Out & About: Fine Art Quilt Masters at the Festival of Quilts

Although I said I hadn’t done any work in the holidays, it wasn’t quite true.  A few weekends ago I went to the Festival of Quilts.  After all the discussion on this blog about last year’s Best in Show, this year there was a new competition/invitational category called Fine Art Quilt Masters.  I was very keen to see it, partly to see what would be included and also excited because it should have been full of ‘my kind of artwork’ as my Dad puts it.  I wasn’t disappointed.  Yes, there was still quite a variance in standard and I may have chosen a few different ones (but of course, it depends on who puts their work forward).  The lighting was truly atrocious (hence limited photos), but the organisers were well aware of this and promised they would sort it for next year.

Dorothy Caldwell, detail of How do we know when it's night

Dorothy Caldwell, detail of How do we know when it's night

 So what about the quilts?  The winner was Dorothy Caldwell with ‘How Do We Know When It’s Night’.  Her piece (actually comprising of two hangings) was monumental, measuring approx 3m in each direction.  From a distance, personally, it was almost too much, especially given the walls weren’t really high enough and the lighting.  However, when I got close up and started photographing the details, I felt it revealed its beauty.  Personally, I would love any of the details as a complete piece.

Sandra Meech, The Last Silence

At the other end of the scale was ‘The Last Silence’ by Sandra Meech, measuring 35cm square.  It was a very different piece from the work I normally associate with Sandra, although still on the same theme.  I loved the way it was contained within the frame, setting boundaries for the work, which had to be concertina-ed to fit inside.  Again like Dorothy’s hanging, the mark-making was amazing.

Sandra Meech, detail of The Last Silence

Elizabeth Brimelow, detail of Round Meadow

Elizabeth Brimelow, detail of Round Meadow

I am obviously drawn to works which are less quilt-like as two more I liked were Elizabeth Brimelow’s ‘Round Meadow’, which snaked across a plinth in a spiral form, full of little notes and annotations and hints at larger pieces. 

 

 

 

Christine Chester, Portraits of a Memory

 

 

 

Secondly, ‘Portraits of a Memory’ by Christine Chester comprised nine panels of industrial felt pinned to the wall, with paper and voile on top carrying slightly scorched images.  The starkness of the piece was very appealing with its monochromatic colour range and it has a sobering subject matter of memory loss due to dementia.  On a frivolous note,I have to admit part of the draw for me is that industrial felt is one of my favourite fabrics to look at, even if it is something I haven’t used in my own work yet.

Christine Chester, detail of Portraits of a Memory

This is just a small selection of what was on show.  I found these pieces rather thought-provoking and very inspirational.  I hope the organisers get good feedback on this category and that they continue with it.  Also I hope as it gains momentum, more textile artists at the top of the game apply to have their work included to keep adding to this valued dimension to the Festival of Quilts.

 

Did you go to the Festival of Quilts?  If so, what did you think of this category?

Out & About: the Summer Holidays

The school summer holidays have now finished here and that means I am properly back in the studio.  I had intended to make loads of work over the summer – all beautifully photographed and blogged of course – but the reality was I really needed a break.  So I had one.  This doesn’t mean I didn’t do anything creative, but it was nice not to feel pressured into working with deadlines looming and to spend time with the family camping and chilling.

 

Bags of collected PomPoms

All the PomPoms were taken down in the few days leading up to the school holidays and every time we thought we had them all, more seemed to appear.  They are now being stored in my loft, waiting until 12 September, when they are going on an outing to Baker St Gardens in Stirling as part of the Stirling Fringe Festival.  It will be really good to see them all again.

 

The moment the kids finished school, we whisked them away on our annual camping holiday.  We went to France, this time to Brittany and then again to Ile de Ré.  The weather was fantastic and I made sure I got my annual aquarium photography session as we went to Océanopolis at Brest.  I love photographing fishes in aquariums and this one is a real goodie.  It also has a fabulous penguin tank where you can see them swimming under the water.  I am always slightly queasy about the ethics of zoos, aquariums etc, but I seem able to put that to one side when I see the amazing creatures and especially the gorgeous coral.

