Through Our Hands - Issue 3 | November 2014

THROUGH OUR the HANDS Magazine

At the Edge of the Quilt: textile taxidermy

Susan Lenz:

threads - gathering my thoughts

Bobby Britnell:

working with Cecily Sash

Interview: maggie grey

issue 3 November 2014

Socialize! http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIel3pccql6pOSj2Y9eq74g

Cover Cover: “Threads: Gathering my Thoughts”, Susan Lenz, textile installation.

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Through Our Hands ‘the magazine’ Established 2014.

Editors: Laura Kemshall, Linda Kemshall, Annabel Rainbow Design: Laura Kemshall Submissions and advertising enquiries: throughourhands.co.uk@gmail.com Issue 3 Published by Through Our Hands, November 2014 © Through Our Hands, 2014. All content copyright.

No part of this publication to be copied or reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the copyright holder(s).

www.throughourhands.co.uk 11 Knightcote Drive, Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire

throughourhands. co.uk@gmail.com 07877 402455

Contributing authors Linda Kemshall Alicia Merrett Margaret Cooter Bobby Britnell Annabel Rainbow Laura Kemshall Sara Impey Dijanne Cevaal Jane La Fazio Sue Benner Susan Lenz Helen Cobby

Karen Goetzinger Eva Cantin Laura Cadman Maggie Grey

Find out more about our contributors on the website: www.throughourhands.co.uk

In this issue...

Welcome 4 Working with Cecily Sash 5 Karen Goetzinger 9 Achievements and Inspirations 30 years of Quilt Art 13 It’s a Wrap - Japanese Furoshiki 19 Starving Artist 23 Sue Benner - Visual Arts and Healing 25 Jane La Fazio - Sketchbook to Quilt 29 29 Soapbox - Why Draw? 33 Showcase Susan Lenz - Threads: - Jane La Gathering my Thoughts 37 Fazio At the Edge of the Quilt: Textile Taxidermy 43 Desert Island Designs - Dijanne Cevaal 49 Laura Cadman 51 Interview: Maggie Grey 55 What’s On? 63 The Bristol Wool Fair 65 Dijanne Cevaal - Travelling Inspiration 67 Threads of Time 71

25 Sue Benner - Visual Arts and Healing

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Margaret Cooter - textile taxidermy

55 Interview: Maggie Grey

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Sara Impey - 30 years of quilt art

showcase - Laura Cadman

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Susan Lenz - threads: gathering my thoughts

Would your like to advertise with us?

Through Our Hands magazine is distributed digitally to thousands of readers. Email us for our affordable advertising rates throughourhands.co.uk@gmail.com Full page, quarter, eighth page, banner spaces available. Plus free listing on the Through Our Hands website!

TAke part!

Searching for the Invisible Woman As part of her “Searching For The Invisible Woman� research, Linda Barlow is still looking for people to email her their wildest dreams. These could be completely fictitious, heartfelt reality or downright physically impossible, it is entirely up to you.

The dreams will be cyanotype printed in the sunshine (all dreams need a bit of sunshine to

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develop) and the backs will be rusted fabric, representing the time that dreams take to accomplish. They will hang at the Festival of Quilts next year and only you will know which is your dream!

Email to: lindab50@hotmail.co.uk

Through Our Hands Magazine, Issue 3 | November 2014

Welcome Hello and welcome to the third edition of the Through Our Hands quarterly magazine.

Now, we hate to mention this, but in case you hadn’t noticed, Christmas is creeping inexorably towards us and with only six, or so, weeks to go, we’re beginning to feel quite festive here at TOH headquarters! To help get you in the mood, we’ve got an article on alternative wrapping ideas for your presents this year, so perhaps you might like to try a spot of Japanese Furoshiki? And with visitors sure to descend without a moment’s notice you’ll find a delicious recipe for seasonal Mincemeat Muffins which are easy peasy and super quick too. But it’s not all about gifts and eating! We’ve all been working hard to bring you another exciting and packed edition, with lots of interesting and inspiring work from all the Through Our Hands artists, and regular contributors Margaret Cooter and Helen Cobby, as well as introducing some new faces to you.

We have an interview with the wonderful Maggie Grey; Susan Lenz tell us about her inspirational textile art installations; we find out about the Herts County Archive in Threads of Time; Sara Impey tells us about Quilt Art; and we find out more about Laura Cadman, Karen Goetzinger and Jane LaFazio. Dijanne Cevaal continues her travels and is also our marooned guest of choice on the Desert Island.

The Through Our Hands website has also had a major revamp, and is looking great. If you haven’t visited in a while, why not pop over and see our What’s On listings, as well as the latest work from the artists, and what they have on offer in the shop? The magazine will also be available there as a PDF version which you can download from the site so you can read the mag offline too. You could send it to your Kindle and read it tucked up in bed with a nice cup of hot chocolate!

Annabel Rainbow annabelrainbow@gmail.com

Laura Kemshall laurakemshall@gmail.com

But however you choose to read the magazine, we hope you enjoy it, and thank you for joining us.

Love, Annabel, Linda and Laura Linda Kemshall linda@lindakemshall.com throughourhands.co.uk

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Working together

working with Cecily Sash

Working under the mentorship of Cecily Sash has had a profound influence on the work of Bobby Britnell. Here she tells us more.

It is now some 12 years later and I would like to thank Charles and another of Cecily’s students, Judy Rooke, wholeheartedly for this introduction. Yes, Cecily can appear formidable and she certainly is not for the faint-hearted as she speaks as it is, but everything she says is built on years of experience and an in-depth understanding of art.

In conversation with Cecily Sash, left.

In 1998 when I was working as a consultant on an arts funding project in Kingsland I met local artist Charles McCarthy, who by chance recommended I went to Cecily for art classes. She held these on Thursdays every week from her studio in Presteigne, Wales. This recommendation was accompanied with a gentle comment saying, “She was not in fact as formidable as she might at first appear.”

‘The Thursday Group’ as we have become known, is a group of artists that meet and work together weekly at ‘Studio Sash’. We have been working under the tuition and mentorship of Cecily for many years now, some longer than others. Our work which is often project based, explores ideas within

a set discipline, with the intention of each artist developing a personal vision.

An important aspect of the group is the rigorous criticism of each other’s work, which starts each session. These critical discussions teach us so much about ‘what works’ in the picture ‘and why’. This process works so well because of the trust and respect that has built up over the years within the group.

Discussion is an important aspect of the class dynamics and encompasses everything creative, as it will often spill over into chat about music and literature and is sometimes amusingly peppered with a little local gossip, all enriching the weekly experience.

However we are encouraged, that

Text and images by Bobby Britnell Above: Cecily Sash, teaching. On the wall, her drawings.

Right: Painting, Bobby Britnell 5

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is to say expected, to get our heads down after the critique and work quietly, maybe to the music of Chopin, or Mozart, with Cecily constantly reminding us that we are not intelligent enough to work and talk at the same time!

So what are these projects?

Cecily’s approach to teaching is very much based on the methodology and discipline of ‘Basic Design’ as taught at the Bauhaus, with an emphasis on design elements and composition.

The projects set might relate to these teachings but might also be inspired by the work of present and past masters, such as Seurat, Bonnard, Craigie Atchinson, Joan Eardley, Jasper Johns, Mattisse, etc. This forces the students to become familiar with the work of these artists and by analysis of their characteristics, helps us to work temporally in the mode of particular artists. Some of these projects will give the students an insight into the work of

Above: Cecily’s studio filled with her art and fascinating artefacts.

many other artists and engage the class in related discussion.

Some projects help students to think laterally and with imagination. An ‘object’ selected for a project could be something as mundane as an empty pill packet and the contorted facets that this pill packet produces, or bags filled with plaster of Paris which when set, leave

incredible shapes to draw. Other projects are thought provoking and challenging in concept and offer opportunities to explore different styles of working. All place a strong emphasis on design and the arrangement of one object in relation to another within a given format.

When beginning a drawing and of course depending on the project,

Above: Drawing, detail, Cecily Sash.

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consideration is often required in creating ‘space’ in a design. The simple placing of one object on top on another immediately puts these objects into space thus creating three-dimensions on a two-dimensional plane. Optical shifts can further enhance this spatial aspect to the work. The teaching that Cecily does with young children, using some wonderful animal resources from her studio, shows this to excellent effect after just one lesson.

From a linear drawing we may move into producing a tonal drawing using charcoal or pencil and it is then that it all becomes clear. Adding tone helps sort out the whole composition and shows more clearly how space has been achieved. This first task is important and can often result in a finished piece of work in its own right. Normally however it will be traced off and carried out in colour using either gouache or oils.

Based on the critiques, we often find ourselves working and reworking our paintings until we ‘get them right’.

Projects have included, use of stilllife and natural forms, abstract interpretations, working in just one colour, working from collections of objects. Who would have thought that empty toilet rolls, a pack of cards, or a cracked egg on a mirror could be so inspirational? Cecily has a trained eye in knowing what is good to draw and what objects work well together. Her studio contains a wealth of magnificent source material from which to draw. It is such an inspirational and non-threatening environment in which to work and contains an incredible collection of amazing artefacts and personal history.

Cecily has maintained within herself a relentless passion for drawing and is

Above: Drawing, detail, Cecily Sash.

just as tough on her own work as she is on her students. Her teaching of art has impacted greatly on my personal creative development as a textile artist.

