Festival of Quilts 2018: Favourite Galleries

    

Christine Chester "Just Got To Finish The mending"

So many interesting galleries this year at Festival of Quilts,  these were some ( but by no means all) of my highlights

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unfold: The Button Box  ( above) , took its inspiration from the book of the same name by Lynn Knight ( which I'm currently reading),  exploring  ideas about domesticity and women’s position in society in  a variety of thought-provoking  ways.  I liked how individual artists  had  interpreted   it in very different ideas , and the  interaction with the public recording  memories. 

My mum had a button bag  rather than a tin or box  and I delighted  in tipping out the contents, making groupings of similar button  by colour , shape or  material (  showing in interest in classification at a very early age which stood me  in good stead for my scientific career!) 

Christine Chester  ( from interview  on  textileartist)    on 'Nevertheless she persisted'                     "This latest work records a timed one hour of stitching with all the interruptions, breakages, bobbin changes recorded as absences of stitch.There will be 48 separate panels, all reflecting an hour of mind-numbing work that a female fustian worker, a general term for fabrics such as velveteen and corduroy, in the 1930’s would complete in a working week whilst walking something like 91 miles up and down a long table cutting the fabric pile" 

Elizabeth Brimelow

WILD ( Art textiles:Made in Britain)  contained work  by several of my favourite  textile artists. I revisited several times  ( particularly to see the pieces by Elizabeth Brimelow). The outer part  of the gallery with its paper shards was inspired!  

Elizabeth Brimelow

Louise Baldwin 

Louise Baldwin

Cas Holmes 

Edwina McKinnon 

Christine Restall

Sandra Meech

I initially missed the  Contemporary Quilters West gallery ' Unfolding Stories 3'  as it was in an area  of a hall separate  from where many others were sited.  I'm glad I found it though, such interesting work from artists that I knew and  several that were new to me. A bonus was the excellent catalogue:  well designed and very good value .

Liz Hewitt

Colin Brandi

Kara Chambers

Jane Brooks

Pam Bealing

Judy Stephens 

Maria Harryman 

Janice Gunner 

Finally in the ' New Horizons: Connections '  exhibition  I was moved to see the latest  work by Janice Gunner , very different to her usual work  and much more personal, based on her thoughts and experiences when she was critically ill . 

York Museums: Quilts,Ceramics and Hoards

 Recovering from a long  yet stimulating day in York visiting  various museums. The object of my  excursion was seeing the exhibitions at the Quilt museum before it closes  at the end of October. I spent some time looking round  'Quilt Art - Dialogues' - I was loaned a copy of the catalogue  so it was interesting to read more about the work and artists at the time ( and good advertising, I bought one  later).  I'd seen 'Small Talk' at FoQ  but with so many galleries there competing for your attention, it was good to have a longer look ( although the light was rather dim).
After tea and a chat  in the members room , I  headed over to York Art Gallery and after buying  a YMT card  had  delicious lunch ( with discount!) in the café there with the view above.  It's  run by the team at Café no 8 ( of rhubarb  and custard pavlova  fame!)

Suitably refreshed,  I headed up to the 1st floor to reacquaint myself with  some of my favourite paintings  including Paul Nash 'Winter Sea'.  The refurbishment of the gallery included comfy, quirky sofas, books and catalogues to look through, drawing materials  and  mini guides to looking at art incorporating a view finder.  I ordered the books on Paul Nash and Wilhelmina Barnes- Graham  this morning!  

I spent most time however in the fantastic  newly opened Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA). The first thing that caught my eye was this installation  by Sara Moorhouse, the interpretation of landscape reminding me of the piece 'Around Here' by Elizabeth Brimelow that I'd  been absorbed by in the morning.    

 Another installation   by Clare Twomey represents the 10,000 hours it is said to take to become a master craftsman ( each bowl takes an hour to make). In the same, light, space there were cabinets devoted to individual artists: Bernard Leach, Lucie Rie, Ewan Henderson etc

 

 The gallery next to it on one side had a whole wall of 4 shelves organised by colour ( following, appropriately enough , the 'Richard of York.... mnemonic spectrum) , I could have spent days looking at these wonderful objects! They have dedicated touch screen computers   in front of them so you can identify what you're looking at ( and computers to search for particular artists)

On the other side of the room the collection donated by Anthony Shaw was displayed in domestic style space with furniture and other artwork and artifacts, inviting the viewer to share the experience of living with a collection 

In the shop I added to my own  collection   with a small bowl by Barbara Wood, saggar- fired after burnishing, it's so tactile,  and sits very well alongside my sphere by Elspeth Owen and my recent  'Upwey' purchases. 

 

In the hour before I caught my train back,  I wandered around the Yorkshire Museum,  so many hoards of silver and gold , with other galleries devoted to Richard III and to the  Romans. There were plenty of  screens around with video clips of  experts  talking  with passion about the archaeology and the conservation behind some of these treasures.   

 

Being  still in 'pottery mode', it was the prehistoric vessels which as ever drew my attention- the hand of the maker is so evident, a connection through millennia

 

And a hoard just as precious in my eyes as the silver and gold - a  huge quantity of partially made flint knives and scrapers.  I have a few myself among the 'small treasures' I'm recording through drawing.  

 

CQ AGM - Elizabeth Brimelow

 Elizabeth Brimelow- Devon Red (detail)

 Elizabeth Brimelow - Winter Wheat (detail)

Elizabeth Brimelow -Fen

 Elizabeth Brimelow- Shingle  1 & 2

Elizabeth Brimelow - Elseworth

A wonderful day on Saturday based around Contemporary Quilt AGM . An early start (8.30!) meeting Sue for breakfast at Cafe Freddo (excellent coffee); some retail therapy at Muji and Paperchase; catching up with friends and seeing all the JQ's on display; work of Mathew Harris at CAA on the way home. Most of all it was a privilege to hear Elizabeth Brimelow talk about her  quilts ; to look through her sketchbooks and  handle her  quilts (images here are from Quilt Art   website and Quilt National Catalogues).

I   was stunned by her work when I last heard her speak at a  'Celebrity Quilt Lecture'  many years ago, with her emphasis on drawing, drawing , drawing but  have even more of an appreciation now as her work has grown and developed even further. 

Lots to think about:

-  being adamant  she is  a quiltmaker not a textile artist

- art as an expression of self with the message recognised by the viewer, a 2 way process.

- cloth itself adding another dimension , not just the medium on which an image is placed

- making the most of the tactile qualities of cloth (especially wool) , its  drape and  bias

- horizon lines

- the importance of edges

- variety of hand stitches - knots, tufts, ends carefully left

- looking  for the marks that keep making, making drawings of drawings , monoprints

- both sides are equally important, they make an integrated cloth 

Hilary introduced me to Elizabeth as both having quilts in 'acCent' exhibition in Paducah - she was so kind and gracious but although my work may hang beside hers I've a very, very long way to go. 

Sometimes when you  see and hear about the work of someone of Elizabeth's stature, you want to give up as you would never achieve anything like as good. Perhaps it was because she was talking so much about process but I didn't feel like giving up , instead  she has inspired me to get back to my sketchbooks and draw and draw and try and see what my unique marks are