I wasn't able to get to the CQ Kent meeting where we discuss favourites and trends from the Festival of Quilts but in preparation we'd each posted 5 quilts on our Facebook page that caught our eye ( or in my case 5 from the competition and 5 from the galleries because it was so difficult to choose!) With 100's on show when I look at others photos I sometimes think I must have been at a different show entirely but in this case a lot of us had chosen the same quilts ( although there were some I wondered how I'd missed them ). My excuse was that with ecoprinting on Thursday and stewarding ,meetings, going to talks ( Ruth Singer and Matthew Harris) and chatting to so many people, the only opportunity I had to look round was before the show opened. The exception was 'Two Man Cell' which I spotted on the way to the awards ceremony.
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| 725 HMP Bullingdon Boys 'Two Man Cell' |
Apart from the fact that it's an amazing structure, all hand stitched with attention to detail and interesting perspective, it's incredibly moving being a collaboration between
Fine Cell Work Tutors and prisoners, making an accurate depiction of a 2 man cell in a modern British prison. I overheard some crass comments from people who thought it was a teenagers bedroom and too tidy!
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| 264 Jackie Smith 'No Boundaries' (Judges Choice) |
How could I not like pieces that were made from recycled items or quilts?!!!
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| 285 Jennifer Hollingdale 'The Red Centre' |
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| 683 Connie Gilham 'River' ( 2nd Contemporary) |
The textures and subtle colour changes in 'River' made it a worthy winner.
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344 Jo Coombes' Erasing History'
Another quilt that moved me with it's depiction of the tragic destruction of Syrian and Iraqi cities " a golden culture..... reduced to rubble ..........with shattered lives and an erasing of history" . I'm filled with sadness wondering what has happened to the historical sites and lovely people I met on my 2 trips to Syria.
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269 Leah Higgins ' Liverpool Street , Salford' (detail)
It was good to see one of Leah's latest constructions ( I've been privileged to see her in meticulous action on Rydal Hall retreats ). The combination of large scale composition and intricate detail and subtle marks was wonderful , as was seeing how her series are developing.
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4 Liz Heywood 'Cliff Shift'
My favourites from fellow ' Fine Art Quilt Masters' . I just love the subject matter, mark-making and abstraction in Liz's work and the meticulous subtlety of Robbie's. I wish I could be so neat.
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| 5 Robbie Le Poidevin ' To walk Invisible' (detail) |
In the galleries, there were many examples where I took photos but as I can't read the labels, I'm not going to post them as I won't show items without the artist's name. I was stewarding the SAQA stand which had ' Made in Europe II ' on the outside walls (photos on the blog
here) and
'Turmoil/ Tranquility' on the inside - unfortunately the catalogue sold out on the first day!
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Diana Harrison
The best gallery by far for me was that of Diana Harrison - I've admired her work for such a long time ( seeing it first in the early 1990's at the Crafts Council) and seeing the piece below again reminded me how 'Cloth and Memory II' at Salt Mills was such a memorable exhibition in all kinds of ways.
She'll also be at Knit and Stitch so I'll get a second chance to see her work.
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| Dianna Harrison |
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Dianna Harrison
My second favourite gallery was Stone + Water + Wood with Susan Denton, Janice Gunner and Cherry Vernon -Harcourt. Their shared vision of landscape using different approaches was a calm and contemplative place to be in the maelstrom of the show.
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| Janice Gunner |
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| Susan Denton |
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Cherry Vernon-Harcourt
In other galleries , it was often just one or 2 pieces that drew my eye:
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| Brigitte Kopp |
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| Elly van Steenbeek ( Perception, Art Quilt Fusion) |
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| Jean Wells |
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| Ineke Berlyn |
Finally it was lovely to see the work of
Ineke Berlyn brought together. She's sorely missed.
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