She has opened my eyes to so much and for that I will always be grateful. When asked ‘what great artist inspires you’ for me it is Cecily Sash.

Cecily Sash was born in 1924 in Delmas, Transvaal, in South Africa.

She trained initially at Witwatersrand Technical Art School 1943-46 and then at Chelsea Polytechnic and Camberwell School, London in 1948-49, before studying Fine Art at Witwatersrand University 1952-54. In 1955 she was appointed part-time lecturer in charge of Design at Witswaterand and became full time in 1960. She was awarded an Oppenheimer Grant for a year’s overseas study and research into contemporary art education which took her to Europe and the United States. She completed a number of public commissions for murals and

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mosaics and her work became very collectable. Sadly, the height of her success in South Africa coincided with Apartheid at its worst and this resulted in Cecily being displaced from her native country. She moved to Herefordshire, England in 1974 where she immediately set up a studio and her teaching has continued to have considerable influence on many a student to this day.

She was an exhibiting member of the ground breaking Amadlozi Group in South Africa and has also had numerous one man shows in South Africa and the United Kingdom. Her work remains collectable and is in many private and public collections, mainly in South Africa.

For more information about Bobby’s work: www.bobbybritnell.co.uk

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Featured artist

Seven moves within a seven year period of time can have a profound effect on anyone, but for Karen Goetzinger the experiences of those relocations, throughout North America, has clearly affected the change that has taken place in her work over the past few years.

Text and images by Karen Goetzinger

Formerly, I worked with pieced and appliquéd fabric, hand and machine stitching, and found objects such as small bits of metal and even glass. There was a strong connection to the quilt tradition in my work and it was heavily influenced by traditional Japanese art such as the 18th and 19th century woodblock prints of such artists as Kiyonaga, Utamaro, and Hiroshige. But as I started to live and observe life in the urban centre where we now live, my subject matter changed as well as my process of piecing textiles.

Still reflective of my background in quilt making and couture construction, I leveraged my life-long passion for the urban landscape and architecture as inspiration.

Through piecing and cutting, piecing and cutting again, each artwork became

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Karen Goetzinger abstracted, lively fabric mosaics depicting the vivacity of ever-changing city life.

Encouraged by gallery owners to explore collector-friendly presentation methods, a shift in my approach again began to take place as I experimented with ways to mount the completed textile pieces.

I began painting the backgrounds of stretched canvas to use as a support for my mixed media textile constructions.

The paint, which started out as simple black borders, became a more integrated part of my work with each new piece, and I soon found I was often using as much paint as I was using textiles and sometimes there was more paint than fabric. The process of layering fabric over fabric and paint over paint was not unlike urban transitions that build, layer upon layer, over time or with brevity throughout the course of a single day.

This experimentation coupled with those numerous moves that left friends, family, and beloved places behind, and my self-imposed challenge to use a minimal number of mediums, has led to my current series, "Vanishing Point" which employs only thread (and occasionally bits of collaged fabric or paper) and acrylic paint on large stretched canvases.

I have found that through the slow process of sketching on the canvas and then utilizing the stretched canvas like an oversized embroidery hoop and

stitching the images by hand, I am able to contemplate and expand my ideas for each piece. Layers of new meaning are often revealed with each unhurried step and deliberate stitch.

Many of those threads of thought have been connected while I continue work on an ever expanding site-specific installation, "A State of Transparency."

The installation is currently comprised of ten large cotton organdie free hanging panels and four integrated light towers.

I believe the amount of contemplation time I have while assembling each large hand and machine-sewn panel has also influenced my work. For instance, the initial concept for the installation originated as I listened to news reports of people's desire for transparency in government. That made me think about our own lives. Are we really totally transparent? Would we want to live in a completely transparent city? But as I was bringing to life this ‘city’ through the ethereal, monochrome panels, it became for me more than just the idea of transparency. Transparency and shadow became a metaphor for the projection of the imprint of urban landscapes on individual memory and the transient elements of our memories. Those ideas continue to be expressed in my current work.

Through “Vanishing Point” I have been exploring images of parting thoughts

Through Our Hands Magazine, Issue 3 | November 2014

‘Acquiesence’, mixed media, Karen Goetzinger

‘The Narrow Door’, mixed media, Karen Goetzinger

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‘Sea of Recall’, mixed media, Karen Goetzinger.

and vanishing memories. About two years ago my mom gave me small shopping bags full of little plastic boxes each filled with my dad's 35mm slides of Europe. He loved photography and had taken these photos while on business

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trips in the late 1950s and early 60s.

It seemed a perfect fit to use his now fading image stories as inspiration for my work. So, as disparate as it may sound, I am combining my passion for that vivacity of urban life with the idea

of fading memories. As details of life events and places grow dim over time, we often strive to reach through the mist of memory to reminisce, to recreate the memory, and to grasp even the smallest thread of sentiment and connect those

Through Our Hands Magazine, Issue 3 | November 2014

threads of thought. Time in our minds seems to stand still, but time passes and thus our surroundings, particularly in a vibrant urban setting, are always in flux.

It is the mental and physical layering of memories frozen in time combined with the ever-changing city that intrigues me.

Recently, I have been expanding the idea of waning memories to include ‘memory triggers’– those seemingly banal objects that have the power to bring on a flood of memories. It can be as simple as a wicker chair, a chinoiserie lamp, a tiny scrap of vintage lace, a lighted lamp post, or perhaps even a clothes basket piled full of laundry.

Each piece of my work in the "Vanishing Point" series intentionally lacks figurative elements thereby allowing the viewer to interact with the landscape and bring to it their own personal stories and fleeting memories.

For more information on Karen Goetzinger’s work: quiltopia@sympatico.ca www.karengoetzinger.com www.facebook.com/ ArtistKarenGoetzinger

Group

Celebrating its thirtieth birthday in 2015, Sara Impey looks back over 30 vibrant years of Quilt Art Text by Sara Impey Images courtesy of the artists

The exhibiting group Quilt Art reaches its thirtieth birthday in 2015. To celebrate, the group is producing two exhibitions and publishing a book. The main exhibition, called “Dialogues”, opens in Heidelberg in March and can be seen at The Quilt Museum in York from September to December.

For the first time, Quilt Art has invited someone from outside the group to

Achievements and aspirations 30 years of Quilt Art participate from the outset: the quilt historian and academic Dr Sue Marks.

She initially met the members two years ago to discuss their plans for the exhibition and has been in contact with them ever since. Her ‘dialogues’ with each artist will form the basis of the text in the book. A second exhibition featuring smaller pieces of work, entitled “Small Talk”, is also included in the book and will open at the Festival of Quilts in August 2015.

Quilt Art was founded in Britain in

1985 by a group of leading textile artists, among them Pauline Burbidge and Michele Walker, who wanted to develop the quilt as an artistic medium and promote its recognition as an art form. It was the first group of its kind in Europe. Back then there were few exhibiting opportunities for quiltmakers whose work was non-traditional and sometimes challenging. Originally launched under the auspices of The Quilters’ Guild, Quilt Art became an independent organisation a few years later and now has the status of an

“Pathways”, quilt, Sandra Meech 13

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“Venice Light”, quilt, Fenella Davies “Half Light”, quilt, Janet Twinn

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educational charity. Several factors make Quilt Art distinctive – the quality of the work ensured by its selection process, its comparatively long history, its international membership and the books it publishes to accompany major exhibitions.

One of the founder members, Inge Hueber from Germany, was instrumental in attracting artists from other parts of Europe and today most of the members come from outside the UK: from Holland, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium and Hungary. One member – Dominie Nash – comes from the US. This international reach has many positive effects.

It promotes friendships and cultural exchanges between textile artists from different countries. It contributes variety to the work, since the artists come from extremely diverse backgrounds. It also enables the group to call on contacts

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“Dialogues 2”, quilt, and detail above, Charlotte Yde

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“Big Leaf 23”, quilt, Domini Nash

in their own countries to mount exhibitions, which tour over a wide geographical area.

Quilt Art has exhibited at many galleries, museums and festivals in Britain and Europe and also travelled to Japan and Canada. A four-year-long tour of the United States has just come to an end.

It was organised in conjunction with International Arts & Artists, a non-profit organisation promoting cross-cultural understanding of the arts. In 2013, Quilt Art staged its most ambitious exhibition ever. This was held in former palace, now a cultural centre, near Moscow. A total of 75 quilts consisting of the three most recent exhibitions put together were shipped to Russia – a huge organisational endeavour.

Over the years, Quilt Art has staged a major exhibition every two or three years in which members can express themselves as they wish and work on a large scale. Alongside each one the group has produced a book which is written, illustrated and published by the members, and designed by Charlotte Yde from Denmark, who manages to create books which are different from one another but still retain a cohesive Quilt Art ‘look.’ From time to time, the group also puts together exhibitions showing smaller pieces of work. These enable the artists to experiment with three dimensions or unusual materials and methods of display which are not possible in large touring exhibitions where the work has to be rolled up for transportation.

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Quilt Art has remained a small group, partly for administrative reasons and partly because exhibition space for large pieces of work is often limited. The group is currently open to applications for membership. The artwork does not have to conform to the traditional definition of a ‘quilt’ – indeed, Quilt Art welcomes artists from other textile disciplines. Details of how to apply are on the website.

