Retro/Prospective: 25+ Years of Art Textiles and Sculpture, Brown Grotta Arts

I was delighted to recently have the above new work included in the Brown Grotta Arts exhibition entitled Retro/Prospective: 25+ Years of Art Textiles and Sculpture  A subtly gradating palette of about 20 different yarns in cotton, silk, rayon and lurex was used in my trademark 'Loose Threads' arrangement. The threads are encapsulated in acrylic resin and cast into a gently curved arc. The exhibition can now be viewed online - do go check out the inspirational gallery photographs and, as ever, I'm rather humbled to have work seen alongside some seminal names in the world of fibre art.

With thanks to the Arts Council of Wales: this work was made as part of my Creative Wales Ambassador Award.

Exhibitions at The National Botanic Garden of Wales, Carmarthenshire

Well, its been a busy few weeks.  Last weekend four textiles exhibitions and a symposium that I've been directly involved in either curating, coordinating or exhibiting in, opened in and around Carmarthenshire.  I'll do separate blog posts for each venue as I have lots of photos to share with you.

The first two shows to open were both at The National Botanic Garden of Wales.  In the gallery was '10 - ten years of textiles, ten years of growth' celebrating the achievements of graduates and staff from the BA Contemporary Textiles course at the West Wales School of the Arts, where I teach woven textiles.  The show was curated by Paula Philips Davies, the course leader.





I LOVE this large scale knitted artwork by Kelly Jenkins!

 In the grounds of the Gardens I coordinated a show for Fibre Art Wales, a group I've been a member of for about four years.  The exhibition is entitled 'Exposed: textiles in the open', which is the first time the group has created an exhibition for the outdoors.  We felt very privileged to be given free reign to create and place artworks anywhere within the grounds of he gardens.  For most of the group it was the first time we had to think about making work to with stand the elements.  We were also delighted that for the first time our patron Mary Lloyd Jones contributed a piece of work to the show.

Below are some images of my piece for the show entitled 'Vista'.  Cotton and silk threads have been laminated in glass, a development on the cast acrylic 'Resonate' sculptures I have been working on for several years.  Whilst acrylic is robust enough to withstand extreme weather, it is vulnerable to scratching, so for this kind of application I needed to translate the process into glass.  This is the first large scale piece I have made of this ilk and I'm really pleased with the results and it's great to see it in situ.  A huge thank you is due to Innovative Glass Products for their support in making this work.



And here are a couple of images of artworks by some of the other members of Fibre Art Wales members:

'Miss Willmott: a memoir' by Lisa Porch

'Through a Glass' by Ruth McLees

'The Ghosts of a Weed Garden' by Kathryn Campbell Dodd



Hope you manage to get to see the shows! 

Second week in residence at Ruthin Craft Centre during October.....

I spent my second week in residence at the Ruthin Craft Centre during the last week of October.... and the time went scarily quickly!

I spent the first day getting one of the small hand looms at the Centre threaded up for a public participation project. Visitors to my studio will be invited to choose a favourite colour from a selection of yarns and then weave a stripe before finally tying on a label with their name, date and a few words explaining why they chose that yarn. Over time we will build a long stripey piece of fabric which will serve as a colourful visual record of visitors to my studio.

I was delighted that idea was immediately well received by those that came into my studio.... my youngest weaver so far was just 4 years old but so competent I offered her an apprenticeship!

So if you find yourself visiting Ruthin please do call in to see me and weave a stripe! I'll next be there from the 28th Nov to the 1st Dec.

The yarns to choose from to weave a stripe:

The loom to try out weaving on, complete with the labels recording the weavers name, date and the reason behind the yarn colour choice:

I then spent some time rationalising the work I had done during September when last in residence. Picking out the preferred pieces, these were 'exhibited' so that my visitors could glean a better idea of the 'story' I'm working towards.



The key area of exploration for this week was repeat pattern using isometric graph paper. I seem to be very preoccupied by angles and oblique lines at the moment! The colour exploration is continuing, but this time on a much smaller scale and in a more controlled fashion. These sorts of patterns could of course be very quickly explored digitally, but I find I use colour in a far more sensitive and less predictable way when I actually mix paints and apply it with a paintbrush rather than a mouse click. Its great to have the luxury of time to do this kind of work.








And I also did a little triaxial weaving on a tapestry frame......


Finally I was also busy making lots of warps ready for a free 'round robin' weaving workshop I am running at the Craft Centre on the 28th November. Again on the theme of stripes, participants will have 3 minutes to weave a stripe on their loom before moving on to their neighbours loom. They will then be asked to reflect on the colour of the first stripe and to choose a complimentary colour for the next stripe which they'll have another 3mins to weave, before moving on to the next loom and so on. The purpose of the workshop is is to explore perceptions of colour as well as giving novice weavers to chance to try out a new craft. It's also a celebration of the spirit of collaborative working and sharing ideas.

The warps ready to be put onto the looms:

Online exhibition from Brown Grotta Arts '10th Wave III'

Brown Grotta Arts recently launched their first online exhibition entitled '10th Wave III' featuring 125 works from over 60 international artists. Amongst the exhibits are a couple of my Resonate sculptures.... Please do check out the exhibition and the accompanying publication

Origin: The London Craft Fair at Somerset House

Origin: The London Craft Fair at Somerset House

Week Two: 13-18^th October 2009, Stand E1

For the third successive year I am delighted to have once again been selected to exhibit The Resonate Collection of textile art at Origin 2009.

Please do pop along to see me if you're in London next week. Details are as follows:

• Tuesday to Sunday 10am - 6pm
• Late closing Thursday - open until 9pm
• Last admission 5:15pm (Thursday: 8:15pm)

Somerset House
Strand
London
WC2R 1LA

Ticket prices:

Full price single entry	£10
Concession single entry	£8
Season Pass (unlimited entry)	£15
Concession Season Pass (unlimited entry)	£12
Under 12 years	Free
Guest with registered disabled visitor	Free

An illustrated catalogue is included in the price of admission.

For any further details, please check out the Crafts Council Origin website:

http://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/origin09/

Look forward to seeing you there!

New work!

In preparation for the forthcoming Origin show in October, I have been very busy making new work. Lots of new techniques as well as some reworked older ones.....

Thought you might enjoy some pictures to get you in the mood for Origin. By the way, its week 2 that I'm exhibiting in, so mark it in your diaries folks! Really hope to see you there.

some new photo's to share with you.......

Some new photo's..... Firstly from the Fibre Art Wales 'Ffibr' exhibition at Llantarnam Grange, Cwmbran earlier this year:

'Better than Grey' exhibition at the Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery, 21^st January – 7^th March 2009, photos by Douglas Atfield:

And lastly, some new pictures by Pinegate Photogrpahy in Cardiff: