Breathing Space

I had hoped that once my exhibition was up and running that I would be able to spend time on my neglected blog but this doesn't seem to be happening. I am however starting to think about what I do next and as space is limited in my studio I think I need to either work smaller or maybe work on paper for a while, however it is nice to have just a little time to think, a little bit of breathing space. Here are a few inspiring things that I have come across over the past few months, starting with an artist new to me Hannelore Baron, I don't know why I have not come across her before but I find these small works and her life really poignant.

Hannelore Baron used a wide range of materials but, using predominantly textiles she made collages and box constructions. You can see more of her work at  Leslie Feely Fine Art.
Whilst researching Hannelore Baron at Leslie Feely I came across painter Kikuo Saito.

I love these freely painted abstract works, brightly coloured yet still balanced, looking at these paintings I was reminded of the beautiful works of Joan Mitchell who is one of my favourite painters.

It's well worth looking at the Joan Mitchell foundation website, it's full of information about her life and lots of good images of her work including her wonderful pastel drawings.

I will finish with a few photographs taken one evening on one of our gloriously hot days back in July.

And one of the paintings inspired by the walk. Have a good week everyone.

Gawthorpe Hall Textile Workshops

A friend of mine is currently working at Gawthorpe Hall textile collection and she has asked me to spread the word about the workshops they are running this year. On Friday 3rd of May there is  an embroidery exploration day where you can see a wide range of embroidered pieces from the collection which includes some wonderful examples of embroidered domestic textiles and small items of costume. They are also running Textile artist led events throughout the year, see all the workshops they are running this year here.

Voices Plus - Quilt Art Exhibition

I almost missed this exhibition by the Quilt Art group, but just managed to squeeze in a visit on it's very last day at the Waterside Arts Centre in Sale. And what a beautiful exhibition it was with some very diverse work by an international group of quilt artists. In a statement they say that " The aim of the group is to extend the boundaries of quilting as an artistic medium and achieve wider recognition of the quilt as a contemporary art form". Here are some of my favourites.

Jette Clover

Yael David Cohen

Val Jackson

Mirjam Pet-Jacobs

And my absolute favourite was Elizabeth Brimelow.

Voices is a touring exhibition and has now moved to The Brindley in Runcorn.

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.

Ruthin Craft Centre

I can't believe it's over a week since my last post, I have hardly done any painting and don't seem to have done anything else either. When I started writing this post I tried to think what did I actually do last week and the result was not very much, it is all a bit of a blur. I did however manage to visit my friend Michele who lives in Wales and we had a lovely day visiting Ruthin Craft Centre and there Japanese exhibition, which features Applied Arts, Architecture, Ceramics, Design and Textiles. I took a few photographs of things I found inspiring.

There were some beautiful ceramics by Takahiro Kondo, small tea bowls made in conjunction with people affected by the earthquake and tsunami. Unfortunately my pictures of these were not very good the picture below does not do them justice.

You can find out more about the exhibition here