The world of the textile arts has hugely expanded over the last thirty years. In the 1980s, Quilt Art was the only group of its kind. Now there are numerous textile artists and exhibiting groups and many more opportunities to exhibit and promote the work online – Through Our Hands is a leading example of this! Quilt Art is aware that it has

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Left: “Devon Red”, quilt, detail, Elizabeth Brimelow

to rise to the challenge of remaining distinctive by playing to its strengths as a well-established international group while keeping the artwork fresh and innovative. Some artists work at the cutting edge of new technology and others find that simple fabric and thread still hold inexhaustible possibilities, but all are united by their passion for cloth, stitch, texture and colour and the limitless creative potential of the textile surface.

Above: “Personalities”, quilt, Mirjam Pet-Jacobs

Quilt Art 30: Dialogues 11 September to 12 December 2015 at The Quilt Museum, York Quilt Art 30: Small Talk 6-9 August 2015 at The Festival of Quilts, NEC, Birmingham 15 September – 30 October 2015 at The Silk Museum, Macclesfield www.quiltart.eu

, It s a Wrap Japanese furoshiki past and present

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Exhibition

Every year we use enough Christmas wrapping paper to circle the world eight times. Annabel Rainbow visits Rugby Art Gallery and Museum to see how the Japanese have taken a different approach.

Text and images by Annabel Rainbow

Each year in the UK we wrap our Christmas presents with paper which is quickly torn off and carelessly discarded. Whilst some is recycled, most of it ends up in landfill.

The Japanese have a slightly different approach, and regard the wrapping of a gift as of equal importance to the act of giving. They use elaborate wrapping cloths, and these are knotted and tied beautifully around an object.

It’s become a wonderful art form of its own, called furoshiki.

Above and below, Patterned silk furoshiki

Rugby Art Gallery and Museum is currently showing a collection of modern and historical wrappings as part of their exhibition “It’s A Wrap”, with examples from museum collections in the UK and pieces on loan from collections in Japan.

The exhibition explores the origins and cultural significance of furoshiki and its enduring

Left, Patterned silk furoshiki

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Left: Wrapping cloth, 1868. Persimmon dyed hemp. Brighton Museum and Art Gallery Right: Hand cut stencil for decorating the silk

impact today as an eco-friendly alternative to plastic bags and wrapping paper.

The printing and decorative effects on the cloth varied enormously from broad brush strokes on hemp to meticulous silk embroideries. The museum had a display of the woodcut prints which had been used as inspiration and a collection of hand cut stencils.

Modern day furoshiki might use digitally printed fabrics with a personal theme, or an image of a place of interest, or even specially designed fabrics like the knot-wrap in two colours, featuring the “Face of War” as a symbol for the fight against climate change and environmental degradation, made by Vivienne Westwood in 2013.

“It’s a Wrap - Japanese Furoshiki Past and Present”, Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, Rugby, UK. The exhibition continues until 10th January 2015 and entry is free.

For more details and a free downloadable catalogue: www.ragm.org.uk Above: “Face of War”, Vivienne Westwood, 2013

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Recipe

As the festive season rapidly approaches it’s time for family and friends to get together. This recipe by Linda Kemshall for Christmas muffins is always a hit with our visitors, hope you like them too.

Text and images by Linda Kemshall

Starving artist Whether you’ve been in Earth Mother mode and your mincemeat is already maturing quietly in the dark recesses of the pantry or like most of us, you

pop a jar in the trolley at the local supermarket, I think you’ll love this seasonal treat. Nothing evokes memories of Christmas more than the aroma of dried fruits and spices hot from the oven. These fragrant muffins are quick and easy to make and are perfect to offer to friends and family when they come calling at Christmas. Bake them in festive paper cases and dust with icing sugar, or make a clementine icing like mine, for the final touch.

In the interests of research, here at TOH we’ve sampled and experimented till we think we’ve got the perfect recipe but of course you may like to substitute different dried fruits and spices to suit your palette. Why not try adding dried cranberries, pecans or walnuts?

What you need: 280g (10oz) plain flour 2 tsp baking powder (if using self raising flour no need for baking powder) 1/2 tsp (2.5ml) bicarbonate of soda 1/2 tsp (2.5ml) salt 85g (3oz) caster sugar A pinch of grated nutmeg 1 egg 240ml (8oz) milk 350g (12oz) mincemeat 90ml (3 fluid oz) vegetable oil 85g (3oz) glacé cherries halved Icing sugar to dust

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What you do: Put twelve paper cases into a muffin tin and heat oven to 190oC, Gas Mark 5.

Sieve the dry ingredients into a large bowl.

In a separate bowl beat egg lightly with a fork, then add milk, oil and mincemeat. Stir to combine.

Add wet mix to dry ingredients and combine gently with a metal spoon until you can’t see any dry bits. Don’t overmix - the batter will be a bit lumpy looking but that’s how it should be!

Finally, gently stir in glace cherries.

Spoon mixture into cases - they should be about ¾ full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until risen and golden.

Remove from tin and allow to cool on a wire tray.

Dust with icing sugar and serve.

For a truly festive touch you could make a glaze using sifted icing sugar mixed with a little clementine juice. Drizzle over cooled muffins and allow to set before serving. Top with a sprinkle of the grated zest of the clementine or a halved glacé cherry

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Learn

visual arts and healing Text and images by Sue Benner

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Sue Benner was guest artist in the Medical Humanities Department at Baylor University in Waco, Texas during the spring semester of 2014. The class, “Visual Arts and Healing� was created to give future healthcare professionals an insight into how art can enhance their

medical and scientific training.

As a cornerstone of the class, the students were required to design and execute a service learning project for a non-profit agency. Course director, Linda Bostwick, BSN, MN, FNP, asked Sue Benner, MA, a textile artist from Dallas, Texas, to work along with two

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members of the Baylor Art Faculty, Mary Ruth Smith, MFA, PhD, and Leah Force, BFA, MFA, to facilitate the making of a work of art to enrich the environment of the Avance Center in East Waco. The Avance Parent-Child Education Program’s mission is to strengthen communities through parent education in child development, literacy, and school readiness.

The healthcare students enrolled in the course visited the Center to gather information about the space and program, and then participated in a brainstorming session with Benner

to develop a theme for the quilt. The students chose ‘serape’ as the unifying visual idea because of its dynamic colors, graphic stripes, and link to the Hispanic community that Avance has traditionally served. The students felt strongly that the quilt should have an education purpose as well, so they chose to include letters of the alphabet.

Each student designed a quilt square that included a single letter on a striped ground. Benner guided them in the construction, design, and machine quilting of the squares, while Smith and Force prepared many of the materials

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Below: “The Letter Quilt (with Serape Theme)” Composed of collaged cotton and silk, machine and hand stitched, 31” H x 92” W Created as a service learning project for AVANCE WACO

By Students in Medical Humanities 3300 Class At Baylor University, Waco, Texas, Spring 2014 Artist/Designer: Sue Benner Assistant Artists: Mary Ruth Smith, MFA, PhD and Leah Force, BFA, MFA Under the direction of Linda Bostwick, BSN, MN, FNP

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and instructed them in hand stitching and embroidery. The students were required to complete at least one letter square, some contributing two. Benner took the quilted squares back to her studio, added decorative machine stitching, arranged and assembled the squares. The final piece, THE AVANCE LETTER QUILT, measures 31” x 92”, and is composed of collaged silks and cottons, is machine quilted and hand embellished.

This project allowed students to explore how art affects an environment and gave them a concrete experience of working with their hands. The curriculum also emphasized visual analysis, attention to detail, collaborative work, aspects of art therapy, and the development of fine motor skills, and its application in their future medical careers. The students were surprised to discover the therapeutic effects of making art while using a needle and thread.

Soon the quilt will be installed at The Avance Center, adding color and excitement to the entryway. The parents can invite their children to play a game of “Find That Letter!”

For more information about Sue Benner: www.suebenner.com

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Above and below: “The Avance Letter Quilt”, details.

Books!

Discover a selection of books that you simply won’t find in your high street bookstore.

Titles from :

Cecily Sash, Alicia Merrett, Jette Clover, Mirjam PetJacobs and more.

It is often possible for your book to be signed by the artist, please just enquire when ordering.

Available in the Through Our Hands gallery bookshop online now:

http://www.throughourhands.co.uk/product-category/books-gallery-shop/

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Artist

Sketchbook to quilt

Jane La fazio

Text and images by Jane La Fazio

I love working in my sketchbook and documenting my daily life in pen and watercolor. I have been keeping an illustrated journal since 2006.

I love to draw and paint and I love to create art quilts. In these two small quilts, I was able to combine two of my passions into one!

The sketchbook page of a folk art sculpture, Saint Francis, was done in 2013. The pen drawing is of the beautiful cathedral in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and was done in 2011.

My drawings were traced onto an overlay, laid on the fabric collage and free-motion machine stitched, just like I was sketching. I used my sewing machine needle like a drawing tool.

I completed each quilt with a small focal point, made from felt and hand embroidered. For Saint Francis, a bird, since he was said to be a lover of animals. For the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel, a monarch butterfly, representing the annual migration of the butterflies to Mexico each year.

I really enjoyed making these quilts and plan to continue the series, using images from my sketchbook.

