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 . 

Festival of Quilts 2018 : Nancy Crow and Maria Harryman

The exhibition  of   75 monoprints   by Nancy Crow was by far the biggest  gallery at Festival of Quilts.  Knowing  how addictive  monoprinting is, the large  board  outside the gallery explaining her methods and process  was a fascinating insight  into her  work.   She has been so influential in  quiltmaking ,  I think she was very brave  to  show  her personal explorations in this medium, so different to her pieced works.  However  while I  am full of admiration  for the  scale of her vision, I didn't love it , the repetitions  and subtle changes  obviously mean a lot to her  but didn't excite me.  The most interesting parts for me was zooming  in on the details of some of the marks, particularly on the black and white pieces .

In contrast , my    favourite   work   at  FoQ  by far ,  were   2 pieces  by   Maria  Harryman,  ' Ubiquitous  1' in the Art Quilt section   (details above)   and 'Ubiquitous 3' in the  CQ West gallery ( below)  

In both pieces  I was drawn to their abstract compositions  of  painterly  layers of colour, with the subtle variations  in  hand stitch and  marks providing emphasis  in  key areas. It's so easy to go too far, I  really admire her constraint.  Then I discovered her website which I've spent  quite a while reading for her insights into  her work.  I too am inspired by  mussels and limpets  but  she's achieved  what I've so far failed to do in my own interpretations ,  producing masterly abstract compositions, successfully scaling up marks, textures  and colours, making the leap from observational drawings to large scale textile  works.    She's inspired me to go back to drawing my 'small treasures' and revisit my sketchbooks  and earlier explorations ( below) .