Place-Making Winter: A Book of Marks

 Over the course of the last  6 months on my daily-ish walks down Abbeyfields  in Faversham, I've been mapping and recording my impressions  of this ' Place'   inspired by Alice Fox course ' Place-making Winter.  I've finally got round to compiling  some of the drawings ( on Abaca tissue, Colour Catchers)  prints, texts,  fabrics  into  a '  book of Marks ' . The  structure is  based on that learnt on Dorothy Caldwell course in Puglia  2013   of sewn signatures  with a needle woven binding . I've used it several times   ( in Rydal, Greece, Weymouth )   but not recently so it was a bit of a relearning curve  but I love the interaction of the pages. 

2021 CQ Journal Quilts : INDIGO January to April

 I've been making  Journal Quilts every year  since 2003 ( and with Contemporary  Quilt  of QGBI   since 2007) .  This year  they are  to be of a  theme and shape(s)  of your own choosing  but designed  so that at the end of the year they  can be joined together in some way  for possible exhibition.   My favourite / most successful   set of  JQ's   is from  2013 when I chose 'Indigo' as my theme  so that is what I've chose to revisit  but deciding on size/ shapes  took a lot of pondering on graph paper!  I decided in the end on  a combination of : 8 x 8", 10 x 10" , 8 x 10", 10 x 8"   which  I hope will give me enough scope for experimenting.   So far I'm on track , having completed  January  to April  and  May's the current piece of ' trainstitching' 

January ( Jellyfish Bloom ) is wet bulb thermometer wicks stitched onto shibori dyed section of old quilt.

 February ( Hidden Depths)  is monoprint of net on silk layered with indigo dyed wadding and linen tablecloth , kantha stitched.

 March ( StitchResistRipples) Stitching back into a piece of Mokume ( 'woodgrain' ) shibori was almost as time consuming as doing the stitch resist ! Combined with a monoprint and a small scrap of Ndop stitch resist indigo from Cameroon.

April ( Thunderbolt Pier ) A couple of years ago  the ' Edgy Stitchers' ( CQKent)  had an outing to Chatham Historic Dockyard  as inspiration for  our exhibition later in the year.  This is  a recycled sample based  on photo of 'Thunderbolt Pier' , manipulated in Photoshop, printed on fabric  and  fused  to background of quilted silk arashi shibori.

Sonic Landscapes

 As part of  Alice Fox's 'Place- Making Winter'  course, for the last  6 months I've been recording/mapping  my  daily(ish) walks down  'Abbeyfields'  in Faversham  in different ways. 

So I was delighted to participate in  another project with Kimbal Bumstead as part of his residency at the  BasementArtsProject   this time making  audio recordings on my phone   in my 'Place'  and  then drawing from  the recording with my eyes closed, responding to the sounds and textures.  From the submissions made by the participants  he has created a   digital collage ' map'  and a 'sonic journey' to accompany it.    The result is interactive - you can move through  the 'landscape'   accompanied  by the soundtrack, highly recommended ! 

SONIC LANDSCAPES — Kimbal Quist Bumstead (kimbalbumstead.com)

Abbeyfields  1 

There was  a zoom meeting  with some of the participants talking about what they got out of it.  On many of my walks  I was aware of the  some of the  sounds (  a patch of brambles  with lots of sparrows I call the ' shouting bush ' ! )  but listening  to the recordings at  home  with headphones on  and replaying it again and again I was able to isolate and identify  far more. The crescendo  of a car or bike going past on the road; the rhythms of a dog barking ; distant clanking of boat masts, blurred conversations  and used different media and colours to try and  capture those qualities on paper. 

 A fascinating process which  I hope to repeat  which has added a new dimension and awareness to my walks .   Maybe have a go at blind stitching to the sounds  ( as on Dorothy Caldwell course) 

Abbeyfields 2

Abbeyfields 3 

Abbeyfields 4 

Kimbal's  'Sonic Landscape': screenshots of Digital Collage ( above)   and detail ( below)