Left: “San Miguel Church”, sketchbook page, 5” x 7”.

Right: “Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel”, stitched textile, 11.5” x 8”,.

Overleaf: “Saint Francis”, watercolour in sketchbook, 9” x 12”, and stitched textile, 11.5” x 8”.

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For more information about Jane La Fazio www.janelafazio.com www.facebook.com/ pages/Jane-LaFazioArtist/149272798479294 Workshop info: www.janelafazio.com/ teaching-schedule ONLINE classes: www.janelafazio.com/onlineclasses starting in mid-November.

Comment

I wonder why we accept the idea that to be able to play a musical instrument you have to learn how but we don’t think it’s the same with drawing? To acquire any skill you have to read all about it, or take lessons from a good teacher, but most of all you have to spend time practising. Often quite a long time practising! Why then do we think drawing is any different? Linda and Laura Kemshall explore this idea...

Text by Linda and Laura Kemshall Images by Laura Kemshall, Annabel Rainbow, and Linda Kemshall

Soapbox

why draw?

Linda says, No one is born knowing how to play piano, bake a cake, or ride a bike, these are all skills that are acquired. It’s true that some people are better at these tasks than others but that’s often because they show more interest and apply themselves more enthusiastically. Drawing can be learnt and like any other acquired skill repays diligence and hard work. Most children enjoy drawing but somewhere along the way the habit is often lost. If they come back to drawing later in life the single biggest obstacle is usually intellectual. Anyone who believes they can’t draw will probably be proved right.

The critical side of the brain that says you’re no good has to be silenced if you are to give yourself the freedom to learn. So how do you overcome the inner critic? You have to make yourself relax and just let go. Don’t expect to be wonderful overnight and don’t be too judgmental.

Enjoy drawing as one of life’s simple pleasures. It doesn’t cost much, just a pencil and a few sheets of paper with maybe an eraser and a pencil sharpener and you’re good to go. No one has to see your drawings unless

you want them seen; they can be your secret pleasure. But make sure to give yourself enough time. Learning to draw isn’t something that can just happen in the odd spare moment - it deserves time and space. You can’t turn creativity on and off like a tap. You have to be in the right frame of mind and it isn’t just about technique either. Yes, you need to know a bit about what papers and pencils to use and how to use them but to be effective, to be ‘good’ at drawing, requires an emotional and intellectual connection with the subject matter too.

That’s the easy part - just draw what you love! Choose subjects that appeal to you, fascinate you, involve you. Before you know it you’ll love your drawings too!

So why would any busy person with little of that precious commodity, ‘time’, want to draw? Well I believe it’s fundamental to everything that we do as artists.

Drawing teaches you to look, to see and to understand better than anything else.

If you immerse yourself in drawing you will become aware only of the moment.

And by losing all sense of the real world your imagination will take over. Ideas will begin to flow, ideas that would otherwise never see the light of day.

Don’t try to anticipate the outcome - just take one step at a time and see where it leads you. Don’t you owe it to yourself?

Make time for drawing as often as you can and you’ll soon see how much better

Left: “Skull”, graphite drawing, Annabel Rainbow Top: “Flower study”, coloured pencil, Laura Kemshall

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Through Our Hands Magazine, Issue 3 | November 2014

Right: “Cherries Study”, pencil crayon and wash, Linda Kemshall

Above: “A Bird in the Hand”, graphite drawing, Laura Kemshall

you get. Treat yourself to a lovely sketchbook and fill the pages with drawings of things you love. Your sketchbook will be a thing of beauty in its own right but who knows, it might also lead all of your creative endeavours down a completely new path.

Laura says: With a two-year-old in the house I find it interesting to consider the notion of drawing from a child’s point of view. For them, it’s just a vehicle for expression, just like singing, talking and dancing round the room. It’s not about a drawing actually looking like something, it’s done for the fun of making a mark on the surface, and yes, in our house that’s not always on paper. My dining room walls, lounge carpet and her own legs are all

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testament to that!

So if drawing is an intrinsic part of human culture, something which as young children we naturally do, be it with a chalk on the pavement or lines in sand, why do so many ‘grown ups’ stop?

The wherewithall to draw is so easily accessible, a sketchbook and charcoal yes, but equally the back of an envelope and a biro, so that can’t be the reason.

Is the need for expression no longer there now that we can vocalise our thoughts, needs and wants so much more eloquently than a toddler? Perhaps it’s about being ‘good enough’. I hear that often from students. They think they can’t draw to a certain standard so they don’t draw at all. I love music.

Can I sing? No I cannot. Do I sing? Yes, at the top of my voice in the car or at

Right: Amelie (aged 1), drawing with Laura

home when everyone else is out. Not being ‘good enough’ is simply not a valid reason for not doing something.

So maybe it’s this; maybe most of the grown-ups have just forgotten how much fun it is? Fun, when you let go of comparisons to others, insecurities about skills and of the crazy notion that we must always have something amazing to show for time invested in an activity.

We all know the quote from Picasso, “Every child is an artist, the problem is how to remain one when he grows up.”. I reckon he was onto something.

Through Our Hands Magazine, Issue 3 | November 2014

For more information about Linda and Laura including studio workshops and online courses: www.lindakemshall.com www.lindakemshall. blogspot.com www.laurakemshall.com

Cover Artist

Here at Through Our Hands we are delighted to welcome a new Affliate Artist. May we introduce Susan Lenz.

Text and images by Susan Lenz

Susan Lenz

threads:gathering my thoughts For the past few years, I’ve been unraveling thread from vintage wooden spools in order to re-wrap them in wool yarn and embellish each one with embroidery stitches. Most of the spools include thumbnail reproduction images from old family photo albums. I’ve displayed these tiny gems in fiber vessels made by zigzag stitching over various, recycled yarns. The results have proven successful in juried shows and have been included in various installations. People seem to love these small trinkets and I’ve loved making them.

Yet, in the process of unraveling the old thread, I had a hair-brained idea. The strands looked so pretty, so colorful, so amazingly tangled and ever so complex.

I scooped up a pile and placed them in a small, grapevine basket, christening it Threads: Gathering My Thoughts.

To me, the random strings appeared as if a physical manifestation of millions of thoughts running through anyone’s brain. It looked like the scribbles one might expect in a bubble above a cartoon character’s head. I liked the piece immediately but that feeling lasted for only a day.

Why didn’t I continue liking it? Well, in just twenty-four hours I came to realize that there were too few threads.

The small accumulation probably represented a mere millisecond. I’d need a lot more to approximate all the thoughts one might have in a single

Susan with “Last Words”.

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minute. Instead of a single basket, I put together four baskets. Three were wall mounted. One was a large, wicker laundry basket. I showed the work in my Nov/Dec 2013 solo show at the Tapps Art Center. Viewers seemed to really enjoy it. I liked the arrangement but, again, for only about a day.

Why didn’t I continue liking it? Well, it still wasn’t large enough. I’d need miles and miles more if I wanted to suggest the myriad of ideas a human mind contains in an hour, in a day! The more I thought about it, the more I knew the work had to grow into a full-blown installation. This got me really excited but it also meant I needed lots more, old thread.

I started scavenging for old thread at yard sales and auctions. I wrote about my installation plans on several online fiber sites and was amazed by donations from cyber friends across North America. A giant pile of thread accumulated on my living room floor.

The laborious process of unraveling all the spools gave way to hours of contemplation on the many uses and multiple meanings of this common material. It is amazing how many ‘fiber words’ have dual definitions in the English language. The word ‘thread’ is both a noun and a verb and refers to many ordinary things, even the Internet communications that got people donating to my installation. Other ‘fiber Right: “Ancestors”, Susan Lenz.

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words’ are commonly used for nonfiber connections. We ‘spin’ tall tales … which are also called ‘yarns’. We ‘weave’ the ‘threads’ of fiction into movies and books. We ‘lace’ our shoes and drinks.

During the holidays, our families are more closely ‘knit’ together. Fibers and words are ‘stitched’ together multiple meanings. I knew that my installation had a great chance for success because, as a culture, we already understand the connection threads have to the human mind.

Soon, I was able to arrange a location for my large-scale installation. Studio Cellar offered a spot in their sip-and-paint

“Wall of Keys”, Susan Lenz.

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studio during the annual spring art crawl in downtown Columbia. It was a great opportunity. I went to all sorts of thrift shops in search of baskets, gathering over sixty of them. Mounting the work was an opportunity to figure out exactly how to best suspend the baskets and fill them with all the unraveled thread. It was also an opportunity to step back, look at the results, and determine how I might improve the presentation.

The public loved the result. Studio Cellar’s owner was thrilled. I was happy too but, again, only for about a day (though I never mentioned this at the time!) I just knew I could do

better. Having the work installed in this location allowed me to determine exactly what would please me forever.

I needed the work to occupy an entire space and for viewers to be able to walk through and under the baskets of thread. I started looking for the perfect place and found it just outside my studio door. The atrium at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios is 18’ x 18’ and the ceiling is approximately 16’. My studio rental agreement allows me to use this space free-of-charge for two weeks every year. I booked my installation for September 18 – 30, 2014. I also sent out more requests for old thread and started scavenging for more baskets.

Right: “Threads - Gathering my Thoughts”, Susan Lenz.

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Above: “Threads - Gathering my Thoughts”, Susan Lenz.

