Open Studios Notts

Open Studios Notts

Each year at this time Nottinghamshire artists open their studios for visitors.  We earmarked last Saturday to visit Southwell as there was lots on including a craft fair in the Minster.  We had a lovely, and expensive, day.

Open Studios are county wide; this is just the Southwell flyer

We visited the studio of Tim Sprignall who is a photographer although we didn't see any of his work various other artists had work displayed.

My favourite was Stuart Ackroyd glass his colours are wonderful and very exciting.

One of many beautiful pieces of glass

Sharon Dickinson showed an eclectic selection of novel items one of which became my husband's birthday present.  She was such a trusting soul.  Her card machine wouldn't work so we gave her the cash we had and walked away with the goods on the promise I'd send a cheque.  Lovely.

We visited the Bull Yard Gallery where Jayne Hale was exhibiting.  Although we didn't meet her we were told that Jayne has only recently felt confident in her ability to paint.  Sounds familiar.  Her paintings are vibrant and fun.

Jayne Hale

At The Barn Gallery I saw the work of Peter Dworok.

Loch Eynort, Isle of Skye, Peter Dworok

His elemental work has given me an idea that I can't shake off.  I'm going to try an experiment in my next sample.

Susan Isaacs opened her studio along with Carl Gray (ceramics) and Mark Green ( woodcraft).

Susan paints in oil in a loose figurative style.  Her prints showed me that she uses local towns as her inspiration.  I particularly liked her colours.

Southwell Minster.  Susan Isaacs

That takes me nicely to the work we saw in the Minster.  There were loads of stalls but I've become very selective.

I love metal as art

Irene is completely self taught

Intriguing boxes

I loved these seascapes - they're really inventive

Our last port of call was very local to us and involved people we have known for ever.

Lee Sinclair makes the most wonderful furniture.

Lee's lovely furniture

And his daughter makes a good cup of tea.

It is very exciting to see so much quality work going on in the area I live.  I had a great day and got lots of ideas along the way.  Thanks to the artists who are all so friendly and generous with their experiences.

Project 9 Stage 4a

Sample 1 (21cm x 30cm max)

Developing design ideas into weaving

This is what I've selected as my inspiration for this piece of tapestry.  It's hard to describe how beautiful this combination of plants is.

The pink plant is an unnamed tree peony that I rescued from death row in a local nursery many years ago.  The orange in the foreground is euphorbia Fireglow and the white remnants of magnolia stellata are in the background.  The bare branches are the stems of hydrangea paniculata.

I think I've set myself quite a challenge but the idea is that it's an interpretation so I'm happy to try.

I made my wrapping and was fairly happy with it.  The range of green is wide to give me lots of texture opportunities.

I started by looking at the main shapes.  I drew and then used my water soluble crayons.

I didn't think the colours would pose a problem but I thought representing the variety of greenery might be harder.  I found I didn't know where to start and soon realised it was because it was far too complicated so I pared down.

I isolated shapes but even so there were far too many so I took it a stage further and cut out most of it.

The long shapes are some tyvek beads to represent branches.  I scribbled on the drawing what I intended to do with my yarns and this became my plan.

Finished but still on the loom.

Basically I'm pleased with the result - with one or two caveats.

I like
the huge range of textures I've managed to get to convey the foliage
my almost circular tree peony
the warp that shows through the heftier yarns
the way I've got good variety by using yarns together
the way it felt exciting
the beads

I introduced extra colour because this section looked unexciting

Tyvek beads - a nightmare to weave in

Lots of texture

I don't like
the way I tighten my yarns even though I try very hard not to
the way the euphorbia motif looks central - it wasn't so on the plan.
the background to the euphorbia looks bland
my technique wouldn't stand close scrutiny in places

My text tells me not to alter my plan but there were points where I had to.  My design placed the peony too close to the edge for me to try a circle so I move it in a bit.  This meant I also had to move the beads.  The fifth, chunky bead had to go as it looked very clumsy so for balance I had to change the position of the others.  The result was a longer piece than I had planned.

Along the way I changed some of the yarns as well. The chiffon didn't work as a woven yarn, the space was too small. I didn't use the pale chiffon or the net at all.  I used twisted threads from the wrapping in a way I hadn't anticipated.  I think it's good to have a plan but you need to be flexible if something just isn't working.

Finished tapestry showing clearly the tension problem is predominantly on the right

I'm excited by the way tapestry offers so much scope but very frustrated and disappointed in my inability to keep a loose enough tension.  If I could master this I would feel inclined to pursue tapestry further.

Project 9 Stage 3

Experimenting with different materials (25cm x 28cm max)

The remit this time was to experiment and create interesting surface textures.   I have done a little of this in previous work so I knew I wanted to use plastic and that was my starting point.  I used pink and blue bags and because the colours were strong I selected other strong coloured materials that gave a lot of contrasting texture.  Some of the materials I used are:

wool
sari silk
plastic bags
cling film with wool wrapped around it
ribbon
lace
torn strips of striped silk
net
tubular ribbon.

