Cwilt Cymru Exhibitions in Swansea and Llanidloes

Nautical  Dawn         Red Flotsam 

 There's still time  to see  2 exhibitions  by Cwilt   Cymru  at Swansea  Museum  as part of Swansea Festival of Stitch  and    Minerva Arts Centre  in Llanidloes

 At Swansea  we're  showing work  from 2 collections : ' Connection'  and 'Traces/Olion' . The 2  red quilts I have  there  are actually the 2 pieces I made from same old quilt  as my  Connection pieces , it's great to  show them  together for the first time.

Hidden Fractures 

  From the ' Traces/Olion'  collection ,  the 2 indigo pieces incorporating  a sheer layer of indigo shibori   were selected to show. These don't photograph well  ( as I described here)  but  when they were  displayed  at  Stockport, they proved very popular  with viewers.

Indigo Ripples

  Indigo  also features  in one of my 'Cynefin' quilts   at Minerva  as  part of 'Welsh Connections'  ( short film here)

 Voice of the Waters

 Gifts to the Gods

 My other 'Cynfin' quilt ' Gifts to the Gods'  is  one of a series  based on losing my wedding rings on Catfield Fen! 

CQ On the Edge: Eroding Margins

Thrilled to find out this morning that my entry ' Eroding Margins'  for CQ 'On  The Edge'  challenge  has been accepted!!
Having been in the 'Salon de Refuses' the last couple of times I've entered ( 'CQ@ 10'   and  'Dislocation') and  after a year of not making anything much, fearing I'd lost my way, it's given me a real boost. It fits in with both my continuing  series of indigo and seascapes  and those using salvaged antique red quilts, being constructed from sections of old quilts I dyed in the garden. 
A decent bottle of red with our lamb chops at lunchtime is called for I think...   

From my statement:

The edges of the coast are eroding, falling into the sea, being washed up in other places.  Disintegrating sea defence structures are patched up, replaced and reinforced, the coastline continually evolving, a delicate balance between intervening and letting nature take its course.   

Sections of two rescued antique coverlets over-dyed with indigo, tacked together and lines of broken quilting repaired, the edges of holes caught down and darned. Through the process of stitching I attempt to reach an equilibrium of mending with leaving the fragility and beauty of worn textiles to speak for themselves.

Boro at Somerset House

 

More than 2 weeks since my last post, very busy at work as our lab was a winner in the Intellectual Property Office 'Fast Forward' Competition. Plus 2 weekends ago Susan and Glyn came to stay, lovely to catch up, and hearing Susan talk from behind her pile of quilts at  Quilters Guild Regional day . Last Friday, Ian and I went to the 'Vikings' exhibition at British Museum - very crowded and lots of people with BO!( end of week? unsuitable clothes in warmer weather?) so I  moved quickly to the larger area where the impressive boat was. I also enjoyed the interpretation more in this area , concentrating on how they lived, their belief systems  (which had me looking again through excellent book on amulets  when I got home).

Earlier on I'd taken the afternoon off work to go to see the  Boro exhibition at Somerset House, deeply satisfying at so many levels. Several bloggers have written excellent posts on their experiences: Helen; Susan; Margaret: here and here.   

First of all the setting was spacious allowing you to step back from the pieces and also to examine them in detail  at leisure. The pieces were mainly mounted on canvas, very much to be viewed as abstract art pieces. The  minimal mounted boards of explanatory text ( repeated in the catalogue) made reference to  a wide range of artists including 'outsider art' those that used ephemera  and more  mainstream artists such as  Picasso and Paul Klee ( having seen the recent exhibition I can definitely see the links there). But the fabric and stitch gave a whole other dimension. The catalogue  also showed in some instances the same piece in different orientations -  that many looked equally good although different showed just how powerful  these pieces are.   Difficult to choose favourites,  (although  2 out of 3 had been sold so I obviously have good taste!) my preference was for those that had a bit of light to leaven the indigo and with some interesting stitch and patterns.  I concentrated to taking photos of some of the details as these weren't so represented in the catalogue



Taking photos from  beneath or to the side in raked light revealed some interesting textures and clues to how fabrics had been layered.

Holes 

I loved the  almost vessel like quality , variation in stitch (with some sashiko) and evidence of multiple layers in this piece (no 3)

And the reverse applique ovoids  in no 18 (below)

Seams 

 

Fray



Rips



Tacks

 

This was so reminiscent of blind stitching  but then it's probably the back, the 'unconscious side' with neater stitching of the front hidden.

When I got home I fished out the 'cutter' quilts I've bought, thinking I could be even more daring than I was 'darning' and putting together my 'Red Remnants' quilt. Watch this space!
Update -  Judy has asked about details of the catalogue. It's ISBN 978-2-9536279-3-0 Boro Threads of Life Japanese Indigo Patched Textiles 2014  Gordon Reece & Philippe Boudin. Do take a look at the  Mingei Arts Gallery  and Gordon Reece websites  for some of the pictures that feature in the book.



Connection at Forge Mill Needle Museum

 'Red Remnants'  detail

 

 'Red Remnants'  24" x 48"

 

 'Red Ripples' 24" x 48"

 

 'Red Ripples' detail

 I'm thrilled to say that 2 pieces I made as guest artist  with Cwilt Cymru for an exhibition on the theme of 'Connection'  will be at  Forge Mill Needle Museum from 11 February to  9 March. I won't get a chance to see the exhibition there but will definitely be going to Llandidloes Minerva Gallery  when it opens there in the summer.  Both quilts were made from the same ragged red and cream strippy coverlet I use for 'Red Flotsam' and 'Nautical Dawn'  ( which is currently touring as part of the CQ Horizons exhibition).  'Red Remnants' literally used almost every last scrap from the previous 3 quilts!
I would love to have the opportunity to show all 4 pieces together  at some point.

 And the 'connection' to Wales?  My first job after I graduated was  doing  grassland surveys of Gwent in 1993/94  and I lived in Abergavenny, joining the local quilt group, helping with the quilting on their Castle  quilt which featured in the local paper. The start of both my botanical career and quilting journey.