i had never done any i was keen to learn. as usual i went small and worked with some foraged pine needles and then the wax strips themselves.

twining

i made the paper threads on the right hand set and then wondered about working with twining 3D items in the middle. these are waxed strips wound into tubes and twined with wire.

i then thought about my 'precious' little tools and decided to make some 'pockets'/'envelopes' to house them in. these were made with various papers from the course and other re-used pieces from previous work.

my group of 'pockets' plus a piece of metal given to me by Helen

i am really pleased with these and hope to use them in the future for something or as inspiration.

collection and samples

there was much discussion about 'collections' of items and how you 'curate' them or place them together with other things. a discussion we were having at work recently is that everybody seems to be a curator now and why not?
it was great to catch up with Helen, another Distant Stitcher and to meet Ali a new Distant Stitcher.it is always an anti-climax coming back down to earth after summer school but it always leaves me with lots to think about and plenty of inspiration.
Last sunday i was back in bristol looking at the Richard Long exhibition in the Arnolfini, particularly enjoyable were his fingerprint pieces which are always a source of wonder and inspiration.

 

What the difference a day makes

spent yesterday working on prehistoric remains from dartmoor to posting monoprints from Summer School wow!
this year i went to the Textile Study Group Summer School at Farncombe and worked with Sarah Burgess. we were mainly working with mono prints on papers and textile, cutting and inserting and wrapping things.
the workshop was called 'Landscapes of the imagination'

 my inspiration for the workshop included these images taken from the top of a bus on the way to Lyme Regis on a wet day. i have been working with these images and other 'voids' for a while.

my inspiration board

my inspiration board with a few of my monoprints. i loved the effects achieved on tissue and abaca.

based on the images above

i also had a go at wrapping some pine needles found at Farncombe and using the pine needles as masks for the actual printing hence the odd 'people' shapes above.

insertions of hair nets and printed organdie

printing black on black then cutting and inserting brought items

 i have since been playing with a piece of black organdie i printed on the workshop but that has a long way to go and other things are calling at the moment.