I used Soumak and Ghiordes Knots to get a variety of textures.

I used some of the skills I learned in my first experiments but this time I combined wool and plastic bags.  The effect was crisp.  I decided to soften it with sari silk that I then fluffed up.

Showing sari silk/wool/plastic

I have some quite garish silk fabric that I tore strips from and it transformed itself into something quite lovely.  I used it in Ghiordes Knots and plain weaving as well.  I then used it in a distorted pattern as well.

Soumak in my garish fabric

I know the warp is meant to be hidden but I rather like the effect of seeing it sometimes.  This is particularly true of the net which is very transparent.  I chose not to push it down and the effect is ethereal.  I topped it with Soumak made from net hoping to regain some stability.  I think it worked quite well.

Showing the see through net with  Soumak at the top and the distorted weave section

I'm not sure the Ghiordes Knots add anything much but trying them with a variety of yarns was interesting.

Ghiordes Knots

Threaded lace and ribbon hiding under the Knots

I particularly like the contrast of plastic and fabric so I used this in the last stage of my work, the distorted weave.  The way the materials can be manipulated to provide quite different textures gives a dimension that working with wool alone can never give.

My tension started off OK but tightened as I became more involved in the work.

I'm pleased with this piece of work.  The colours work really well together and it feels strong and purposeful.  I'm reminded of jewels or a shiny, iridescent beetle.  

Project 7 Fruit skin

Hitting the wall

For the first time I've really hit a wall with my work.  I've found myself stuck and thinking I'm going backwards.  In my last report my tutor suggested I choose a line of enquiry to pursue and I've found myself devoid of ideas.

In an effort to kick start myself I've been looking at the natural wrapping of fruit; the skin.  It's interesting that we take the strangeness and beauty so much for granted.  Fruit skin is so everyday and often discarded and we take little notice of it.  I'm looking.

Watermelon

Watermelon

Whole watermelon

I played with the whole watermelon on the computer by changing colours.  The dark shape is reflection. 

I've got used to fiddling with images but they are usually my drawings.  I found it quite disconcerting to change a familiar fruit to this very unfamiliar colouring.  So much so that I quickly reversed it.  It just had to have some green.

I enhanced the original quite striking markings with the Paint.net paintbrush but concentrated on the very basic colouring of the fruit; the outside and the inside, hence the pink.  When I changed the tone of the pink using an effect it once again altered how I felt about it.

I much preferred the depth of the previous image so I took a snip and added some seeds.

I wanted to push this on a bit so I selected some fabrics and set to work.

I used calico as a background and bondawebbed some shiny green dupion onto pink poplin and began to machine embroider in a swirly pattern on the green "skin".  I planned to add black seeds made out of felt offcuts.

Then I began to wonder just what I was about.  It felt as though I was just copying the manipulated picture and abandoning all I had learnt over the past few months.  I have put this work to one side in favour of trying something else.  I was sorely tempted to just pretend this hadn't happened but there's lots of thinking to be done about why this should be.  My initial ideas are that I've just not followed the process.

Melon skin

I'm trying another fruit skin image; once again a melon.  I'm going to articulate the process so that I don't miss stages out.

Melon skin

The lines are bumpy, jagged, uneven, broken, organic, raised.

The colours are subdued, hard edged with white, slightly shaded

The texture is rough, matt, broken, ridged.  The green looks very deeply recessed.

I played with the image.

I spent some time doing a collage based on the original picture.  I reversed everything except the colour.  The pale marks on the skin were indented and the green skin was in relief.  The jagged feel changed to soft and sinuous and instead of being disjointed there was lots of interconnected lines.  Rather than being matt it is shiny.  And it hasn't photographed very well at all.

It's not frog spawn!

Stuffed bubbles, exposed holes and embroidery

I used bubble wrap which I stuffed, flattened, slashed and stitched on.  This is a technique I've used before but I developed it a bit more this time.  The end result bears no resemblance to the image.  How effective is it?  It's got plenty of texture and interest and the colours are good.   Remarkably some of the bubbles remained unpopped but I think there are rather too many of them without embellishment.  Compared to the work I ditched this morning at least I can live with it.  I hope it's helped me through what has been a bad patch.

Dents effect

I played on the computer again.
I used an effect I've used successfully before called dents.
This didn't do anything for me at all.  The image lost all of its lovely definition.  I'll be leaving this alone.

The next one is an ink sketch effect and this heightened the definition.

I superimposed a facility called "curves" which introduces colour.  I'm unsure of the science but all things seem possible! The beauty of this adjustment is that I can play about to my hearts content in relatively little time.  Just as with the watermelon colour changes the whole feel of the image and I think it looks like a view from space.  It looks like a machine embroidery project might be in order.  

These are both recognisably the melon skin but I like the change.  It makes me think that my unwillingness to accept the "foreign" colour in the watermelon was because the image was still a water melon.

Still using the melon skin image I imposed a "tile effect" and this one made the image unrecognisable. It used the ridges but placed them in the centre of a tile grid.  No two shapes are the same.  

