Workshops for 2016

2015 has been a busy year for exhibitions, teaching and workshops; so busy of late that I haven't been very present here on my blog. At the moment I am enjoying a little bit of a rest while I plan for the coming year. If you are interested in joining me for a workshop in 2016 there are now several new dates listed on my website.

Linear Mapping - take two

I am really pleased to have another chance to show Linear Mapping, this time in my own studio during Saltaire Arts Trail. It's always an interesting challenge to reconfigure an installation of components. I have no fixed arrangement, so we shall see how it works in this new space.

My studio at the Butterfly Rooms will be open 10 - 5 on Saturday 23rd May, 10 - 4 Sunday 24th and Monday 25th. I hope you will pop by and have a look...

Workshop wandering

During my recent workshops I have met some delightful folk and enjoyed some really interesting discussions about process and practice. It is always an enormous pleasure and excitiement to see what people will do with a new process or material.

Firstly here are a few photos from my Stitch with Found Objects workshop with the lovely Grassington Embroiderers' Guild (plus a few folk from the Skipton EG too).

And then an Artist Talk and Cyanotype Taster workshop to coincide with the Pick & Mix exhibtion a The Dye House Gallery. It was great to have the run of the college workshops.

If you are interested in joining me for a workshop you can find out more here.

New Workshops for 2015

I have been putting the finishing touches to my workshops for spring / summer 2015. You can now find all the details on my website.

The year starts with Scrap Magic and Repair & Disrepair workshops. These workshops take different approaches to working with scraps and secondhand materials. Cut, slash, stitch and manipulate to create a whole variety of surfaces.

This year I will be teaching a variety of workshops from my studio in Saltaire, West Yorkshire. These include stitch, mixed media and cyanotype techniques. For the first time I will be teaching a two-day Inspiration from Historical Textiles course, taking ideas from antique textile and using hand stitch and cyanotype to create original art pieces.

The ever popular Cyanotype Essentials workshop runs on 25th April and for those who have already learnt the essentials there will be a Cyanotype Experimental Day (16th May) to extend your ideas and individual projects.

Hopping

I have never been one for chain letters and such like but my friend and fellow textile lover Claire Wellesley-Smith asked me if I would take part in a 'blog hop', so I thought why not throw caution to the wind.

This blog has always been about reflecting on my practice and so it is always useful to have a few prompts in order to step back and take stock. Here goes...

What am I working on?

Just now I have a couple of projects on the go. In fact they are both works that have been on and off for a while with shifting deadlines. Firstly I am working on a project with the Bradford Textile Archive, which involves a wide spectrum of artists creating responses to the collection. My work responds to some weave designs which will be translated as hand stitch on paper (image below). The exhibition, called 'Pick & Mix', opens 13th January 2015 at the new Dye House Gallery, Bradford.

The other project I am finishing off is my 'Linear Mapping' installation work, which I have written about previously here, here and here. The work involves creating a series of threads that each represent walks. I have the finishing touches to complete before that heads down to One Church Street Gallery, Buckinghamshire for 'Pinpoint II' in February 2015.

How does my work differ from others of it's genre?

I find this a tricky question as my work is so varied. In my practice I explore very varied subjects and ideas (as you see in the above two projects), I have no single technique or material that characterises my practice although it is all grounded in a sort of vocabulary of textiles. Using stitch, natural dye, cyanotype, applique and print I find ways to make marks, echoes and traces. My work has sometimes been referred to as ghostly and, whilst this isn't exactly a quality I am looking for, I think my work often has an ethereal quality; something that might fade away, the invisible made barely visible.

Why do I do what I do?

I suppose I feel that there are some things that are difficult to articulate with verbal language, so for me art is a way of expressing but also recording an idea. I am also acutely aware of the transience of life, of moments that slip away, of fragile objects that disintegrate; making can be a way of attempting to capture this fragility, futile though this might be.

How does my process work?

My creative process is much more about immersing myself in the subject matter, than in a specific technique or material. In particular walking has an important role in my practice.  It forms part of my research process, enabling me to observe and experience my environment. Making similar walks at different times and seasons I observe subtle changes in myself and the landscape. The speed of my walking might be influenced by weather conditions and the observed flora and fauna may vary from day to day. Capturing the things I observe, trying to contain my thoughts and feelings I use a variety of materials and techniques. Often my ideas are 'contained' within a particular object or form as a kind of vessel.

