Feeling the Pressure

Opening on 5th May, my piece 'Pressure Front' has been selected by Rhyl Arts Centre for their exhibition 'Feeling the Pressure'. On until 2nd June 2012.

Preview the exhibition slideshow:
http://www.flickr.com//photos/llyfrgelloedd/sets/72157629837259409/show/

More information on the exhibition
http://www.denbighshire.gov.uk/en-gb/DNAP-8Q8LV5

Bletchley Park - Alice and Bob

A detail of my piece 'Alice and Bob' which celebrates the background story of Alice and Bob in the history of cryptography. This was shown as part of the Secret Messages Exhibition held at Bletchley Park in association with the Quilters' Guild on 25th and 26th February. The exhibition was a great success and saw 1500 people through the doors on the first day alone!

My piece was contructed from recycled papers and a found silk scarf. Constructed with hand and machine stitch. I was intrigued by the mythology that has grown up around the mysterious relationship and secret messages that fly between Alice and Bob (A sends a message to B), and wanted to develop an ethereal piece. The typewritten texts that are visible through the layers include translations into Binary code, Enigma code and Morse code.

Crisps selected for York exhibition

This is my piece made from recycled crisp packets selected for a new exhibition at the Quilt Museum and Art Gallery, opening on 4th May. Sixty 20cm squares were selected by Contemporary Quilt to be joined together into a larger piece to represent the UK entry for Celebrating Diversity, organised by the European Quilt Association.  

Crisps – a celebration ...

A French exchange girl came to stay with me when I was 11. The girl was very, very homesick and simply didn’t stop crying. My elder brother’s bi-lingual girlfriend had to be summoned over to speak to her in French (my skills hadn’t got much past “Bonjour, je m’appelle …”). I decided I would give her my favourite Pickled Onion Monster Munch – how could that fail to cheer her up I thought? But I only made things worse and the Monster Munch made her cry even more (even the Roast Beef flavour was no better if she couldn’t take the extreme of the Pickled Onion). Her horror was equivalent to the horror I felt when faced, six months later, with a tray of bubbling snails emerging from a French oven (but at least I didn’t cry).

I think this was the point where I began to understand that there were some things that are typically ‘British’. Crisps abroad are very disappointing and bland. You get salted, or occasionally some paprika (though admittedly they are catching up a little more these days). But over here – what a celebration of Britishness and diversity all rolled in to one. What other culture would have Cajun Squirrel, Builder’s Breakfast or Onion Bhaji flavour limited editions?

The technique used is essentially a crazy patchwork.

Sabi Westoby exhibition

I'm very pleased to be working with textile and mixed media artist Sabi Westoby on the design of her new website and publicity material for her new exhibition 'Filamental'.
The website design has come together really well and we're really pleased with it. And here is the poster design which shows details of Sabi's beautiful work:


Poster for Sabi Westoby, textile and paper works

 The exhibition opens on 11 February in Thirsk, North Yorkshire and runs until 24 March. I'm just sorry its such a long way away from me here in Ascot. I hope you can visit, but if you are a long way away too, there is an extensive gallery of Sabi's work to be explored on the website.

At the Private view - Slough Museum

We held our Private View towards the end of the exhibition for 'Whatever floats your boat ...'. I was very pleased with how the exhibition turned out on the whole, with very few glitches considering the time we had to plan and install the exhibition.

My piece was a series of 5 hangings inspired by Ellimans Embrocation - a medicine invented and originally manufactured in Slough.

We were very pleased to have Nigel Bird photograph the event, and the Mayor of Bracknell Town as a VIP guest.

All that remains exhibition

The opening night at the 'All that remains' exhibition. Thank you to Gemma for the pics, because I forgot to take my camera.

I went back with my camera to take pictures of my new piece 'Stalks' because I haven't got anywhere handy to hang them at home. But it wasn't very easy to photograph in the window. Difficult light, or difficult positioning of window frames, doors and bollards out in the street!

I like the silhouette view of the knobbly texture, but a view where you could see the structure of the whole wasn't easy. Here is a detail.

ReOrsa Project No 5 - Wokingham

"ReOrsa, an artist-led initiative, are pleased to announce that they will be exhibiting a selected group show at the More Arts space in Wokingham town centre. The exhibition curated by Tonia Maddison, a Bracknell based artist, is a selection of work of artists from across the Thames Valley who have responded to the theme ‘All that Remains’. Tonia explains, "All that remains suggests a residue, something left over or abandoned, the remnants of time passing, of erosion, decay; it also suggests the changing form of things, transformation of something that seemed transient or even something that once seemed permanent, immutable"

 10 - 26 March 2011,
Wednesday to Saturday, 11am - 4pm

More Arts, Wokingham

43c Peach Street

 

In my new work old clothes and remnant materials have been transformed into new structures, seemingly solid and tangible. Yet they are also hollow, set to unravel and wither away. What were these materials in their past lives before they became waste? Have they become more or less than they were? Pictures to follow when the exhibition opens on Thursday...