Fish (don't know the type - do you?)

Coral

 

Paint bombing

The weather this summer in Scotland has been stunning – by far the best since we

moved back up north eight years ago.  So we were able to spend time doing outdoor things.  In my case this was feet painting and paint bombing with the children.  I think I ended up with the most paint on myself, despite being the only one who was vaguely trying to remain clean.  I also had a very unsuccessful attempt at sun-printing.  It has worked well in the past, so I’m not quite sure what I did wrong this time.  I’ll be able to use the fabric for something though.



feet painting



Attempts at sun-printing

 

Felt monster face by Harry

Apart from running an afternoon felting workshop at the Tolbooth in Stirling, I didn’t have any formal work commitments, which was lovely.  It is also lovely now to be getting back into work and I’m starting to sketch and draw new work, whilst trying to finish off some of these pieces which were put to one side in the PomPom frenzy.  I also have a number of articles to write for Popular Patchwork, which I am enjoying researching.

 

Did you do any fun things over the summer?

FABFEST! and Open Studios

The last few weeks have been phenomenally busy, as I knew they would be and I am now partly counting down the days/hours to our holiday, partly in relief at the idea of a break and partly in complete panic at the number of things I still have to do beforehand (and that doesn’t even include packing yet!).  But it has also been lots of fun.

After all the PomPoms went up, I had to catch up with all the PomPom blogging and publicity and then really get to work on my tasks for FABFEST!.  FABFEST! took place over four days from 13-16 June and was Balfron’s first ever arts festival.  It was organised by our not-for-profit arts organisation, FAB Arts, which means in reality, Dawn, Frances and myself.  Just like the PomPoms, FABFEST! went down a storm. 

Alex Gray signing books

Liz Arthur answering questions

I would have loved to visit all the events, particularly the author readings by Alex Gray and by Liz Arthur, but at the times they were talking I was helping out with a pre-schooler story-telling and puppet session and then leading a felt making workshop.  One of the time changers that appear in the Harry Potter books would have been really useful over the past month!

Wendy Woolfson telling stories

My felt making workshops were a great success and I enjoyed them too.  There was some lovely felt made, mostly for the first time and a real enthusiasm for classes to continue in the autumn. 

Liz with her felt landscape

Susan with her felt landscape

On the Saturday, my children’s art classes, ArtWorks had their annual exhibition, along with some free drop-in activities I had devised.  Dawn, who runs the classes with me was running the overall festival, so this part was down to me.  Again, lots of enthusiastic visitors and we had to end up recycling the print blocks as it was so popular.

Printing activity at the Exhibition

On Sunday, I had Open Studios.  It had been a huge effort to get my studio ready.  Unfortunately I have lost the before shot so you can see the difference.  Many of my friends say ‘Wow’ in amazement when they entered – not about my artwork, but the transformation of my studio into a tidy place.  I like the tidy studio (shame about the rest of the house), but I’m looking forward to messing it up again when I start some new work soon...!

One tidy studio!

 

 

 

 

Balfron PomPom Blossom Festival

Following on from the Loch Lomond Quilt Show, life has been beyond frantic... mainly due to the PomPoms.  I was hoping we would receive 1,000 PomPoms as that, I felt, would give us a reasonable coverage over the village.  I have been staggered by the response and last weekend we hung over 2,250 PomPoms from trees in Balfron.  It has been amazing.  The best bit has been all the people looking at them and smiling and talking about them and why they are there (because it seemed like a good idea?).

 

 

I have millions of photos of PomPoms – these are some taken by Alan McCredie, an Edinburgh based photographer.  The PomPom Blossom Festival has also been featured in The Herald, with me standing amongst them – my first national press appearance (this is a link to the article).  Not sure why they had to give my age.  I wanted to say ‘324 and very well preserved!’ but in the end I was boring and honest!

