Making a Point:Needle Museum Redditch

A brief visit to the Forge Mill Needle Museum in Redditch reveals a fascinating history behind the one thing many of us who sew do not take for granted..yet many not have realized just how amazing needles are. The rich heritage of the needle and how Redditch once produced 90% of the world's needles.

Surgical Needles

Needle Cases

Fishing Hooks..just beautiful

Small Sewing Machine..I have one just like that..it makes a chain stitch.

Bookbinding

Machine Needles..some are huge.

Beautiful displayed hand embroidery needles

Smocking

 

Embroidery

  

Scouring Machinery

 

Loved the green space outside

 Art Textiles:Made in Britain will be holding its exhibition Concealed, at the Museum from September 9th to October 23rd 2016. Some of my work represented in 'Identity' two years ago, features in an article by Textile Curator reflecting on my career and practice: 
While interviewing Cas Holmes this month she gave some useful advice to approach things differently. "Before they even start I encourage students to think about the material they are starting with. Mess up the fabric or look beyond the sanctity of edges,' she explains

 Shorelines, Cas Holmes (3 of 6 panels) Photography credit Art Van Go

 I also had the opportunity to take in the Mac and the amazing work of Barbara Walker, 
well very nearly. It was a Monday, the Mac was open, the gallery closed and I felt like a child looking through the sweetie shop window!
On the closing day of the exhibition, 3rd July,  join Barbara Walker as she removes this and other drawings from the walls:  washing away the charcoal and exploring further the notions of visibility and erasure in the work.

 Acknowledging an absence of representation over the past 100 years, Walker’s exhibition concentrates upon the contribution of Black servicemen and women to the British Armed Forces and war efforts from 1914 to the present day. It reflects upon contemporary British conflict alongside historical events of warfare involving Britain and the colonised nations of the British Empire. As the world commemorates the centenary of World War I, this remarkable body of work addresses the stories that remain largely untold.


I also discovered the community project Connecting Spaces still on (advertised to finish in April). Connecting Spaces is borne out of a passion to engage residents from the Hall Green district (encompassing Sparkbrook, Springfield, Moseley and Kings Heath, and Hall Green) in arts activities locally and at mac.  
(With thanks to the Mac for the text references.)

My grandmother, a Romany would have been familiar with the pegs and peg dolls. Love the diversity reflecting the the communities and cultures who dressed their dolls for a 'Cinderella Day'

 And finally, but not least, I was in Birmingham catching up with friends, listtend to a fascinating insight to the work of the Embroiderer's Guild by Terry Murphy,  and give a talk for the Birmingham Embroiderer's Guild Regional Day. Lots of lovely cake, great fun to be there and managed to get away without doing the washing up!

 

Well Shod..telling stories

Over the last year I have spent a great deal of time on travelling and walking.My Grandmother, a Romany, talked about her travelling days as a child' 'We all wore high-laced boots that were hand-made in Luton "Well Shod" my father always said'  (Memories of a Romany Childhood as told to her daughter Mary Chapman 1994.) 

For people on the road, good shoes are a must. With those shoes comes their own stories.
My old boots, worn for over 20 years reflect my times walking in the Kentish Countryside and much further afield just had to be sketched and now act as reference for drawing in my Adult Education class.

My sister had her own dreams of ballet dancing as child, we all love the elegance (and maybe the tutus) These paper shoes are inscribed with the poem with 'Rings on her finger and bells on her toes' from Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross, Horses were equally important modes of travel for my grandmother. 

Ballet Shoes (photo Michael Wicks for The Found Object in Textile Art, Batsford 2010)

Still, ballet shoes have to be well made as this short video of Freed the Ballet Shoe maker in London testifies

On a recent but brief visit to the British Museum  I discovered a lovely little exhibition of shoes in the Life and sole:footwear from the the Islamic world. Beautifully worked, with fine embroidery and leather tooling, my gran would have approved.

The little Riversoft shoes I found brand new in a charity shop at the end of my Australian trip (to replace a pair I had worn out) could do with some of the embellishments in the ones above.

I was very privileged to include images of work by Rosalind Wyatt from her project the Stitch Lives of London in 'Stitch Stories'. This includes an Edwardian Satin dancing shoes embroidered with the story of Mary Pearse, the pauper daughter of a London shoemaker.

If Shoes Could Talk, Rosalind Wyatt (kind permission of Rosalind Wyatt)

Exhibitions, the launch of Stitch Stories and work have kept me on my feet, from an old military building in France,  to my current local exhibition 'Common Place, Common Land' in Maidstone. In the Summer I worked with Fibre Arts Australia and extensively travelled around the 'Edges of Australia' (which you can read about in earlier posts on this blog), and felt an Australian Winter 'cold' for the first time complete with frost! 

My grandmother unusually for Romany children of the time, still learned to read, her family settled and she went into service:

My carefree Romany childhood and our life on the open road had come to end end. However, we did not know know then that in the aftermath of the 'war to end all ward' life in Britain would  be irrevocably changed. Throughout my long life (my grandmother died in 1995) I came to view my Romany years as an age of innocence, not just for us children, but for a nation'.

It seems I not only inherited the love of the 'Open road' from my gran but also her ability to tell stories:

Thankyou to all have hosted me and continued the textile friendships in 2105. I am planning new adventures in 2016 which will be updated on my other blog.  

I wish you a Peaceful Christmas and Happy New Year. As you 'walk' through life,  I leave you with an old Irish blessing

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

The Edges of Australia. A Road Well Travelled

I have just had a few days in Sydney working with ATASDA. New South Wales  I stayed in Frenchs Forest area overlooking Sydney and the coast in the distance.

I went to the Manley Art Gallery and Museum and saw a wonderful exhibition 'War Time Quilts' which included an example of Wagga patchwork, a quilt made from butcher's cloth. Wagga quilts or rugs, using men's old but strong fabric,  suiting samples or swatches were common in regional Australia in the first half of the 20th century. An example of the Australian practice of reusing materials, or 'making do', when resources are scarce this piece carries the printed text on the cloth.
(Read more Powerhouse Museum collection)

I also managed to get to meet with friends at the Gosford Regional Gallery which had a wonderful exhibition of Ikebana in the community gallery which led you in to the wonderful Japanese Commemorative Garden.  I particularly liked the installation work of Ruth Feeney in the Emerging 2015 competition exhibition.

The reflections in the window were stunning:

A contrast to the Ku Ring Gai Wildflower Garden off the Mona Vale Road.

My Romany Grandmother was a Cunningham so this seems highly appropriate in the garden

Finally, I am delighted on be included in an article on Textileartists. I travel frequently and this would not be possible without the friendship and interest from the textile world, so a BIG THANKYOU TO YOU ALL

International Working: A Road Well Travelled

Stitch Stories is on Kindle as well as hard copy now.