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SCS member Liz Ganney will be taking part in this exhibition in Brighton in May. It sounds like a very varied and interesting collection, so let’s all go along and support this new exhibiting group.

MOVING NEEDLE GROUP –  TEXTILE ART EXHIBITION  –  WHAT LIES BENEATH

The Moving Needle Group exhibition on 12th – 18th May at the Fishing Quarter Gallery, on Brighton seafront.  They are a group of textile artists that formed after doing their City & Guilds courses in Brighton together.  The Exhibition is titled ‘What Lies Beneath’ and each participant explored what that meant to them in textile terms.  This has resulted in a wide variety of approaches and so you will see many different techniques on display, from self-portraiture to 3D vessels, to finely embroidered or weaved small pieces to larger scale panels.  Some of the work will be for sale and others are just for exhibition.  The exhibition will be open from 11.00am to 5.00pm each day.

 

What a great talk we had this month by Alison Hulme. Alison kept us riveted right from her opening remarks and then throughout her life history. An infectious sense of humour had everyone laughing. This helped to give a light touch when recounting a life history that has had plenty of ‘ups’ and also some ‘downs’. Earlier life included hairdressing, single parenting, housekeeping, waitressing, cooking, Ideal Home demos, cattle auctions and much more. Alison spoke about stitch and textile art in the context of her life’s journey, and the place that art has had in general wellbeing. There is a colourful joyfulness in her work that is a pleasure to see.

Alison’s first step into stitching came from a tiny cross-stitch kit that she bought from Hobbycraft, which she bought at a time of great stress and crisis in her life. Something about the repetitive act of stitching was very soothing and comforting, and it gradually became all-consuming. Eventually it led to joining Salisbury Embroiderers Guild and then enrolling on a City and  Guilds course in Fareham.

She really found her element in the City and Guilds courses. The two pieces above were City and Guilds assessed pieces, which she would never sell in a million years. Stitch became an all-consuming obsession.

She became interested in doing a textiles degree, and part of looking into that was undergoing a dyslexia assessment, the results of which helped to make sense of some of some past issues. The piece above was a direct challenge to herself, where she used text as a kind of affirmation and statement to the world; ‘I is for Intelligent which I am. A is for Alison which I can spell’. Another major theme for the degree course was ‘voyerism’, for which she incorporated stitched images of her husband naked, as well as an installation that she called ‘What the butler saw’. During the course, Alison discovered screen-printing, and this led to her developing her trademark ‘pinnies’ in glorious colours.

After the degree course, Alison has been involved in Open Studios, Art in Action with Art VanGo, as well as talks and demos at the big shows. More recently, Alison has moved back to her home village, and takes part in Open Studios there.

The audience appreciated this stimulating and varied talk, which was full of surprises. Scroll through the photos to see some of the work that Alison brought with her to illustrate her talk.

 

 

I was sorry to miss the pop-up exhibition on the theme of ‘Beside the Seaside’ that was held at our December meeting. Thank you to Lindsay who has shared some photos of the wonderful work that was on display. I think there were 40 or so entries, and it’s clear from the photos that the theme caught people’s imagination. What a wonderful variety of ideas, techniques and designs, which ranged from traditional blackwork to quilted hangings, machine embroidery, hand-stitch, mixed media and 3D vessels. There were also some quirky pictorial ones including the charming seagull at the beginning of this post. He’s so endearing that I might forgive him if he stole my chips! Without more ado, here are some photos for you to look through, and see what we all get up to.

These were made in the Thursday workshop group, ready for Remembrance Day.

 

Back in the summer (can you tell that I’m having a catch-up?) we had a chance to see a pop-up exhibition of work by member Eileen Blaney. ‘Showcase a Member’ is a chance to celebrate the skills of an individual member of the group. It is always interesting to see the development of people’s work over the years, as we are all learning new things all the time. Eileen particularly enjoys traditional hand-stitch, and she showed us some examples that reminded us of the wide range of skills that she has. She has always been supportive and enthusiastic about encouraging beginners, which is very much appreciated by members. Sewing and embroidery have been part of Eileen’s life for many years, as illustrated by the photo of her wedding dress and the delicately pin-tucked baby’s christening dress that the family’s children have all been christened in. Thank you for bringing in your lovely work to show us Eileen!

Kate Findlay kept us interested and entertained in her talk to the group this month. Kate spoke about her textile art, and she introduced us to several of her sources of inspriation which have each led to a ‘series’ of artworks. Her work features fabric collage with stitched details, often with the natural world as her inspiration, particularly plants and birds. A notable exception to the natural world as inspiration was a whole series that she made based on the ‘Hadron Collider’, the world’s biggest and most powerful particle accelerator. This work featured circles within squares, with meticulous detail featured in a series of big wall-quilts. It generated a lot of interest and was published in magazines all over the world. Other ‘series’ of work have been based on the town, river banks and people of Henley, as well as winter landscapes and birds. Kate told us about some of her processes and techniques, including showing a couple of videos of a piece of work through the different stages from initial background to main outlines, and finishing with detailed embellishment and stitch. The last photo below shows a close-up detail of a technique she calls ‘confetti’, which she uses to create texture and detail, for example in trees. There was great interest in her work, and enthusiasm to request a workshop for the group in the future.

What a wonderful trip we had this month to DSI London, where the amazing costumes are made for Strictly Come Dancing, as well as other extravaganzas such as Moulin Rouge and Broadway shows. We were treated to a very entertaining and vibrant talk first, accompanied by a glass of prosecco which set the scene for a lively morning. We were amazed by the quick turnaround for the Strictly costumes. The designers are told on Monday which dancers will be dancing that week, what dances they will do, and what themes are required for the costumes. Each costume for each dancer, for each dance, has to be designed, made, embellished, fitted and altered ready for a full dress rehearsal on Friday morning. The huge workroom upstairs was a hive of concentration and activity, with works of art being created at each work station. We were also shown round the enormous stock room filled from floor to ceiling with the most wonderful fabrics, in amazing colours. What a treat for anyone who loves bright colours and bling! Lots of photos below – scroll down and enjoy the colours.

Thanks for Jane Baskerville for sending these photos of work by Julie French, who was the speaker for our June meeting. I was sorry to miss it; it looks like an interesting combination of fine art and stitch.