The Great Tapestry of Scotland

Sometimes luck is really on your side! Driving down from a week in the Torridon area we had decided to stop off to see the New Lanark World Heritage site. A stunningly presented, and incredibly preserved example of an early Industrial Revolution community with housing, school, factory and mill buildings on the Clyde. It just so happened that at this very time they were hosting The Great Tapestry of Scotland! I was thrilled, what serendipity!

The Tapestry tells the story of Scottish history in more than one hundred and sixty embroidered panels stretching for one hundred and forty three metres in length. Stitched on linen in wool yarn they each followed a layout and style that gave the whole display a homogeneous feel. The panels were designed by.   Who was also responsible for the Prestonpans Tapestry. Each panel was then stitched by volunteers from Scottish communities, from the cities to tiny hamlets and individual Islands on matching background linen and in approved colour yarns. Each panel is credited to the Stitchers involved and tells one tiny snapshot of the Scottish story. I didn't actually have enough time to do the exhibition justice!

Here are a few of the panels which particularly caught my eye:

If you ever get the chance to see this, in the flesh, so to speak, grab it with both hands, it's well worth it!

Lutterworth Embroiderers' Exhibition

Months ago I visited this annual exhibition and was again stunned by the quantity and quality of work this talented group produce each year.

In addition to the general display of members work, three areas were of particular interest to me:

 A wide ranging display of World War 1 themed pieces demonstrated the wide range of skills members have. I was, however, completely struck by one small machine embroidered piece which seems to sum up the misery, the waste, the hardship and the the loss of the conflagration. 

" For King and Country " is by Sue Townsend, and the content's very ordinariness makes it the more poignant. The skill in the stitching is wonderful.

I was also interested to see a selection of workshop pieces from Isobel Hall. Creating wonderful textures from simple stitches and unusual threads. This one is by Kate Jacklin.

One technique I'd like to master next year is Kantha and there was a charming elephant by Sue Hanger.

Each year the group have a 'Chairman's Challenge' and the skill and workmanship in Josephine Cade's piece "Giverney" was outstanding.

Finally I wanted to highlight a tiny section of one of Mary Hart's pieces to show a very effective use of tiny pieces of sweetie paper used to good effect.

This group' annual exhibition is always worth a visit in August and I have come away again this year with some lovely cards made by Sarah Adcock.

 

The missing months........

Apologies for the absence. I suffered a period of anxiety attacks during September which triggered a collapse of creativity and loss of interest in textiles for the first time in my life. It has taken be quite a while to return to something like my old self! Hence the silence. I'm explaining this as problems inside our heads seem to be the Cinderella complaints and we need them to be talked about and better understood. 

I have a backlog of textile artist's work to share with you in my next post.

Art Textiles - Made in Britain

Still cogitating about all the quilts that I saw at Festival recently. I was particularly interested to see "Identity - Art Textiles, Made in Britain." The group of artists working for this show have all developed clearly identifiable styles yet are very different from one another. They are all fascinating in their own right so it was fascinating to see how each had interpreted the theme of identity.

For this blog post I am concentrating on three artists who I have taken courses this year or have worked with a little.

Christine Restall:

You will have seen from earlier posts that I was absolutely entranced by my short one day course with Christine. All my abstraction experiments have come from this experience. Her pair of quilts in the "Identity" exhibition were restrained and elegant and restful. Hanging as a pair, it's the type of work that you would enjoy living with. Beautifully crafted, I loved them.

Sandra Meech:

I was very lucky to spend three days on Sandra's "Less is More" course at The Minerva Gallery in Llandidloes in July.(more of this later)  Having heard her talk about the pieces in the "Identity" exhibition I was keen to see it in the flesh. Her techniques for working with images, use of photo transfer and three dimensional elements are fascinating and very different from the general run of pieces at Festival.

Jenny Rolfe:

I was in the same group as Jenny for a year (Contemporary Expressions) she was the most meticulous quilter I had had the privilege of working with. Her approach to this exhibition was particularly interesting in that it dealt most directly with the theme "Identity".

Nature v Nurture is a clever piece with many of the hallmarks of Jenny's stunning work. Thought provoking!

Embroiderers' Guild "Kickstart" Exhibition

The East Midlands Region runs an annual programme to encourage members to create and exhibit embroidery. This years the theme was Flowers. The key thing about the Kickstart programme is that it requires participants to take a one day course related to the theme. Only with attendance at these can a member exhibit work. 

The downside of this is that there is so little notice of the dates of the day courses that if your diary is busy you miss out. I was very sad not to have been able to take part in one of the two run by Alysn Midgelow Marsden which were very well receive by participants and which concentrated on simplifying and abstracting elements to create a design.  So having heard such good things about the preparatory days I was a little disappointed when I went to the exhibition in Daventry. I don't know if this was the sum total of the entries for the region or a section of the entries. I hope it was a section! The venue did not do the entries many favours. 

There were some stunning pieces of work among the entries, the following stood out among the selection. My apologies to the artists that I have lost the sheet with their names and work titles so they are here, unattributed.

In a very image conscience world I do get very cross when organisations fail to display work to its advantage and in a way that is sympathetic to the artwork. When Jo Public sees an exhibition like this it's not that surprising that folk go away describing the work as "homemade" which is such a put down. Voluntary groups are their own worst enemy in this respect.

Ann Johnston' Exhibition

I was really struck by Ann Johnston's quilts. I have travelled in the Sierra Nevada on several occasions and found myself transported back there. Huge in scale and graphic in quality these quilts speak of the wide open spaces, the rocks and their hold on you when you are among them. It's a part of the world I enjoy visiting, and Ann's art gives me the same feelings.

"After the Ice"

The sense of scale and the grand swathe of the landscape are there and man's insignificance.

"Eureka Chimney"

Craggy and raw, the fabrics and stitching convert the rugged nature of this area.

"Nevadan Orogeny"

This whole cloth piece showcases the folded, stretched rock formations of the Sierra Nevada so well I almost felt I could touch the rough, hard surface.

I am not usually drawn to the representational or pictorial in quilts but was persuaded by this exhibition that, in the right hands, it works. I am now even more keen to revisit the western USA again and add in areas I have still to see for the first time. I know I won't make work in this genre but have so enjoyed seeing these pieces.

Festival of Quilts - Dislocation

I was very interested to see what had been juried into this exhibition having had my quilt rejected! While  I thought that there were some stunning and interesting pieces I was a little disappointed with the whole after the success of the CQ10 show. This collection didn't hang together in quite the same way. I felt the outside walls of the gallery worked better than the interior. It's easy to criticise, and I realise that it must have been very hard to make choices from such a large entry. I'm not worried about my piece not being selected, more that the very high standard CQ set was lowered a little this year, in my view!

Having said that, I now want to highlight some of the pieces that I was very struck by. Each of these was eye catching at a distance and drew one in to see what was in the detail.

Terry Donaldson's piece "Black across the sea" was effective and I loved the mark making in the quilt.

Sally Hutson's "Faded Memories" was painterly and full of interesting elements so it worked at a distance and drew you in.

Sue Turner's dislocated self portrait " a sLIGHT Shift" was eye catching and very cleverly constructed.

   "Letters to the Demons" from Sandra Wyman contained interesting mark making and an eye catching rhythmic linear motif.

"Organised Chaos" by Jill Packer was an eye catching, graphic piece that I loved.

Cathy Hensman's piece " Dislocated Woodland" was richly textured and painterly in style.

What a fantastic opportunity being a member of CQ is, and how fierce the competition is to be exhibited! Thanks to the organisers who set us a tough challenge. I look forward to what is next!

More the Festival soon.