 

 

I am still logging PomPoms, doing photography and blogging them, but also am having to move on to FABFEST!, Balfron’s first arts festival, which starts a week today.  As well as being one of the three organisers (and the PomPoms are part of it), I am running two felt making workshops Friday 14^th June (still place available),curating along with Dawn our ArtWorks exhibition for the Saturday and arranging drop-in art activities to run alongside the exhibition AND I have Open Studios from 11-4 on the Sunday. Better start tidying now!

 

 

PS - I'd better say that FABFEST! and the Balfron PomPom Blossom Festival have been generously funded by Awards for All (Scotland).  We're really grateful for the grant as we have been able to do so much more than would have been the case.  Thanks!

Out & About: Unsung Muses at the Loch Lomond Quilt Show

Unsung Muses is having an outing to the Loch Lomond Quilt Show this week.  Hanging it proved a bit challenging, but I am rather pleased with myself as I had to go up the ladder and tie off the ends.  As a child I couldn’t go upstairs at Primary School, I was so scared of heights, so sitting at the top of the ladder and feeling comfortable there was actually quite an achievement!

I love the Loch Lomond Quilt Show.  It always has a variety of interesting exhibitions and you normally discover an artist or body of work you knew nothing about, but whose work excites you.  Hopefully this year that artist and work will be mine!

The first two days have been fun; the visitors are lovely and I’m catching up with lots of quilting friends as they come round to see the Show.

The actual work looks very different from when I hung it at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham two years ago.  It’s amazing how different it looks in a different setting.  Personally, I like the white gallery walls better without quilt frames, but a number of people have commented how much more they like it here, with lots of natural lights and a more human setting.  What do you think?

Out & About: Leeds Embroiderers Guild

detail of one of the 37 steps series

After spending the last few months barely leaving Balfron at all, I had my second trip away in eight days at the weekend, when I ventured even further down the M74 and across the border and the Pennines to Leeds Embroiderers’ Guild. I gave a talk about my career to date and they seemed to really enjoy it.  They were a very friendly and welcoming group.

one of the pieces in the Unsung Muses collection

It is rather pleasant for me to give this talk as it gives me a chance to dig out old work and reassess it – some stands the test of time better than other pieces!  And, as the talk gets updated each time I give it, I can get more selective about what work I show!  This time I took some of the 37 steps and some of my Unsung Muses pieces, as well as lots of images of other work.

After the talk, the sun had come out and I was able to take advantage of my brother-in-law’s fantastic garden for another PomPom photo shoot.  These lovely little balls are really taking over my life at the moment... as well as my house!

 

 

In my studio: today

PomPoms waiting to be cut open

I reached the end of today with a panicked feeling that I hadn’t achieved very many of the things I needed to do.  So I started thinking about what I had done and thought I would share it with you to give you an insight into my days. 

Because I work from home and as a real double whammy, I’m an artist, many of my friends seem to think I spend my days sitting drinking tea and watching TV.  After all how else could you account for the lack of housework that goes on here?!  I do drink tea (got a cup right here with me whilst I write), but I also do other things too...!

My days start about 9.20 when I get back from dropping the kids off at school.  The walk back down the road is useful to help clear my brain and switch from kid mode to work mode.  Today was a day when I concentrated on the PomPom Blossom Festival.  Tomorrow it is making my own work and I’m looking forward to that too.

Alice, who owns Wonderland, a lovely gift shop in our village, had offered to sell some PomPom kits for us.  I made up ten new kits, cutting out the templates, having updated the instructions over the weekend to include pictures.

The post van arrived with a box addressed to PomPom Organiser, which was exciting and the contents were great.  Catherine Weir had made PomPoms from wool, fabric, plastic bags and even wadding.  They look fabulous.  Thank you Catherine.

 

I had an appointment to see the headmaster of the local primary school to see if the kids would like to get involved in PomPom making.  All the pompoms I have made have been relatively large and I wanted to try out a little one to see how long it would take and to see if I had got the proportions of the template right.  This was the result. 

