Dark Skies, Decay and Doing Different

During the early part of the Autumn I spent a few days in France working with a school and found this amazing car in my hosts garden which is slowly decaying with time. Love the reflections in the window and the hint that Autumn has begun.

A short trip to Norfolk last week was a timely reminder that the year is moving on and the landscape is turning to russets, gold and browns as the landscape loses its 'sheen' and decays into mellower tones. I was in Kings Lyn working at Eaubrink Studios

Fabulous to just spend a little time surveying the flat lands of my home county. The low lying light across the fields as I wound my way home on the train on Monday. (just how low lying..Eau for water)

We explored the qualities of paper as a textile medium Paper-Cloth-Stitch followed by a one day introduction to Stitch-Sketch-Books

Here is a snippet of Stitch-Sketch-Books above and a link to the blog. Also an insightful reflection by Marion Barnet on Artmixter. One of her pieces in progress (right) based on the flint wall of Norfolk 'wool' churches.

Being in a church is a reoccurring theme. I was delighted to be included in an exhibition 'In the Footsteps of Pilgrims' organised by fellow artist Rosie James at St. Mary's Church Wouldham. 17 artists made work in response to the location.

A glimpse below of some of the pieces below demonstrates how effectively work can respond to different spaces with clever use of existing fixtures and pews. This interaction between church and artwork with considered curation created an atmospheric environment outside the formality of gallery walls.

This link takes you to the Friends of St Mary's facebook page.

 Jocelyn Leigh Meditation, Six Jars of Soil looking at the places of Pilgrimage around Kent

Karen Crosby Film and prints made whilst at Snodland Paper Mill as Artist in Residence

Rosie James Borstal 1932-2016 and Janice Emmott prints

 Rosie Melville, Prayer Walk Sculpture Photos plus aluminium samples

 Sheilagh Dyson  Portraits of Gentlewoman, Gentleman and Angel

Venetia Nevill Installation Homage to Oak and Nikki Price, We Travelled at Night

 Cas Holmes above and below Red Trees and Tea Flora Tales Community Installation

A little show to mark Stitch Stories and book signing at Books Pavilion closed last Saturday.  (There are also small number of signed copies in store at a reduction of 20%). I am also happy to announce that both Stitch Stories and The Found Object in Textile Art are currently being reprinted and will be available from December. (Copies can still be found in some stores and on line)

South West Wandering, California Dreaming

As I come to my last few days in California preparing to return home I am equally saddened to wave goodbye to good friends. I complete my trip with an exhibition 'Stitch Stories at Visions Art Museum.( Sneak image preview below.

I spent some time in San Diego taking in local culture. Loved the Do Ho Suh exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.

Equally I enjoyed the bamboo in the botanical gardens. Beautiful views through to the green and light. I love art inspired by nature, This new E Book by pat of a series being produced by  Textile Artist should prove mouth watering:'Textile Art Inspired by Nature' E-Book 

And the patterns in the sand and the majestic trees at Torrey Pines....inspiration for artists everywhere.

The Canyons in the city are full of wildflowers and wild habitats. I enjoyed walking through these overlooked spaces with Maureen of Studio Maureen and the Next Door Gallery (housing an eclectic mix of vintage finds and fine local artists work.

Good to revisit the Mingei Museum and look at some stunning Ai-Zome stencil Kimono with text by the great Soetsu Yanagi who was one of Japan"s Living National Treasures, a master  potter and founder of the Mingei, Japanese  Folk Arts Movement. Beautiful indigo and white stencils.

 All to soon I will be leaving on one of these planes flying over Little Italy. An airport really in the heart of Downtown.Thankyou sandiegobookarts.com, Visions Art Museum, Sedona Arts Center and many more who have made this trip such an enjoyable and richly rewarding experience.

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.

LV21 Marks on Cloth:Charting your Course

Last weekend was full of nautical surprises. I found my way back to my old stomping ground in the Medway towns where I trained as a community artist and was welcomed aboard LV21 to celebrate the publication of Stitch Stories as part of the Fun Palaces weekend. A misty day soon gave way to wonderful Autumn sunshine.

LV21 and The Medway Queen (photo Sheilagh Dyson)

With support of the LV21 Making More group of artists visitors of all ages took part in stitch and textile activities marking the Medway's nautical heritage to create a communicative, collaborative textile installation as a visual record of the experiences aboard the ship. We started by exploring the ship’s surroundings and the different textures and features  on board, then transferred our findings onto cloth samplers, learning about different stitching techniques and blending these with traditional nautical communication methods, such as Morse code, semaphore and signal flags.

Keeping the colours to those featured on the ship, red, cream and black and using sailcloth as a base gave a continuity to the new signs and signals being  marked on the cloth with drawing and stitch.

On board were also some of the artists featured in the book including Sheilagh Dyson (who also provided some of the images on this blog), Nicola Flower and the ship's captain, Paivi Seppala who all have a strong connection with the Medway.

Sheilagh Dyson, Sandling Ghosts

Nicola Flower, Purses form the River Medway

Paiva Seppala, Semaphore, works in progress

Echoing the heritage of this fascinating region and anchored alongside LV21 were the Medway Queen, one of the valiant little ships which ferried people across from Dunkirk, and an old Sailing Barge 'Cambria' with its lovely red cloth canvas. Medway indeed has a proud heritage. 

Finally, as if the last blast of summer was not enough, a wonderful review of Stitch Stories on Textileartist by Sue Stone came to my attention on the same day! Enter your own feedback on a fave book and you could be in with a chance of winning a copy too.

LV21 Cas Holmes (photo courtesy of Gary Weston)