In my first post about this show, I mentioned a section of work which was going to be mounted on 12" square canvases, with each piece incorporating two specific fabrics - a jute scrim and a cobalt blue batik.

The photograph below shows the finished pieces - I believe they work well together, in spite of the varied uses of the fabrics.  Indeed, in some pieces the viewer really has to look hard to spot them!

The exhibition has been up for the past two weeks and will be taken down tomorrow, Saturday 19 April.

We all have very different styles of working but the pieces on display work well together.  The pictures below of selected works give some idea of the exhibition.

One of my exhibits at this show is a sketchbook showing my inspirations, planning and samples, some of which has led to full scale work.

All the pages were on A3 Khadi cotton rag paper of varying weights and include textiles, stitch, paint, print, collage and applique.  The pages were then hand sewn together to create a large book form.

The Royal Academy's Sensing Spaces exhibition is so good that I went two days in a row!

Pezo von Ellrichshausen's wooden construction of four enclosed spiral staircases leading to a platform up among the mouldings and plasterwork of the ceiling is beautiful.  There is also a ramp where the interplay of light and shadow is dramatic.

Diebedo Francis Kere's structure of plastic honeycombs is a delight.  Thousands of long plastic straws are available for visitors to make into objects which are then installed into the structure.  It was a joy to see the very young and the very old, and all ages in between, playing with brightly coloured plastic. 

Eduardo Souto de Moura's elegant arches made from reinforced concrete and steel have a classical beauty that is hard to find in much modern architecture.  And to touch the installations was a revelation - surprisingly smooth and silky.

Kengo Kuma's installations were fine bamboos rising from the ground and joined together to create an open enclosure, with uplights illuminating the structures.  One of the rooms had a strong scent of hinoki, Japanese cypress, while the other smelt of tatami matting.  Very peaceful and calm.

Li Xiaodong's work, corridors of vertical hazel branches with an underlit acrylic floor, was beautiful.  The corridors are quite narrow, tall and enclosed, leading to a zen garden, where visitors could walk on the gravel but not touch it.

There were two works by Grafton Architects.  One was bright and airy, almost pushing light into the room, whilst the other was heavier, sombre and even oppressive.  But I found the latter much more interesting with the interplay of light shadow and line.

It was great that visitors could touch the exhibits (apart from Kengo Kuma's) and interact with them.  And being able to take photographs was an unexpected bonus.  Here are a few to sample the exhibition. 

The ICE group of artists' next show is at The Bramble Patch 5 - 19 April and the title of the exhibition is 'Taking the Rough with the Smooth'. 

The theme is very wide and open to interpretation literally and/or metaphorically.
My objective is to explore both concepts.  To take the literal first, I have made a textile wall hanging incorporating silk, cotton, scrim and jute which I have dyed, rusted and printed.  I have quilted it with straight machine stitched lines to let the fabrics speak with their rough and smooth textures.  The stitching will be simple, perhaps both by machine and by hand.  I have some letter press blocks and might print words onto the piece - this is a decision I will make when it is almost complete. 

I am also making a textile triptych using the image of a pot as a metaphor for life - a whole pot, a shattered one and one that has been mended.  For these pieces I used Markal Paintstiks, one of my favourite mediums, and will do a separate blog showing the processes once the exhibition is up and running.

One part of the show is a display of work mounted on 12" x 12" canvases incorporating two specific fabrics, a cobalt blue batik and an open weave jute scrim, in any style and proportion.  It will be interesting to see how we have all chosen to interpret this.

My final piece is going to be an A3 book made of khadi paper and incorporating paint, textile, collaged paper and stitch, all exploring the theme of rough and smooth.

I've always liked the work of Paul Klee but hadn't looked at it in any detail.  A day spent at the exhibition at Tate Modern was an eye opener and source of inspiration.  As I am primarily a textile artist, I couldn't help but see his work interpreted in fabric: sheers and solids, plain and textured, layered and appliqued.

The series of work done in 1921 - 'Fishes in the Deep', 'Aquarium', 'Pot Shapes, Transparent' and 'Red, Green Gradation' - struck me as if they could have easily have been executed in layers of sheer fabrics.

His 1926 works, 'Sacred Islands', 'View of a Mountain Sanctuary' and 'Clouds' could have been made with hand-dyed fabrics and then machine quilted.  Two pieces made in 1927, 'Pastorale' and 'Young Garden (Rhythms)' are asking to be hand stitched.

