For Auntie Janice

Camelia House YSP

Always an inspiration and greatly missed. xx

Jaume Plensa - Yorkshire Sculpture Park

I visited the exhibition on the first day, a glorious sunny Spring morning which definitely created a clean sparkling way to view the pieces, it will be very interesting to keep visiting though to September to see the effect of the Yorkshire weather on how the shapes are viewed. I was mesmerised from the first view of the men around the trees that I saw on a visit last month, but then when entering the Underground gallery a whole new experience began.

The long line of letters sparkling in the sunshine, singing when touched was haunting, sadly no internal photography you will have to experience it, here is a sneaky picture from outside.

The rooms inside are haunting and I was very glad to be the first visitor of the day as wondering through the alabaster head room on my own was quite spiritual and calming, sharing with others would not have held the same resonance, for me at least. Plensa's work is often created for large public outside spaces so is meant for sharing and interacting with.

"Anonymity has grown as the centre of the ritual of our cities, and with them it has developed an aesthetics of protection and camouflage where hiding has become synonymous with comfort. But what do we hide from? What do we protect ourselves against? To hide, to protect, to decorate, to commemorate. They all have the same meaning and ultimately seek to elude our personal memory, substituting it for a collective and comfortable memory where we can take rest from our contradiction. This relinquishment of intimacy (personal freedom) in favour of anonymity (uniform) has also left a deep mark on art in public space" Tenerife 1994

Manchester Exhibitions

Went to MMU for tutorials so maximised my time with a trip to Manchester Art gallery and the Anish Kapoor exhibition, which I found very breathtaking. The pictures from the web site do not do the work justice. the space is used in a stunning manner.

I also visited my favourite space the craft gallery which always unearths something new.

Limoges

 

 

Hat Blocks

Due to dropping my son off at Stanstead airport I took a minor detour in my 420 mile journey to visit Luton and Boon & Lane Blockmakers extraordinaire. www.blockmaker.com

Sadly I can't show pictures of the delights of the heavily dusty and wood shaven workspace but can share the new block. If you are ever in Luton, its a definite place to visit for all milliners, Steve and Alan are always welcoming just phone them beforehand.

Also went to Luton Museum to see what had changed and as its reminiscent of Bankfield Museum it feels right (very logical!)

Philip Treacy

Philip Treacy Video

Inspiration from the Master.

Collographic printing

The last session of my printing course at The Art House, Wakefield which was really enjoyable and I learned so much. Laura Slater the tutor was inspiring and generous with her sharing of ideas and techniques. Here are a few examples.

Fabrics of Memory

Tidying up fabrics and old clothes to be shipped to school to raise money with the 'bags to school' campaign, as we rummaged through the chest I came across fabric pieces I had forgotten about, and the realisation that if someone else found these that they would mean little, and whether they would amke there own stories from these or not. A salutary tale for a hoarder like myself.

Not a great picture but the red fabric is a dress I made from fabric we used for the Law Club float in Rag Week, 1983!! That hand made look was very in then! Worn to a do and  believe my friend Paula has a picyure of me in the dress in the snow in our basement flat in Clifton. None of that is documented, and there is no evidence within  the garment of those facts. It would more likely be read as a child's dressing up frock or a very amateur piece of fashion (it was). Sewn on my mum's hand singer machine, do the stitches give that away, or just bad quality workmanship?

This is a piece created in my first taught textiles sessions since school, 2 hours a week in Brighouse studying an OCN whilst my children were in the adult ed creche. Interesting that in the present education system I wouldn't have been able to do this. Again the piece has stories for me but for no one else. The machine embroidered mermaid in the centre was my first foray into this, and took a long time and a lot of broken needles and a temptation to throw the machine out of the window. Some of the fabrics were from my first visit to Bombay Stores when it was really cheap, I didn't have the glut of fabrics I now have maybe that was better,  clearer head space. Others from Fabworks when they were newly opened and had wonderful bags of random goodies. Buying a bag of lining fabrics and the boys dancing around in them, relishing the colours and texture. I remember the excitement of learning to stencil, applique and the exploration into new techniques. Also the immense value I got from my local libraries and the books on embroidery and textiles that they housed, another note on how that structure helped me develop a new pathway for work, as from this course I went to do my City & Guilds then teaching then hats, opportunities not available a mere 12 years later. 

Is any of this apparent in the fabric? No. Would anyone else be interested? Unlikely. The thoughts are my own, as just like photographs the punctume of the textiles is very personal and the memories vast incorporating all that was happening when the piece was made.

Finally these two pieces from my C&G that I cannot remember doing. I think that they were extensions of sampling, and strangely don't hold memories. Food for thought.

Two huge bags of memories sent to school.