just remembering the Harrogate Knitting and Stitch show….

Well it was wonderful being a the Knitting and Stitch Show, with so many great memories of my time there.  I exhibited as a member of the Textile Bursary Group, with 10 of us at the show and the time spent on the stand with others from the group was very much enjoyed. My beautiful niece Bethany also came along to assist and we couldn't have managed without her!

Around 40,000 people came through the show over the four days and as a Textile Artist and Designer it is a very positive experience having so many people come up to you and compliment you on your work. 

It was also great to meet many of the other exhibitors from the other stands with such a wide range of working practices and supplies. A wonderful experience, meeting so many like minded people.

I love this picture of someone looking at my work, thank you for letting me share it.

These are the pieces I took, from the series “Conversations”, sourced from my observations around the activity of drinking tea and the human interaction that often accompanies it.  My mixed media processes for these pieces were inspired by Blackwork embroidery, surprisingly not just black, which I researched through a study visit to the wonderful Gawthorpe Textile Collection in Padiham, Lancashire.

“Connected” originally a charcoal sketch, digitally printed onto cotton, embroidered with cotton and embellished with plaited silk cords and brass pins.

“Conversations Past” mixed media piece made as a reference to the older stronger women in our family, although often overlooked by todays cultural slant towards youth I felt the need to acknowledge their hidden strengths. Comprising of derelict teacups, sewn into organza with and fused with heat.

“Voices   a page from my art journal /sketchbook referencing the hum of conversation in a tea shop, linen, acrylic paint, ink, thread and organza.

Tea-towels; the “Cups” design created by drawing and carving small blocks, working with acrylic paint into my art journal and then manipulating the page on Photoshop and digitally printed onto cotton.   “Random Conversations 1 & 2”  were created after haunting tea shops and collecting conversations, then collaging them onto 00 sized paper with ink, acrylic paint and torn strips of paper, photographed from above with the aid of a stepladder and then digitally printed onto cotton.

some of the Textile Art I will be taking to the Harrogate Knitting & Stitch Show this November....

.. this mixed media piece was created from derelict teacups, fused into organza with heat and tied with thin but tough wire and made as a reference to the wonderful, older and through adversity  stronger women in our family, although often overlooked by todays cultural slant towards youth and who I 

felt the need to acknowledge their hidden qualities and strengths.

to me it seemed as these smashed cups had some stories to tell....

more crockery, this time sawn apart from a loved aunts house, I wanted to see what the  fragments would look like if more uniformly cut but decided they were not as interesting

for one of the many samples I embedded the pieces into clay, the tags represent teabags and the conversations that accompanied them. I did not choose to further sample along these lines but find that 'embedding' with a slight reveal of itthe item now seems to often pop up in my work

this is one of the pieces I'll be taking along to the Knitting & Stitch show this November in Harrogate, come along and say hello!

 http://www.twistedthread.com/pages/exhibitions/viewExhibition.aspx?id=45

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
 

 

Hi Peeps,
Just to let you know that I will be delivering a workshop at the Manchester Museum on Sept 8th and am so looking forward to it.
We will be taking inspiration from the Alan Turing exhibition into sketches which in turn will be the basis for a contemporary textile and/or mixed media piece.

Alan Turing was a brilliant man who had a tragic end, the exhibition is well worth a visit and the coffee shop at the museum is pretty good too!

http://events.manchester.ac.uk/event/event:th-h45csfx9-o5mg0x/

Contemporary Textile Art from the Sea

Not really understanding why, nor needing to I suppose, I feel very drawn to lobster pots and if I'm ever lucky enough to be near any I feel compelled to photograph them. Perhaps its the 'controlled chaos' theme again which I've come to realise is a reoccurring presence in my work. I find the intricate structure of the pot is made much more exciting once other loose elements such as fibres are tangled within it.

Wanting to explore this attraction, and working from photos I'd taken during a visit to Whitby in Yorkshire, I snipped a few twigs from my Silver Birch Tree, (sorry tree) and then  experimented with threads and wire until I came up with my own, inland version of one. This measures about 24cm x 12.5cm and consists of crocheted white coated wire, waxed cotton orange thread within a frame of silver birch twigs.

 

 I photographed these lobster pots whilst visiting Yorkshire's Whitby Harbour.

I had to remember that they weren't mine, fighting the urge to search amongst them for any unwanted, accidental treasure from the sea.

Tiny pieces of the colour orange caught my eye.

To me, the rust and barnacles on the iron weight were the sea's own beautiful artwork.

I took this photo of some more modern pots whilst at Barmouth in Wales, somehow although the gridwork had a slightly hypnotic effect on me (or maybe it was the lunchtime cider), I just don't have the same excitment as when I find a stack of the old style pots.