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

National Quilt Museum USA 2012

 I'm thrilled to say that 'Strindberg Shore' will be going into an exhibition highlighting UK contemporary quilts  at the National Quilt Museum, Paducah, USA next year! Appropriate as it was made for QGBI  'In the Spotlight' exhibition on behalf of Region 1 (London) at Festival of Quilts 2007.

 A turning point in many ways (it was made during the time I was moving house!) it was  my first large scale foray into painting with acrylics on quilted fabric. Working with African fabrics brought the challenge of how to mark for stitching (I used  more than one spool of 1/8 inch masking tape ) and then after months of stitching the sharp intake of breath knowing there was no going back once I applied the first brush stroke....

 You might find it difficult to believe that these  fabrics lie underneath the paint ( sample above and below,  before and after) but they make all the difference to the texture and vibrancy.