Inspiration

Painting at last but not much progress!! the only thing I have liked so far is the paint collecting on my palette.

62@50

Over the summer I went to see the 50th Anniversary exhibition of the 62 Embroidery group, which was held in the Holden Gallery at Manchester Metropolitan University. Established in 1962 the 62 group was formed by a group of diverse textile artists with the aim of challenging the boundaries of textile practise.

There were a few stand out pieces for me, one of them was the work of Jan Miller her piece entitled Cloth Manual is a record of the worn textiles and clothing remaining in the once thriving Abbey Court Hotel. Each hand stitched layer of fabric fragments and thread retains something of the maker or wearer, the re-worked cloth documents forgotten details.

I also liked a piece of work by Jae Maries, A Day in the Life Of, is an observation on the earth's population which on the 31st October 2011 reached 7 billion. Jae used remnants from previous work to create 350 small figures each one representing 20 million people. Little Danika was declared the 7 billionth person to arrive on the planet she can be seen on one of the tags.

Finally the third artist that I thought had made some beautiful work was Jane McKeating. Her piece Cloth Envelopes began as drawings made on a visit to India. They capture how time distorts memory and how recalled images become amalgamations of the past and present. Drawings made in England are combined with the original Indian drawings, instead of depicting a linear approach to time it becomes a blend of the real, the remembered and the imagined.

I thought all three of these artists made thought provoking pieces, all three had a very layered approach to their work and their thinking. This was a really good exhibition and I was glad that I actually made the effort to go and see it. I have quite a few more photographs from the exhibition, but will leave this for another post.

More Days Out and a Gentle Summer Walk.

Continuing my days out, our third day was spent in Liverpool mainly to see the Turner Monet and Twombly exhibition at the Tate. The weather was absolutely beautiful which added to the brilliant atmosphere at the Albert Dock.

My photographs unfortunately were not that good, it was just too sunny!! The exhibition however was amazing and is well worth a visit if you are in the Liverpool area, it finishes on the 28th October.

After three days of going out we decided to have a day at home, I went for a walk with my youngest daughter Phoebe.

It was a beautiful gentle summers day, we found some lovely grasses.

And some pretty seed heads.