It took two days to hang over 130 baskets and arrange cascading masses of thread throughout the space but it was worth it. Viewers wandered in the space with amazement, snapping hundreds of photos of one another through curtains of lacy web. I stood back and finally knew that the installation was a success.

The statement I wrote for the installation is below. It will be used in exhibition proposals. I’d love to mount it all over again in a new location for other people!

This work explores an ongoing engagement - and entanglement - with fibers. The massive accumulation of thread both informs and confounds, acting as a labyrinth of the human mind, logically connected to everyday definitions and irrationally linked to

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the failures of memory, aging, and a world interwoven with threads. The installation seeks to both occupy and obstruct space using brightly colored fibers in new ways. Susan’s work also challenges the way text functions as a visual symbol. Instead of using the written word to lend meaning, she uses the physical object to broaden the response to narrow, literary definitions.

“Threads: Gathering My Thoughts” was made possible by the support, encouragement, services, and attention of many groups and individuals. It is with sincere thanks that the following are gratefully acknowledged: Cynthia Boiter and Bob Jolly and Jasper Magazine; Sarah Luadzers Lewis and the Congaree Vista Guild; Tom and

Linda Starland and Carolina Arts; Wade Sellers and Coal Powered Filmworks; Charlotte Lindsey and Studio Cellar; Steve Dingman; and those who contributed their old thread and baskets including: BJ Adams; Sandra Baker; Wilma Black; Margaret Blank; Vernon and Anita Bowen; Antoinette Brown; Clay Burnette; Nancy Cook; Susan V. Day; Bert Easter and Ed Madden; Focus on Fibers Retreat; Martha Ginn; Noel Gilliam; Mart Gooch; Goose Track Quilts; Lindsay Hager; Jill Hoddick; Ellen Kochansky; Anne Larson; Gay Lasher; Sylvia Lewis and the quilters from Sanpete, Utah; Sallie Maral; Paul Moore; Bonnie Ouelette; Norbet Ozark; Nicholl Ranson and friends; Myrtle Robinson; Carol

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Rothstein; Elaine Tanner; Suzanne Taetzsch; Marilyn Wall; and Nanette Zeller.

Right: “Doors and Keys”, Susan Lenz

Below: “Threads - Gathering my Thoughts”, Susan Lenz.

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At the Edge of the Quilt

Textile taxidermy Stuffed animals – real, dead ones – have recently cropped up ‘everywhere’.

No longer confined to the windows of taxidermists’ shops, or the display of shooting trophies in baronial halls, they are appearing as part of art installations and even in interior design magazines.

Margaret Cooter investigates.

Text by Margaret Cooter, images courtesy of the artists.

“Hare” by Karen Suzuki

Claire Morgan and Polly Morgan are among the first artists to use taxidermy as their medium, and their work is now well known. It has led other artists to focus on animals, their shapes and characteristics – a subject that is popular with audiences yet has a dark underside that undoubtedly appeals to artists who are pushing the boundaries.

The idea of using stuffed animals in this way repels many people, who find it disrespectful to the creature, or simply ‘yucky’. We love our animals, or certain animals, to the point of anthropomorphising them: they become ‘little people’ who are part of our families, or friends in the wild who need to be protected. It’s no surprise, then, that textile artists too have used animals – and birds – in their work, or as their work, perhaps calling them soft sculptures, perhaps wondering if they are art or craft. Do their representations overcome the ‘yuck factor’ of taxidermy, and does the re-imagining of the creature distort or misrepresent it in some way? Are such artists focusing on a message and a goal with their creations, or is it the ‘decorative’ principle that drives their work?

Considering these questions, you will come to your own conclusions.

City pigeons attract Karen Suzuki by the tenacity with which they survive the hardships of their city existence.

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Karen Suzuki makes one-off and limited edition textile animals and birds. Combining and reworking fabrics, she aims to express the fragility and complexity of the way in which animals exist in an urban environment; she is especially drawn to city pigeons. Using traditional hand-sewing techniques, she builds up surfaces, on top of a cotton base, from small pieces of altered textiles and other media, sewn together vigorously with freeform stitching. Small pieces of textiles, freely stitched together, are juxtaposed with embroidered pieces, and textiles of differing opacity and transparency are layered to create a history for the object from materials that have gradually accumulated and adhered to the surfaces over time. These energetic processes give each creature a sense of uniqueness, vitality, and spontaneity.

Abigail Brown developed her own techniques and individual style for textile and paper sculpture. The animal kingdom is the inspiration behind all her work – its rituals and language, mystery and secrets. She is known for her textile bird sculptures, which range from goldcrests and bee eaters to peacocks, swans, and cranes; her ‘creatures’ are mostly paper sculptures. A basic bird shape, stuffed and with wire legs, becomes a unique individual when Abigail works with the weave of flat pieces of cloth to mould shapes, frays their edges

“Peach faced love birds” by Abigail Brown.

to form feathered breasts, creates stiffened tail feathers from something that was limp. The new life is born with the final placing of the eye, she says.  The self-taught artist Mr Finch has “tried many areas creatively over the years and now I find myself sewing, which I adore.”

He is fascinated by the amazing life cycles, extraordinary nests, and behaviour of flowers, insects, and birds, as well as the stories and warnings of British folklore. He imagines that his animals, dressed in clothes and shoes, come alive at night.

Working alone, he enjoys the hunt for vintage textiles – the history of the fabric adds to the mystery of the finished work.

Below: Small birds with big bills, by Mr Finch

“Jerboa” by Abigail Brown.

Above : “Sleeping animal”, Mr Finch Below: “Amanita”, Mr Finch Right: “Hybrid”, Mr Finch

Below: The antlers on this deerhead by Carola van Dyke are from roe deer; other heads use other species

His first book, Living in a Fairytale World, is out in midNovember, and he’ll be exhibiting with Anthropologie.

Carola van Dyke launched her animal cushions in 2011, using a process of drawing with scissors, mixing hand-cut pieces of fabric like a painter’s palette. Translating the process to 3D, she made textile taxidermy heads, mixing vintage and modern

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Through Our Hands Magazine, Issue 3 | November 2014

Below: “Jack Russell Terrier” by Donya Coward Below left: “Magpie”, Donya Coward

“Dougal the Highland Bull” is made from old kilims, among other fabrics,

by Carola van Dyke

fabrics. Her obsession has always been with the different textures of textiles, and she feels that it’s important to have a sense of humour in her work. Her designs are also available on tableware, and her business creates jobs in her village in East Sussex. Her latest project is a display for Liberty, creating textile animals by ‘drawing with scissors’ with Liberty scarves.

She describes her process: “I will think of what type of animal first, then design a few different patterns. A decision needs to be made what type of material suits that animal best: tweeds, wools, leather, kilims etc. The search will be on for the correct materials and colours. This will mean that everything gets pulled off the shelves in my studio and visits to auctions, factories, markets etc for more choice. Once the initial colour and fabric choices have been made, all possibilities are looked at: what kind of details, the endless subsequent tweaking of what goes where, etc. The next head needs to contrast or sit alongside the first head and the entire process will start all over again.”

Donya Coward says: “I am a ‘Textile Taxidermist’ which means that my artwork is about preserving the craftsmanship of the antique and vintage laces, embroideries, and haberdashery materials I use to embroider with as much as it is about the animal.” Her one-off works use Victorian, antique, vintage Nottingham lace and French lace, embroideries, fabrics, and haberdashery. They take inspiration from the imperfections and histories ingrained in the materials – the stains, repairs, and markings in the fabrics add character to the colourings and markings of the animal form.

The character of the work depends on the materials, and sometimes it can take a while to find the correct piece that completes an animal’s personality. She loves to work with Victorian jet embellishments – “appliquéd together they simply glitter and they amaze you by the quality of craftsmanship that has gone into making them.”

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Right: Wall mounted “Pearly King and Queen Zebra Head”, Donya Coward

 Behind Donya Coward’s “Magpie” is the sad story of her neighbour’s house being emptied into a skip without a second thought. Donya swooped in and in the same way a magpie collects all that is precious, did this – then made the magpie using items from her neighbour’s sewing box.  Lauren Scott creates 3D sculptures that incorporate elements from both traditional textile craft – hand stitch and appliqué – and ceramics, which are used for the gnarled feet … and the rest of the animal is a bit rough around the edges, in a charming way. Lauren is intrigued by the idea of taxidermy and views her pieces as a ‘veggie alternative’. The animals are constructed entirely from recycled textiles and foraged natural materials. They are built from a base of wadding, with offcuts of linen and cotton and handmade felt. Lauren likes the idea that she is turning worthless waste materials into something robust and beautiful.

Observations of Northern Irish wildlife inspire her creations, which are species that have traditionally been hunted there.

Her characters are full of personality – humour and the Left: “Birds”, Lauren Scott

natural comic value of animals plays an integral part in her work . She is also interested in provoking a reaction by depicting wildlife traditionally hunted, killed, and ostracised by humans.

Morwenna Catt’s animals may contain ‘secrets’, small objects and text made of wire or scrawled on notes. Her practice isn’t limited to textiles but includes painting, drawing, light boxes, installation, and sculpture. She says: “I am very conscious of the mythologies of childhood and the wide discrepancies between the myth and the reality. In my work I try to strip back to the bare bones of experience and try to find some kind of underlying truth using personal narratives alongside subverted traditional imagery.

