the Turing's Textiles Workshop

First of all a BIG Thank You to everyone who attended the 'Turing's Textile Workshop' at Manchester Museum on Saturday 8th September, what a fabulous day!

 

 

 

a close up of Anna Bunney's multi media piece

 

This contemporary embroidery/mixed media workshop started with a thorough introduction to the Alan Turing exhibition by its Curator Alice Nichols.

AlanTuring's life and work was fascinating and I urge you to visit the exhibition at the Manchester Museum to see for yourself!

 

Christine Green layered up fabric and used wording and  a lot of stitch in her piece

 

What follows below is a description of the days efforts and photographs of the delegates pieces.

Its great to see the outcome of working without rules....

Natasha Hirst's reference to that poisoned apple

 it was also good to see the combination of tradtional and contemporary methods

Anne Phillips quilting skills appeared in her piece

 

 

We quickly got down to work. One of the creative processes I frequently use myself is what I have termed ‘Shorthand Drawing’.  The idea is to very quickly capture the essence of your subject or a small section of it by swiftly drawing just a few lines and in fact the best initial outcomes are those which have been captured in less than a minute of drawing. Next step; choosing up to 3-5 more views of the subject or even other subjects entirely.   This ‘Shorthand Drawing’ works best with the source in front of you but can still work well from photographs.

Yvonne Hunt's 'Shorthand Drawing' with the beginnings of her piece below

 

We went straight into this process before spending anytime looking at my work as I felt it was quite important for all of the delegates to allow their own styles to come through without being influenced by any of the artwork I had brought along to the workshop, although I did take everyone through some of my work once the ‘Shorthand Drawing’ session had taken place.

Miriam Ward produced two pieces

Miriam's reference to Alan Turing's tweed jacket

 

The next part of the process was for each student to take their favourite elements from each of their drawings and combine them into one, and it is this combination that they then translated into stitch, using layered fabric both new and recycled.

Hannah Pauly's clever use of a of a lool-a-like Petrie dish

Several delegates chose to work into paper

conceptually and visually strong - Deborah Irelands piece

Prior to the workshop each student had been emailed a list of what they should bring from their ‘stash’, this could not be too specific as for this sort of unfettered exploration you cannot predetermine what it is that you will use. What was suggested was whatever was to hand; scraps of cloth new and old, yarn, old photographs, found objects, old jewellery and art work and anything else thought pertinent. Also a working art and textile toolkit, scissors, needles, pens, paper etc.

Angela Carr's 'stash'

The day soon flew by and some of the students left with a bit more to do which is far better than rushing such a relaxing pastime.

a detail from Angela Carr's work

 

What is really amazing about this way of working is that even if everyone had used the same elements from the exhibition to draw from the outcomes would still have been entirely different from each other.

Lucie Clucas's 'Revealing Secrets'

 

The source chosen was quite varied, with students making their own selections. Some of these being patterns from the cow’s hides, leopards spots, moths wings and ammonites but also details from the written information boards, mathematical equations, Alan Turing’s tweed jacket, the poisoned apple and others.

Pam Coates merged several elements which I found took my eyes all around the piece, try it yourself, shut your eyes and when opening them  looking toward this let them decide where they are going

 

I was very impressed with all of the pieces produced and interested in the thoughts behind each of the choices made by everyone.

a wonderfully textured piece

 

Layering fabric created interest especially where top layers were cut through as in Liz's piece below

 

 

 

isn't it amazing how simple stitches and fraying edges can create so much interest

 

 

including photographs as Maria Foster has done lets you peer into the past.....

 

 

Again thanks to everyone who came, you made it what it was! Also special thanks to Anna Bunney, Curator of Public Programmes and Alice Nichols, Exhibition Curator too, it was all the more enjoyable for your input!

I will be doing delivering more workshops both at Manchester Museum and other venues, you can email me through my website if you would like more details or have any questions.www.gwynethdepport.com