Merry Christmas everyone

the first thing i saw this morning

i hope everyone has a great Christmas and Creative 2016

Imprints at Taunton

i spent a few hours last week at the museum stewarding so I was able at last to take a picture of my piece 'Subjoined Lines'. the problem of not having much space at home is that large items never get hung or photographed in their entirety.

the team at Taunton had done a wonderful job with the brackets at the top and although it was hung higher than I had wanted I can see why they did it.

label telling the story

detail and shadows

it was great seeing it in a museum setting. in fact the whole exhibition was really well hung and has had a lot of interest.
On until the beginning of January.

Harris Tweed that will do nicely!

i have had a break from being creative and have made myself a coat. somebody has discovered that tweed is very comfortable!

Green Trotsky

 however on the back burner i have started something based on travellers and their need to carry things

i am still working in the past for inspiration. thinking of nineteenth century travellers wearing straw bonnets. i have recently conserved a straw bonnet and found the twisted straw i have used above in an antiques fair. 

i am using fishing line to crochet with enclosing the straw a bit like a coiled vessel.

it's quite small but is still growing and it is a pleasure after the enormous giant now at Taunton.
i am stewarding there next Friday so will take some images in situ,
 
 

Done and dusted

well it's finished and delivered and will hopefully be hung ok. i am always worried when i send something off that i have no involvement in hanging so we will see.
the exhibition is on for a good time so there is no excuse!

ilminster 'On the Edge' exhibition

if you are in ilmister you probably have about an hour or so to see the exhibition before it is taken down.

meet the artists 1st August

 however here are a few shots of my work in situ for any interested parties. quality of images not brilliant but i am still working out the new camera.

'Heavenly Bodies' and '40 days'

see previous blog entries for more details.

'last of the broadsheets'

the last of the broadsheets were my little books made from newspaper and thread.

collars

and finally my collars based on the people on the edge of society. unfortunately i noticed too late that the gallery had put the labels on the perspex visible! but hey ho we live and learn.

it has been a very hectic time recently but yesterday i took time out to visit Sidmouth for the last day of the folk week. so i will leave you with the thought of relaxation.

only in England

 

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.

 

Exhibition at last!

it seems a long time coming but it will soon be here and then it will be over!

please come along if you can and support us; you can even meet us on 1st August but please note the gallery is closed on Sundays.