“For the most part I stitch the creatures together by hand; the thickness of the leather makes it a laborious and clumsy process. This and the use of battered 47

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Above: “Mr Fox”, Lauren Scott

remnants of skins and furs is what give the toys that wounded ‘authenticity’.

There’s a fetishistic quality in the making of them, a ritual in the repetition to imbue each one with some kind of ‘soul’.

But I think the life of the work is really beyond its making, in the evolving narratives and meanings that are beyond my control as the puller of the visual trigger.” 

Above: “Menagerie” Morwenna Catt

Further information: http://www.claire-morgan.co.uk/Fantastic-Mr-Fox(1224564).htm http://pollymorgan.co.uk/works/ Karen Suzuki http://namelesswonders.jimdo.com/gallery/ and https://www. facebook.com/pages/Karen-Suzuki-artist/293057067371011 http://www.abigail-brown.co.uk. http://irishartnow.com/LAUREN-SCOTT and www.facebook.com/pages/LaurenScott-Artist http://www.mister-finch.com and at http://ohmisterfinch.tumblr.com

For more by Margaret Cooter:

http://www.morwennacatt.co.uk

http://margaret-cooter. blogspot.co.uk

http://www.donyacoward.co.uk

http://www.carolavandyke.co.uk

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Our take on the world famous ‘Desert Island Discs’.

An artist, eight burning questions and one luxury item.

Desert Island Designs

dijanne cevaal 1. What’s the bit of studio kit you couldn’t be without?

throw a lifeline to?

Needles and thread, always, (teeth make good scissors!) - you can stitch almost anything.

Hard choice but in the end El Anatsui, or Raoul Dufy.

4. Name 4 famous people thoughout history that you’d like to invite to a dinner party.

2. What’s your art essential?

My journal - it’s not pretty to look at sometimes but it is the one thing I always have with me, and a fountain pen.

3. Which artist in a sinking ship full of artists would you

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Artemisia Gentilischi- there is a question I want to ask her about a painting attributed to her father but which I believe she painted, in the museum at Urbino, also I want to ask her about her extraordinary work.

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Baldassare Castiglioni, ambassador for the Gonzaga family who wrote a book on courtly manners and whose wonderful portrait hangs in the Louvre.

George Sand - writer, diarist and a woman ahead of her time (muse of Alfred de Musset and Chopin).

Rainer Maria Rilke for his sublime poetry

5. Tell us about your favourite colour palette.

Warm warm warm, oranges reds, earth colours of the terracotta variety, with a bit of grey and sometimes some green or yellow

6. What does your studio look like?

I don’t have a studio at the moment and it is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do without, I crave a room of my own.

7. Most inspirational book, place or person?

Of all of the books I have read, I think the one that has touched me most profoundly as the God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

8. What’s your happiest creative moment?

When I am just dyeing or printing or stitching and unexpected wonderful things happen, ones that weren’t planned or strictly laid out, just the universe speaking through my hands.

And of course, your luxury item?

Travel - anywhere anytime, travel is like nectar for my soul and the less five star it is, the better I like it!

For more about Dijanne and her work: http:// origidij.blogspot.co.uk

Above: “ Fire Sentinelle”, Facing page: “Traveller’s Blankets”, details, Dijanne Cevaal.

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Featured artist

Laura cadman Concept is crucial to my practice, I love history and learning about how people used to live. I am fascinated and inspired by the memories that cloth can hold particularly through wear and tear, DNA and stain. This interest was sparked from my research into The Foundling Hospital.

Now a museum, they possess an extensive collection of beautiful fabric scraps rich in poignant history. The scraps were left at the hospital during the 18th century as a means of identification by the children’s mothers, should they ever have been in a position to take the child back.

The way in which I respond to my research in my work is mainly through my processes and techniques. To portray physical evidence of stain and ageing I distress the fabric surfaces with frayed edges, sanding and blasting with a heat gun when using synthetic fabrics. I also stain my fabrics with inks and watered down paint, as well as dying them using grocery related products such as coffee, onion skins and turmeric.

I often mark make directly onto my fabric as well as monoprint

Text and images by Laura Cadman

Inspired by research into The Foundling Museum, London, Laura Cadman’s work explores evocative potential of fabric and stitch to capture memory.

She tells us more...

Right: “Galena Study 01”, Laura Cadman, Cotton, organza, netting, silk scraps with hand and free machine embroidery and beading. Distressed with heat, 2013.

Previous page: “Layers of Fragility”, Laura Cadman, Silk, hand dyed cotton, scrim, muslin and organza with hand and machine embroidery, frayed and heat distressed, 2014

to further push the relation to memory through stain. I am currently exploring circular marks and shapes to correspond with the ballot system introduced to the hospital in 1742.

Women who came to the hospital with hope of submitting their child would have to pull a ball from a bag, white would mean acceptance and black resulted in rejection.

Another prominent source of inspiration for my textile art is the way of life of those unfortunate people who had no choice but to labour away in the harsh Victorian workhouse. Within the workhouse there are a number of aspects which relate to the theme of restriction, something I feel hand embroidery is coherent to. This feeling of restriction is induced from not only the lack of free time the paupers were allocated, but also in the hard, repetitive and tedious physical labour they had to do in exchange for residency.

I have been inspired to work mostly by hand in an effort to replicate the atmosphere and struggle of the workhouse and for the fact that the art of hand embroidery is a physically constraint exercise. For example, one of the tasks paupers were given was to un-pick Oakum rope to reduce it back to separate fibers which could then be sold on, this task was done in a seated position for hours on end.

When I first start my work I always free up by doing large scaled mark making drawing, often this is done from photographs I have taken of industrial and urban landscapes which helps give me inspiration for composition, and weight of marks. Bearing my research in mind I introduce shapes that relate, such as circles for the ballot system and repeated lines, which I use to convey the idea of a tally of the amount of children at the foundling and paupers in the workhouse.

I always work with a varied amount of drawing materials and medium to give me a large breadth of marks which I can further develop in stitch. I draw with anything from cable ties to screwdrivers, skewers, card, wire, cutlery, string, and pins. I am constantly expanding my range of drawing tools to continue to push and develop my mark making skills. My palette is also varied to different paints (acrylic, gouache, watercolour) to inks, dyes, Tippex, pin pricking, collage, pen, pencil, and tea/coffee. The more I work and experiment within my drawing stage, the freer I am when approaching my textiles.

Since graduating from the University of Huddersfield in 2013,

Above: “Ballot for Entry”, Laura Cadman, Ink and tea stained cotton and frayed, stained scrim, hand embroidery with cotton, linen and crochet thread, wire and monoprinting, 2014

I have been lucky enough to exhibit at both New Designers and in the graduate showcase at the Festival of Quilts. At last years Festival of Quilts I jointly won the BA Bursary award, which allowed me to return and exhibit again at this year’s show. Exhibiting at the show has been an amazing experience, and really helped my confidence in talking with others about my work. It has also enabled me to meet and discover other creatives as well as get incredibly inspired and excited about my future.

In early January I moved to Swindon and after attending an embroiderers’ group meeting I was introduced to a fellow textile artist called Maggie Harris. Over the past year she has really helped support my practice with regular meetings where we look at and discuss my work, with the opportunity for me to see her work and offer feedback in return. With the help and support as a mentor she has helped me nurture my

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practice and develop my style, which has grown so much in the past year.

In September I got involved with a local arts charity organization called ‘Artsite’ where I now hold a studio.

There are several other artists with spaces here which creates a great arty hub as there are a varied amount of creative disciplines. With ever changing exhibitions in the shop and gallery it really is an exciting community which is continuing to grow. My main focus now is to be in my studio as much as possible and continue to work and develop my practice.

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www.lauracadman.com info@lauracadman.com www.facebook.com/lauracstitch

Above: Laura in her studio Below: “Untitled 01�, Laura Cadman, Calico, frayed, painted scrim, Lutradur, hand embroidery, 2014

Interview

MAggie grey The name Maggie Grey is synonymous with machine embroidery in the UK and beyond. Artist, teacher, author but above all prolific maker, Maggie embraces diverse inspiration and new technology into her constantly evolving work. Annabel Rainbow poses the questions to find out more.

‘Celtic Pod’. Silk carrier rods, stitched as long straps and formed into a vessel. Celtic motifs applied.

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How did you start – are textiles/ embroidery your background? Do you call yourself an embroiderer, or something else?! Can you give us a biography? What sort of things inspire you e.g. a lot of your work looks multi layered, and these seem built with a number of processes; do you have a clear plan at the beginning of your work or does it grow and develop as you go along?

I have always loved to draw, mostly pencil sketches or ink and wash.

Embroidery and crafts were certainly not part of my background and I doubt my mother ever threaded a needle. She was, however, a very accomplished pianist and felt that this excused her from other creative pursuits, including cooking. She was very supportive of my drawing efforts but insisted on piano lessons as well. Luckily for music lovers I stuck with the drawing.

Above and below: Sketchbook from a teaching trip to Australia’s Northern Territory. Pigments obtained by rubbing pages in mud.

A brief biography My background is commerce rather than art and Clive (my husband) and I met while working at an insurance company.

He was very keen on art and encouraged my drawing by giving me presents of paint and good thick paper. Wanting more texture I started hand stitching into my paintings. We both managed to escape from the insurance world, Clive by starting up a ‘work from home’ consultancy and me by pretending to be his assistant but actually enrolling on the local City & Guilds embroidery course.