So that's all from me, and I pass on the blogging baton to someone with very different work, which I admire greatly; award winning photographer and studio buddy Carolyn Mendelsohn.

Spectrum

These little pieces will be on show as part of 'Spectrum' at Unit Twelve. "This exhibition will showcase work that focuses on the interplay between colour and light, work that is bold, bright and graphic"... not what you would usually expect from my work. However I have returned to some little pieces of cyanotype I started experimenting with previously, patching together fragments.

The exhibition runs from 4th September to 29th November 2014.

Ebb & Flow

Today I visited Grimsby to hang my work for the forthcoming 62 Group exhibition 'Ebb & Flow'. For this exhibition I have worked on a sequence of three large cyanotype prints on silk. The tryptic, called 'Baptism', explores the euphoric experience of cold water swimming. Through personal observations, the sensual awakening of the body is traced as shimmering stitched marks on the surface.

You can see this and work by many distinguished artists in Ebb & Flow at the Fishing Heritage Centre and Grimsby Minster, Grimsby, NE Lincolnshire from 9th September to 2nd November 2014. You can see some photos and read about the special events on the Ebb & Flow Facebook page.

Sun & rain

Although we had the wrong kind of weather today, we still managed to produce some great sunprints. Jane, Anne, Louise and Louisa joined me for Cyanotype Essentials at my studio. I never ceases to fascinate me how a group of people given the same materials will create such different outcomes and I love the way we all work so differently... I suppose that is one of the reasons I teach.

I am having a little break from workshops for a brief period as the workshop planned for Harewood House next week is being postponed until later in the year. I hope to be updating the website soon with some further dates in Saltaire.

A kind of gentle presence

Thanks to Joe from Textileartist.org for interviewing me for a this article.

Winter Warmer

Tomorrow evening the Butterfly Rooms studios will be open for mulled wine, mince pies and and Christmas decoration making. As well as tidying up my very messy studio I have also been working on some new pieces so I would love to hear what you think... pictures to follow.

Kate Rawnsley and David Starley will be in their studios and as a bonus the Butterfly Rooms shop has 15% off all night.

Drop in if you can from 6 - 9pm

Packing up

In Search of Green finished at the Bowery on Friday. A few last photos taking advantage of the shadows and then it was packed away. I would like to show it again somewhere new... any suggestions of a suitable gallery near you?

Thank you to all those who were able to visit the exhibition for all the kind thoughts and comments I received in the comments book. It means more than I can say.

A backward glance...

 ... for those of you who didn't make it to my studio, a few photos. You can also read a post about Saltaire Arts Trail by Hannah Nunn here.

So much to do...

... and so little time.

A stack of 100 little cyanotype postcards to print, a giant textile 'map' to prepare (come and join me for stitching fun!) while juggling a heap of assessment, and did I mention I had a little research project to write up?

If I am still conscious you'll find me here:

Open Studio during Saltaire Arts Trail; 25th to 27th May 2013 at The Butterfly Rooms. Please come and make it all worth while.

In search of green at the Bowery

Last night we had a lovely opening for 'In Search of Green', my installation for the Bowery and for Alice's 'Texture's of Spurn'. Thanks to everyone who came along and also those who offered their support in other ways. I received some lovely comments and it was fascinating to hear how people added their own stories to the work. For those of you unable to visit in person here are a few little pictures of the work in situ.

Preparations

Final touches

I have been busy making the final touches towards my installation for the Bowery. Above you can see a few of the pieces hanging up in the studio.

At the moment I feel a mixture of mild panic and excitement at the prospect of hanging the work. I still have so much to do but feel as though I might be making some interesting developments in my practice. I think I will probably only know what I think when the work is up - but then perhaps that is what an exhibition is for, to test ideas and to put them in front of an audience of critics.

The exhibition 'In Search of Green' runs 4th May to 5th July 2013, but if you would like to join us for the private view on Friday 4th May you are very welcome between 6 - 8pm for wine and arty fun! Alice Fox will also be showing a new hanging of Textures of Spurn at the Bowery.