At Play 3 - South Hill Park

I have been selected for At Play 3 in the Bracknell Gallery at South Hill Park, Bracknell, Berkshire. My proposal is a complete change for me in that it is's going to be an installation piece. It explores the obsessive side of a child putting together a scrapbook of old photographs dating from WWII.

Previous At Play exhibitions in 2009 and 2010 have been successful and popular shows at South Hill Park, and I'm looking forward to being part of the 2011 event from 17th April to 19th June.

Images of the previous shows can be seen on Cally Trench's website - the curator of the exhibitions, along with Outi Remes of the Bracknell Gallery itself.

In the meantime, best get busy ... I've got lots to do to develop my piece ready for show!

MoreArts - Wokingham

The MoreArts venue at 43c Peach Street in the centre of Wokingham is hosting the next ReOrsa exhibition, entitled 'All that remains'. It opens 10th March and will run until the 26th.

I am exhibiting, and am working on 'stalk-like' structures that will hang in the window of the venue. I have been busy experimenting with my ideas. Inspirations include the experimental piece of giant French knitting I made a couple of months ago, and stalks of cow parsley. I like the way cow parsley is so green and pliable when its new, and then stiff and hollow when it withers. Or is it just that I used to love to wrench them from the hedgerow and fight with them. I probably still would, but it doesn't seem to grow much around here.

"Unearth" - the Staffordshire Hoard

Inspired by the discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard and the thought of uncovering such a find, I created this felt piece Unearth. It will be shown Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th June at Reading Arts Week at the New Directions Centre, together with pieces by my EquilARTeral friends Sandy and Merete who also responded to the Staffordshire hoard - Sandy working with machine and hand embroidery, and Merete working with pieced patchwork.

Breakthrough book published

Breakthrough - the exhibition, will be appearing in its entirety at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham in August. 

My quilt will be part of this exhibition, but even more exciting for me will be the exhibition catalogue which is NOW ON SALE!! This is the first time Contemporary Quilt have produced a full-scale, full colour 90 page catalogue. I designed the layout and the cover, and I'm proud (and totally biassed!) to say a detail of my quilt appears on the cover. It was a team effort with other CQ members providing photographic, typesetting, technical and proofreading support.

The book will be for sale at the Festival of Quilts for £10, or it can be made available by post.

Removal

My installation 'Removal' is in the ReOrsa studio window in Bracknell (114 Broadway, upstairs at the top of the spiral ramp) for another month until the end of June. More details on the listings page at ArtRabbit

Discard/salvage at RISC, London Street, Reading

Its there. Its up. I'm excited. Until 4th June.

Getting ready for RISC

Plans for the exhibition are coming together... I visited the space on Tuesday and am excited about how my pieces will look. The picture doesn't really do the Cafe justice but I have got ideas on how I will hang things. Work will be going up on Monday 10th May, and will be there until early June. http://www.risc.org.uk/

Discard:salvage at RISC - Reading

Tuesday 11 May until Friday 4th June: I am exhibiting some pieces at the Global Cafe at the Reading International Solidarity Centre (RISC)
Sunday 16 May - I am running a workshop - exploring the ideas of recycling and upcycling textiles to create art. From 10am to 3pm, cost £5.
More information here or contact Shenoor at RISC  on 0118 958 6692

Hanging in Slough

I went to Slough today to hang the Equilarteral work as part of the Ideas Bank 2010 exhibition at Slough Museum. The work is a group series with the theme 'Zoom'. We wanted to experiment and play with creating work at different scales - large, medium and small - playing with the idea of 'zooming-in' or 'zooming-out'. My series is on the left, Sandy is centre and Merete is on the right.

If you would like to view our work and that of several other local artists, the exhibit opens on 3 Feb. 2010. The Museum is open from 11am - 4pm Wed - Sat. Click here for a map to find out how to get there.

EquilARTeral blog

To celebrate our first group exhibition happening next month at Slough Museum, EquilARTeral are establishing a group blog at equilarteral.blogspot.com

Exhibition – Slough Museum

EquilARTeral group have been invited to exhibit at Ideas Bank, a visual arts exhibition organised by Slough Museum. The group have been hoping to show together at some point, and we have suddenly been given the opportunity. Sandy Snowden, Merete Hawkins and I are planning to hang our 'Zoom' series of pieces on Tuesday. The exhibition opens on Wednesday and will be up for the whole of February.

Lighthouse extension

The exhibition at The Lighthouse in Poole is extended until 3rd January 2010.

Re:Open in Poole

My piece 'Discard/salvage part 1' was selected for the Open Exhibition! Wow! It will be at the Kube/the Lighthouse in Poole until the 18th December. More information about the venue