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This piece is from a series called ‘A brief history of wall painting’. Inspired by the Australian sketchbooks and digital photos, it features the ‘’Ang-bangbang’ tribe. Printed and oiled paper with gesso and stitch.

‘Genetics of the Fruit Bowl’. Worked on the Embellisher machine with inserts of machine embroidery.

Overleaf: Detail.

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What gives you most pleasure – teaching, writing, sketchbooks, your textile works?

Sadly, I no longer teach – something had to go – but I hope that some of the teaching finds its way into articles for our online magazine Workshop on the Web and my books. I think I love ‘making’ best of all: the excitement of an idea, lots of drawing and sampling and the final execution. I do confess that sometimes a ‘back of the envelope’ idea emerges, rather than a well-drawn design.

‘Genetics of the Fruit Bowl’ is an exploration of that eternal metaphysical question: ‘why do Clive’s apples last forever while my oranges turn mushy very quickly?’

I do tend to build up work in layers – a background and stitching (hand or machine). These days, it’s more multimedia: gesso, paper etc. I bought a diecutter a few years ago, purely to use as a collagraph press. Then I met Samantha Packer and Paula Watkins, who showed me some amazing work made using their cutters. So I am now completely hooked on cutting and Sam, Paula and I have just collaborated on a book, ‘Cut, Shape, Stitch’, published by d4daisy books (www.d4daisy.com). I have even purchased a digital cutter (computers again) but there is always stitch in the mix – somewhere.

You are very computer savvy, (yes you are!) and I notice that you always seem at the forefront of new developments.

Presumably this is something you enjoy?

I do use the computer in my work, sometimes for design but more often to provide a printed surface to stitch upon.

I use paper a lot but also print onto cotton and silk – tending towards the ready prepped fabrics made by Jacquard.

Right: ‘Scandi Scribbles’, detail. Drawings and digital photos from a trip to Stockholm.

Stitching on printed and oiled papers.

Computer displacement effects shown on the poppy.

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Clive and I really got into digital stuff when we ran computer design courses in the 1990s (we worked with Val Campbell-Harding who was the Mac tutor while we were the PC part of the team) at venues such as Urchfont Manor and Missenden Abbey. People used to bring along their desktop machines as hardly anyone had a laptop in those days. This seems beyond belief now.

I think you used to edit the Embroidery magazine, so words must play a large part in your life, and I’ve also been a

Above: ‘Binary Humanity’. I was invited by Susan Lenz to display work in a gallery in Columbia, South Carolina, USA. The subject was ‘the web’. I asked my blogging mates to leave comments on what the web meant to them and they are printed on tabs around the edge. The faces and hands represent the human elements of the internet.

Left: Detail.

fan of your blog for years. I also know you also write an online magazine. Could you tell us about Workshop on the Web? What’s in it? How do people find out about you?

Yes. I edited ‘Embroidery’ magazine for five years and very much enjoyed myself. One useful legacy of the insurance world was that I had some production experience (all those marketing strategies) and was used to meeting deadlines. I was fortunate to work with a great team and copy

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editor, Katherine James, is very much part of d4daisy books, the publishing business I run with photographer Michael Wicks.

Around this time, we became fascinated with the internet.

Clive had already used data transfer in his business (way before the easy email provider option was available) and went on to spend the best £100 of his life finding out (by distance learning) about writing html so that we could have a website. This in turn led to our own distance learning textile courses and to making friends all over the world. We had so many people wanting to join – far more than we could cope with – so we turned it into Workshop on the Web (www. workshopontheweb.com) which offers lots of step-by-step workshops, interviews and product reviews. It is published, on the web, four times a year. This has been going for twelve years now and we have been so lucky to have had such great support from the tutors who write for us – international tutors as well as UK favourites such as Jan Beaney, Jean Littlejohn, Angie Hughes, Siân Martin and so very many more.

4 Crafters Show”, 29th to 31st January 2015. I can feel the various machines calling me, even as I write.

So what’s next for you?

I was persuaded by Jane Lemon to take over as president of West Country Embroiderers and I’m enjoying myself, getting around the branches and meeting the members. I love giving talks around the country so that will continue, as will Workshop on the Web. We are working with The Teenage Cancer Trust to raise money by selling donated sketchbooks through the magazine and lots of lovely ones have been sent in already.

I also love writing books – it spurs me on to produce more work and it is great to have the opportunity of publishing other people’s work through d4daisy books. Michael and I put quality first in our books – excellent photos, good paper and a wonderful UK-based printer. We also offer extra online classes with many of the books. More of my own work is called for soon as I have a retrospective exhibition in Exeter at the “Craft Previous page and detail left: ‘Metaphor’. Mixed media with gesso and inks. Die-cut shapes stitched to a background. This piece is a little political and concerns countries selling arms and then giving alms to the countries attacked with them. The words on a chain read, ‘The evil that men do’.

Above: ‘Scandi Scribbles’. Drawings and digital photos from a trip to Stockholm. Stitching on printed and oiled papers. Computer displacement effects shown on the poppy.

Find out more about Maggie Grey, her books and Workshop on the Web: http://magstitch.blogspot.co.uk http://www.workshopontheweb.com http://www.d4daisy.com

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, what’s on?

Village Green Quilters’ Exhibition ‘Letters’ Date:18th January 2015 Time:10am – 4pm Venue:Tindle Room, Farnham Maltings, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 7QR Standard entry to Farnham Maltings Sale

SPUN -- An innovative fiber exhibit Location: Etui Fiber Arts Gallery, 2106 Boston Post Road, Larchmont, NY (914) 341-1426

Kalamkari Exhibition title: Memories and Mementoes Location: Dundee Botanic Gardens Gallery Dates: Sat 1st Nov to Sat 15th Nov, times 10 .00 to 3.30pm Cafe available.

Dates: October 17 - November 10, 2014 Contact information: www.spunfiberexhibit.com Questions can be directed to: info@spunfiberexhibit.com Jane Davila, Director, Vivien Zepf, Assistant Director

“Lines into Shapes” will be exhibiting at the Art Center of Estes Park, Colorado from November 1 through the 16th.

The gallery features photography, fiber art, paintings, ceramics and sculptures.

The address is 517 Big Thompson Avenue, Estes Park, Colorado, 970586-5882, located just south of the famous Stanley Hotel. Please visit artcenterofestes.com to see art work exhibited in the gallery and on-line.

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Yateley based, Village Green Quilters is a group of enthusiastic quilters and textile artists. Set up in 2007, the group has over 60 members from beginners to national and internationally acclaimed quilters. The exhibition is being held at the popular Farnham Maltings Quilters’ and Fabric Sale on Sunday 18th January 2015, which will host several local quilt groups and over 40 stalls selling fabric, books and related items at sale prices. The Village Green Quilters’ Exhibition will be showcasing a fantastic range of contemporary, art and traditional quilts as well as 3D work. Members will also be providing various demonstrations throughout the day.

For more information about Village Green Quilters, please visit www.villagegreenquilters.co.uk For more information about the Farnham Maltings Quilters and Fabric Sale visit www.farnhammaltings.com or telephone the box office on 01252 745444

Through Our Hands Magazine, Issue 3 | November 2014

25th Designer Crafts at the Mall 2015 SOCIETY OF

Photo: Ester Segarra

DESIGNER CRAFTSMEN

Bruce Marks

The Mall, London, SW1 (Near Admiralty Arch off Trafalgar Square) Thursday 8th January to Saturday 17th January Open daily 10.0am to 5.00pm (Closes at 4.00pm on 17th January) www.societyofdesignercraftsmen.org.uk

Are you organising an event or exhibition?

Let us know all about it and we’ll list it in the next isssue of Through Our Hands. All listings will also be posted on the Through Our Hands website for maximum exposure! www.throughourhands.co.uk throughourhands.co.uk@gmail.com

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Review

The Bristol wool fair The marquees were an impressive size even from a distance. If you looked carefully, you also might have been able to make out some sheep milling about and being prepared for shearing demonstrations. Getting nearer to the event, the smell of wool and the bleating of sheep were strikingly evident. This was certainly peculiar for the middle of Bristol. And yet, the Bristol Wool Fair was a great success.

The Wool Fair was held over three days on Clifton and Durdham Downs, an expansive stretch of open green space in the heart of the city. It is often used for hosting touring fairgrounds and circuses, but has never before entertained such a big or ambitious art event. It is possible that this was the first arts and crafts fair that the Downs had seen.

The Bristol Wool Fair welcomed different types of makers and artists including spinners, weavers, knitters and felt-makers, and invited various local Guilds to participate across the three days of the fair. This ensured an eclectic celebration of all things ‘wool’ and showcased the rich variety of techniques and arts and crafts objects that this material can produce. There are such creative possibilities available when using wool.

The artists and makers held stalls within the marquees to present their own work (often for sale), to offer technical advice, to encourage people to explore the opportunities available with their Guild, and to advertise any workshops they might be holding within the next few months. The International Felt Makers Association was one of the first stalls you saw and also happened to be one of the most beautiful, being tightly packed with delicate felt scarves, textured rugs, garlands of ornamental accessories and colourful felted patchwork hats.