I used "curve" again to alter the colours.  What I now have looks like plastic bags. 

 I tried to make similar shapes with heat gunned bags but it wasn't particularly successful.

I took a snip.....

 ....  then outlined the shapes in a contrasting colour.

Another colourway

This suggests lots of techniques.  Some, like printing, would give a repeat pattern if the shapes were standardised somewhat.  I can see weaving or fusing within a mesh as well but I think this is beyond my current skill level.   I feel positive about it the amount I can get out of this.

Pineapple skin

I've looked at lots of images of pineapples and been amazed at how different varieties have very different skin.  This one is comparatively regular although once again no two shapes are the same.  Every cell is six sided but there the similarity ends.  There is a smoothness to the dark green section but lots of tiny indentation towards the centre.  There are no sharp points on this particular fruit.

I wanted to move away from the computer so I got out my water soluble crayons and made a sketch.  I made no attempt to copy the image but simply drew a six sided shape with central texture.

I used small pieces of hairy wool secured with brads in the middle of the cells.  I'm happy with this especially the colours.

William Morris Gallery

"Don't copy any style but make your own"
  William Morris

William Morris as a young man
Self portrait
en.wikipedia.org

Morris the man

My visit to this Gallery was all I'd hoped it would be.  I found myself just as interested in the man as his work.  He seems to have been a gifted man in many ways, a workaholic who had high expectations of those who worked alongside him.

William was born into a very privileged lifestyle and was confidently expected to go into the Church.

There was a rebellious streak in William and to the dismay of his mother (his father had died when he was 13) he turned his attention to art in many forms.

All the minor arts were in a state of complete degradation, and with the conceited courage of a young man I set myself to reforming all that

Morris was a prodigious reader from an early age and wrote poetry and drew.  He knew the artists and writers of the day like Ruskin and Rossetti and was himself interested in medieval design.

In 1859 Morris married Jane Burden a local stableman's daughter.  He commissioned an architect friend, Philip Webb to

....build me a house very medieval in spirit. I lived in it four five years and set myself to decorating it.

He found that there were no furnishings available to suit his needs so he set about designing his own, wallpaper, textiles, furniture; he turned his hand to every aspect of the interior decoration.  To the Victorian eye the style was eccentric.

Red House
www.victorianweb.org 

This experience set the course for the rest of Morris life.  He taught himself the craft skills he needed and along with various friends who put up money in 1861 Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company was founded.  

The business prospered and eventually became Morris and Co.  At the outset Morris wanted to adopt an artisan approach and hand make everything. Eventually however he felt this made his designs available to only the rich so he created some off the peg merchandise that made his work affordable for the middle classes.

Morris was an active social campaigner on behalf of the working man - what we might call a champagne socialist I suppose.  He felt morally compromised by his wealth and attended demonstrations and held extreme views.  He was even arrested. Although he found public speaking difficult he addressed many meetings up and down the country.

Morris mastered all sorts of textile work.  After learning to embroider he taught his wife and her sister to complete designs to his specifications.  He was one of the first designers to be associated with the Royal School of Art Needlework whose aim was to elevate secular embroidery to the position it had once held.  His daughter May became influential in the embroidery side of the business.


Morris continued to idealise traditional ways of production and at a time when roller printing was becoming the norm he chose to use hand block printing for his wallpaper and  fabric printing. He found chemical dyes too coarse and set up a dye works to ensure a supply of natural dyes.  This involved reviving the production of many of the old dyes. Morris also produced tapestries at his works at Merton Abbey. He said

If a chap can't compose an epic poem while he's weaving a tapestry, he had better shut up, he'll never do any good at all.

OCA students beware!

Morris was only 62 when he died in 1896. His doctor said

the cause was simply being William Morris and having done more work than most ten men.

William Morris
ilovetypography.com

A question I often ask myself when I've been exposed to so intimate a view of an eminent person is

            "Would I have liked him?" 

I'm not really sure about the answer here.  I think he would have been a hard taskmaster and quite intolerant of not just the slow learner but the steady worker as well. Parry (1983) says

His interest in his fellow man transcended all class and social barriers.  He would be interested (in a person) if she had anything interesting to tell him and not for a moment longer.

Not a man to suffer fools gladly but oh so inspirational and idealistic.

The Gallery

William Morris Gallery
Walthamstow E17 4PP

The Gallery itself is the house the family moved to when his father died.  It was a strange feeling to know that Morris knew the rooms I was in.

I found the Gallery very accessible for a whole variety of people.  There were many interactive displays and plenty for children to enjoy.  The serious student and the more casual visitor alike were well catered for with a wealth of original and well labelled material.

David Bailey

The Gallery was also showing David Bailey's East End Faces.  These photographs were a powerful portrayal of the people of London's East End in the 1960's.  I knew Bailey as a fashion photographer but his heart was clearly with the people in this exhibition.




In this review I've used notes I took in the Gallery; all the quotes from Morris are from there too.

Parry L. 1983. William Morris Textiles. New Jersey.
www.wmgallery.org.uk