 

The meeting went well and all the Primary 4-7 children are going to make PomPoms.  This is great news.  All I need to do is cut 150 sets of templates and teach the teachers how to make PomPoms... but not for another few weeks, so no panic yet!

The Travelling Gallery was visiting the school, so I was allowed to go and have a look.  It was lovely to see the children so engaged with contemporary art as it was explained to them in an interesting way.

On my way home, I picked up another carrier bag full of PomPoms made by the Womens Guild of Balfron Church of Scotland (Thank you ladies!) and delivered the kits along with some leaflets to Alice.

As I arrived home a delivery van drew up and handed me a flat package, so no PomPoms in it.  Instead, it contained five magazines from Stampington in lieu of payment for an article I wrote for Art Quilting Studio about my own work.  I admit I did have a quick flick through, but I am looking forward to reading them more in detail.

 

As the children had friends round to play after school, I was able to creep back into the studio to continue working a bit longer.  I answered some queries from Jane, the editor of Homemade with Love.  I shamelessly begged for some wool and editorial coverage of the PomPoms in a local magazine and got positive responses to both.  Yeah!  I also had some email chats about getting some PomPoms passed on from Glasgow Craft Bomb and about what we could do with them afterwards.

By this time, dinner had changed from tuna with roasted potatoes to tuna with noodles as I had left it too late to do the potatoes!  It then had to change again to tuna with some frozen ready rice as I had forgotten a mouse had nibbled my last packet of noodles.  Gallingly, the kids preferred this processed rice to my normal home cooked version.  And so ended my work day!  No PomPom photography or blogging.  But there is always tomorrow...

 

 

Out & About... with Solway Quilters

Thursday evening I was in Dumfries giving a talk to Solway Quilters about my ’37 steps’ project.  It was fun to revisit it again and it also made me realise that there is still some mileage in it.  I began to get excited about some of the concepts and starting imagery and think about how I could interpret them now as obviously my ideas and skills have moved on since then.  The group was lovely and seemed very appreciative.  It was a very pleasurable evening, especially after a three day migraine!

I was also thrilled as whilst I was doing a shameless plug for the PomPom Blossom Festival (I’m getting quite good as the shameless part!); the ladies presented me with seven fabric pompoms to add to the collection.  I was really touched.  Thank you!

I stayed in Dumfries on Thursday night (thank you Elma – your hospitality was fantastic) and on Friday was joined by eleven slightly nervous quilters and embroiderers for my workshop called ‘Unexpected Inspiration’.  They were all agreed they liked the supply list as it was all things they had already and no lugging a heavy sewing machine to another hall or worrying about whether they had the right fabric.  The flip side was they weren’t quite sure what to expect from a workshop for quilters without fabric!  They needn’t have worried as we all had a fabulous, fun day playing at finding inspiration by painting to music,

 

cutting up magazines,

drawing in strange ways and rolling dice.   I was really impressed by lots of the exciting ideas that were appearing. 

Everyone seemed to go home with at least one idea for a new quilt and promised to send photos of the finished items. 

 

I can’t wait to see them!

Do you have any fun ways of finding inspiration?

European Art Quilts in Popular Patchwork

I love the exhibitions curated by European Art QuiltsFoundation.  The current one, EAQ VII, premiered at last summer’s Festival of Quilts.  Each time the choice of ‘quilts’ moves further and further towards textile art, or fine art textiles and that of course means I like it even more.

The variety of quilts in it is amazing as is the array of techniques used.  It was one part of the Festival of Quilts that visitors really lingered in; some examining the quilts trying to work out how they had been produced; others just enjoying the artistry. 

I had the privilege of writing about it for the April edition of Popular Patchwork and I am really pleased at how good it looks on the page as well as ‘in the flesh’ so to speak.

This first page shows quilts by Sarah Welsby (top) and Amelia Leigh.

Talking of the Festival of Quilts, I booked my flight to go to this year’s show last week.  Are you going this year?