I was recently invited to enter some work for a juried exhibition in Canterbury. I will be exhibiting the following two pieces.

Birds, Shells and Weeds

Birds, Sunflowers and Weeds

The exhibition will be held at the University for the Creative Arts, New Dover Road, Canterbury

It is open Monday-Friday 10-5 and Saturday 12-5

Hope you can come and have a look!

The third piece being exhibited at Canterbury (see previous post) is called 'Woodland Walks' and I have used it for the card and poster for my solo exhibition at Farnham Maltings in Farnham, Surrey. I am really excited about it as I am also showing two collaborations that I have been working on this year. Sarah Salway and I have been working on an illustrated text based on 'The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon' - a modern interpretation. Sarah's website is www.sarahsalway.com  I am also exhibiting a piece that I have been working on in my sessions with Cas Holmes (see 'Resonant Textiles' post below). Her website is www.casholmes.textilearts.net. It has been a great privilege to work with these two superb artists this year. I'll keep you updated and post some pictures from the show when it is hung.

                                                                                               ‘Woodland Walks’ 2008, mixed media textile

‘Natural History’

           Recent textile work and collaborations by Anne Kelly

at

   Farnham Maltings

   Bridge Square

   Farnham, Surrey GU9 7QR

   31 October – 30 November

 Private View: 31 October

   6 – 8 pm

        RSVP      acegkelly@hotmail.com

                stephaniebarklam@farnhammaltings.com

For those Canadians of you out there - I am exhibiting some work in the Museum Shop at the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto. The museum's website is www.textilemuseum.ca. There are some 'Vintage Beetle' pieces and two layered embroideries:

Vintage Beetle

Red Moth

I have been working with Cas on this project since the beginning of the year - we are both very excited about it!

This is taken from her blog:

Wednesday, 30 July 2008

Resonant Textiles collaboration

Hello. 

My current and ongoing project is a collaboration with artist Anne Kelly (www.annekellytextiles.com).  We are creating new works for a touring exhibition scheduled to start in 2009. As part of the process of developing new work, we have been running our own studio workshops to exchange ideas, motivate each other, eat nice food and generally find time to be creative. 

So far we have printed, torn, burnt and stitched in the sessions, as well as sketching and painting outdoors, at each other's home and further afield! We believe the process of making begins with looking and we both share a passion for re-using found materials. We collect, save and exchange ephemera as part of the resourcing process and find these often act as catalysts for new ideas/processes - a textile 'secret santa'.

The images above show us at work over the last two days in our sixth workshop. The exchanges reflect the different nature of our work but share a common resonance. An interest in the natural and built environment, the valuing of things often discarded and the echoes they have of a past life are embedded in the work.

Keep following the post to see how things develop!

I was mentioned on the 'Shedworking' blog when I participated in the annual SEOS exhibition in June:

I have been asked to write an essay on 'Vintage Textiles':

                                                           Vintage Textiles

 ‘Vintage Textiles’ is  a phrase used to describe many kinds of old or worn fabric and textile products. These textiles may be in various states of preservation or decay and include printed, stitched and constructed varieties. They can be found in a variety of locations – including second hand shops and markets. Most people will have some element of ‘vintage’ in their homes. The collection of the more intricate and historical types of these fabrics has long been desirable, but as more textiles become mass produced, the value of any hand made work has increased. They are inspiring because of their tactile, atmospheric and versatile qualities.

Vintage textiles can be used in a variety of ways, but also for a range of purposes. They can be used for sewing – to incorporate into an existing piece or stitched on; they can be exposed – literally cut away from backgrounds and other textures as a focal point, and they can also be embellished for this purpose. They can dictate and alter the mood or feel of a piece by their placement and use. Equally their manipulation can add a huge amount to the depth and complexity of any size of work.

The textile artist Anne Kelly (www.annekellytextiles.com), has always mixed vintage textiles into her work. She started scouring jumble sales and charity shops for fabric and vintage labels to incorporate into her patchwork textiles while still at school. She now uses them as an integral part of her ‘layered embroideries’. Vintage textiles give her work an immediate patina and authority. They form the background and the focal point for aspects of her narrative driven work. These textile fragments inform and sometimes decide the subject and title of her work.

Anne is particularly interested in the commonplace and everyday aspect of these textiles and uses them with originality to create a seamless but completely changed new fabric. She chooses old tablecloths, samplers, printed canvas that has been stitched and any fragment of embroidery that may fit in. She has also used amongst other items - dolls’ clothing, second hand garments and headwear as backgrounds or focal points in her work. These seemingly incongruous and random items are absorbed into the final piece using heavy stitching. They are then overstitched with hand and machine embroidery. The action of sewing combines the layers into a unique and sculptural textile.

The everyday and historical importance of the less sophisticated vintage textile can not be overstated. They represent many generations of hand work by makers – mainly women, who embellished the textiles found in their immediate surroundings and environment. The chance to use these in an new and more artistic piece celebrates and pays tribute to these women’s past efforts and takes them out of the purely domestic sphere. The imagery used in these textiles is often naive and simplified, which lends them to being incorporated into a more complex piece. The texture of these pieces is often worn and softer than new work and this also makes them easily added to a composite piece. They can also be dyed and printed and thus altered before they are sewn in.

Imagery plays a key part in vintage textiles and often the mere colour range of a piece can evoke a unique time and place or be nostalgic for the viewer. Some imagery can reflect and reinforce meaning in newer pieces of work. Anne Kelly has used vintage buttons and the cards that they were manufactured on to reinforce areas of interest in her work – almost as punctuation. Ribbons, lace, string and cord are also materials that create boundaries or unite disparate elements of her work. Vintage images from printed matter can be altered and incorporated as ‘found elements’ – adding to the complexity and meaning of work.

A useful method of sorting and collecting textiles suitable for working with is to arrange them by colour – similar to choosing threads for sewing. This enables the textile artist to visualise the possible combinations of colour and texture before beginning to stitch. It is also a useful method to work in smaller sections before assembling them into larger pieces. Pinning and displaying these initial choices onto a white background enables the artist to isolate and amend areas which may be of interest or show potential.

As we have seen previously, almost any vintage fabric or textile product can be used for sewing but some fabrics have more of a presence than others! Metallic or lustre fabrics can be layered into work to create shine and a glinting surprise in the work. The jewel – like quality of these fabrics make them ideal for further manipulation and often these can be the least expensive or valued pieces found. Layering and machine stitching helps to expose these qualities. Hand stitching with vintage textiles is an interesting and natural extension of their use in newer work. The quality of hand embellishment reflects the existing stitch and enhances it further. Moreover, adding new imagery and motifs with stitching creates an exciting and original juxtaposition. The new stitched work can bring attention to parts of printed or embellished work and again can be adapted as the artist wishes.

Visual artists have always been inspired by and used found materials to create original statements. Using vintage textiles is a way of textile artists incorporating the same ethos into their work. Whether it is a piece that has been discarded, found, bought or haggled for, vintage textiles can enrich and enhance your practice.