And then 'Necropolis', 'In the Current Six Thresholds', 'Steps' and 'Fire in the Evening', all produced in 1929, are works which would inspire pieced quilts in a rich but controlled colour palette.

The works which look almost stitched are those produced between 1931 and 1933, including 'Castle Garden', 'Memory of a Bird' , 'Lowlands', 'Polyphony' and 'Gaze of Silence'.  In these pieces the brush strokes are highly resonant of hand stitching - lines of colour in thick paint (thread), similar to the techniques of Kantha stitching.  Just beautiful.

This is a big show, with lots of room to see the artworks.  It merits several visits and will be a source of inspiration for future work.  Watch for upcoming posts!

A group of artists to which I belong, the ICE group, former students of Brenda Boardman, will be exhibiting at a one day Textile Fair in Compton Verney on 9 November 2013.   We will be showing textile works, from cards with original artworks to wall hangings and framed pieces, as well as everything in between.

I have made notebooks with covers made from upcycled fabric samples (so each is unique), cards and mixed media artworks ready for framing.  The mixed media pieces are shown here.

This is a thought provoking and moving exhibition set in the spinning room of Salts Mill in Saltaire, just north of Bradford.  I am not going to give a potted history of Salts Mill as there is a lot of information about it available on the internet and in print.  But I will say that it is a stunning building and a great exhibition space.  The stone floors and vaulted brick ceilings are original, as are the bobbin stores set into all the walls.  These photographs might give some idea of the space:

The exhibition itself is site specific with works created by 23 international artists inspired by the venue.  When I first arrived in the spinning room I was struck by the light, space and airiness, the artworks almost invisible.  Each installation has a lot of room around it enabling the visitor to see it from many viewpoints.

The artworks force the viewer to engage with and think about the nature of the building, the processes which took place within it, the workers who created created 18 miles of alpaca cloth each day, and to examine the way in which each artist has depicted his or her response to the venue.  The following are just a few of the participating artists, together with some photographs I took on my visit.

Jeanette Appleton's soft felted works based on the ledgers and sample books are placed in the bobbin stores - tactile, colourful, hinting at the work of the employees in the mill.

Caren Garfen's work is inspired by the census of 1891 and based on the lives of women who lived and worked in the parish of Saltaire.  She uses stitched 'plaques' mounted on antique wooden spools to commemorate some of them.

Rachel Gray takes the viewer back to the basics of patchwork - paper piecing.  For this artist, the back is almost more important than the front of a pieced work as the fragments of paper have a history of their own - her artwork incorporates archive images from Saltaire.

Diana Harrison was inspired by the flagstone floor of the spinning room interpreted in handkerchiefs - discharged, overdyed, printed - then stitched together in a loose pattern emulating flagstones and laid on the floor.

Yoriko Murayama has created work based on the landscape around Salts Mill and I quote from the gallery guide: "The images have been printed on Japanese paper which has been cut up and woven; the installation takes the form of a number of spiral cones each 2 metres high".

Yoriko Yoneyama's installation is breathtaking.  Made from dried rice and silk threads, the work honours the importance and value of rice.

This is an exhibition not to be missed.  And the catalogue is a work of art in itself.

Today was my opportunity to look around the many displays within the exhibition and feast my eyes on high quality work.

I loved Mandy Pattulo's show, Thread and Thrift.  She uses very old and perishing quilts by unpicking and reworking them into textile collages, often adding embroidery and applique.  She also incorporates other fabrics in her work, such as old samplers, flour bags and cast off clothing to make new artworks.  Just gorgeous.

Here are two pieces shown with Mandy's permission:

Another beautiful exhibition was Homesewn - Godharis From Rural India.  This is a collection of godharis (quilts) from Maharashtra made out of old and worn saris by women for use in their homes; each godhari is layered with old clothes.  They have been collected by Geeta Khandelwal and four examples are shown below, with her permission:

This exhibition of work by Eduardo Paolozzi at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester is an impressive survey of his output, including collages, prints, drawings, textiles and sculptures.  His talents were wide and his work is striking.

One aspect of the show which impressed me was the quality of the captions for each work - giving good background detail as well as information about the techniques used.

The show continues until 13 October 2013 and is well worth a visit.  Pallant House Gallery is itself a gem, an elegant Queen Anne townhouse with a modern gallery harmonising well with the old building.