Text and images by Helen Cobby

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The Clifton and Durdham Downs played host to The Bristol Wool Fair this September, Helen Cobby went along.

Creativity was centred round Bristol, with many local art groups, makers and event organisers joining in with the fair.

Heartspace Studios, providing workshops and a small gallery space for all things textiles (found on Coldharbour Road, Bristol), had a great presence giving knitting demonstrations and advice, as well as helping fair-goers to think about imaginative ways of using wool by exhibiting work made by some of the Studio’s tutors.

One of the most important and uplifting aims of the fair was to encourage everyone to be curious and learn about craft skills. There were hands-on workshops spread over the festival. These included free knitting lessons and crochet flower workshops. Making 3D felt flowers using a wet felting technique was the most popular and regular event, and was run by the International Felt Makers. Each time every participant came away with a beautifully colourful felt flower, and had visibly had fun getting involved with a messy and tactile process.

Demonstrations of spinning and weaving techniques were also popular. One entertaining demonstration was of a century-old sock-making machine that looked both delicate and intricate.

Another discussed all the processes involved with making a wool garment, acknowledging that it takes approximately 40 hours to spin enough wool to make a jumper. The daily goose herding and sheep shearing were other lively, and unusual, events. Even the live music and food were wool-themed - the artisan ice cream made from whole sheep’s milk by “Shepherd’s” was a particular culinary highlight.

Wool Fairs, if common anywhere, are more frequent in the countryside. So there was definitely an element of the country village fair on the Bristol Downs during the festival. So maybe this particular Wool Fair could contribute to not only bringing together artists and makers within Bristol and from around the country, but also to bridging some of the gaps between

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the values and ways of life in the city and the countryside. It certainly helped to see Bristol in a different and refreshing light: a city that is inclusive of a wide range of art, events and entertainment.

Above: Needle felting by Jenny Barnett

The Bristol Wool Fair was also an important and positive project for re-evaluating crafts based around wool. It certainly affirmed that knitting and making things with wool is no longer old-fashioned, archaic or artistically limited. Instead, it is popular, thriving, experimental and fun.

After this success, the Bristol Wool Fair will be back even bigger and more exuberant next year.

www.bristolwoolfair.co.uk helencobby.wordpress.com Twitter: @HelenCobby

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Inspiration

travelling inspiration part two

Through Our Hands Affiliate artist Dijanne Cevaal continues her series of articles explaining how travel has been so inspirational to her work.

I could tell you so much of everything that interests me when I travel - I certainly have favourite things, but most of all I tend to revisit places that inspire me - I want to understand what makes them such places, I want to understand their history, their interaction with time and their interaction with art and culture. This only loosely relates to textile as you can see, but it is in textile that I express these enamourments. So I will share a recent preoccupation and what I can see becoming a wonderful new preoccupation when I have finished with the latest one.

Those who read my blog will know I love Chartres Cathedral.

I visit there every time I go to France. Initially in 2000 I visited for the famed Rose window and stained glass. I did not notice much else to be perfectly honest. Then a few years ago my friend Christine Moulin and I visited it and I noticed new and different things; those amazing sculpted figures on the Royal Portal which is today the main entrance to the cathedral.

These figures have stood on this portal since the twelfth century and are from the beginning of the Gothic period which saw the great looming cathedrals of north western France and England emerge. These structures are at once enormous given what preceded their construction, and are so richly decorated that one marvels at the incredible man hours it must have taken to build these enormous testaments to a system of belief.

Figures on the Royal Portal at Chartres. Their names are not known.

Text and images by Dijanne Cevaal

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I photographed the figures not once thinking that they would so captivate my imagination that I would decide to recreate these figures in the second dimension of textile. But captivate they did. When I looked at my photos properly I was struck by their very elongated proportions, the detail in the dress decoration including the fine pleating and embroidery and the fact that there were almost as many female figures as there were male figures. It is not known who the sculpting team responsible was, but it seems they also did the sculptures for the Abbaye at St Denis in Paris and Salisbury Cathedral. The sculptures are unusual for there is no idealization of figure,

Through Our Hands Magazine, Issue 3 | November 2014

though there is stylization and despite this you feel as if you are looking at faces of people that once existed and their faces are surprisingly modern. It is also not known who exactly the sculptures represent, originally it was thought old testament figures because the cathedral is devoted to proving the lineage of Mary, but it is far from certain.

The male figures are interesting also but I became intrigued by the female figures especially as there is some evidence to suggest that the Marian Cult was actively fostered in Chartres.

It is known that the cathedral devoted itself to the seven liberal arts: Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy and to the feminine. There are at least 400 representations of the feminine, an interesting thought in an age that on the surface seems dominated by The Crusades, Richard the Lion Heart and William the Conqueror. Until you start to look more closely that is; this is also the age of Eleanor of Aquitaine, of Mathilde, William’s wife who held the fort in Normandy whilst he was off fighting and establishing order in England. These were powerful intelligent women who ruled in their own right and who sponsored many building projects along with their male counterparts. To them can be attributed the commissioning of the creation of Books of Hours (another preoccupation on the back burner for the time being), grand tapestries including the famed Lady and the Unicorn and even some say the Bayeaux Tapestry. There is some suggestion that it may have been commissioned by Queen Mathilde to celebrate William’s efforts in England, though I realize there are many stories of how this tapestry (sic embroidery) came to be.

The detail of the embroidery on this sculpture is fine indeed.

The women’s attire has been given incredible detail in stone and is accurate for the period. These sculptors knew their time, it wasn’t just about drape and braids, it was about representing the fine pleating, the belts and the embroidered detail.

Did you know that in the thirteenth century a womans braids were a point of admiration and were even written about? The vestments and the patterns of the columns are so dense and rich with symbolism and just a sheer joy in decoration. .

Right: “Chartres Queens”, detail, Dijanne Cevaal.

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The women are also the same size as the men, sometimes even taller, suggestive of the same importance than the men. Each time I visit Chartres I see more and more, and each time it weaves a deeper spell of wanting to know more, to wonder at the colours that might have adorned the portal in Gothic times because of how highly coloured they would have been.

It has become a preoccupation to capture the faces of the statues but somehow make them of the present time as well.

Are they simply an adornment from times past or do they have something to impart in the present day? Despite the fact that much has been written about the architecture of Chartres Cathedral, all in all little has been written about these statues. The timpanium has been interpreted, the columns and adornments carefully examined, but the figures themselves

I love the sweetness of expression of this particular statue and wonder at the symbolism of her brooch.

remain enigmatic, and that to me is their charm. Their faces seem modern, and in using modern materials in interpreting them they have become even more modern (I am using the word modern to signify the present time) and yet their enigmatic quality translates into this time as well or at least I hope it does. It is their mystery that intrigues me and that will keep me going back, and I know I am far from finished with this journey, though it is starting to take form.

Left: “Chartres Queens�, Dijanne Cevaal.

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The figures above are from the North portal and you can see they are quite different to the gothic sculptures of the Royal Portal. They are not as long and their faces are also different and as they are from a different period the clothing is different.

Right: “Chartres Queens�, Dijanne Cevaal.

For more about Dijanne Cevaal: www.oridiji.blogspot.com

Group

Threads of time

at Hertfordshire archives

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Through Our Hands Magazine, Issue 3 | November 2014

An archive packed with fascinating historical documents became a wealth of inspiration for artists working on the “Threads of Time” project. Daphne Knott and Eva Cantin tell us more.

Daphne says: I have always been fascinated by textiles and I always have some sort of project in hand. I am also fascinated by history – the stories and the characters open up a different world and encourage rampant escapism. I have been lucky enough to work for some years as an archivist and thus have firsthand access to the very stuff of history.

I have long thought that the documents I have worked with could inspire other stitchers, and last year I was able to test this theory in the “Threads of Time” project.

Having distributed invitations to an initial meeting about the project to textile groups and needlework shops throughout Hertfordshire, we were delighted when thirty-five excited textile enthusiasts attended. We explained that we wanted participants in the project to be inspired by documents from the archive of a local family, the Wittewronges. Everybody would be free to produce any style of textile piece as long as it had some connection to the documents this collection.

The Wittewronge collection was chosen because it contains a wide range of documents and many interesting stories.

The family were Huguenot refugees who became very wealthy, often by marrying well. The papers contain fascinating characters, including an Elizabethan privateer and a civil war general who

wrote an early weather diary.

Most of the people who arrived at the first meeting had never visited an archive before, so they were amazed when they were shown a selection of documents dating back to the 11th century. Comments ranged from a simple “Wow! Is that the real thing?” to more informed questions about parchment and paper. Some initial reactions seemed less promising: “Is it all words?” one lady asked.

We reconvened to ask, with some trepidation, whether the documents we had shown were at all inspiring and how many people would like to take part in the project. The response was overwhelming - and very noisy!

It seemed that everybody had been inspired by something and they already wanted to share their ideas with the group.

After the first meeting, the group met regularly for behind the scenes tours of the archives and to share their works in progress. Professional artists and amateurs who had not picked up a

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Above and facing page: Original documents from the archive

needle since their school days happily exchanged ideas: everybody had a skill to bring to the project, whether it was historical knowledge, expertise in textiles or practical experience of mounting an exhibition. Between meetings, group members visited the archives to study the documents. As one project member said, “You never know where the archives are going to lead you”.

By the time the exhibition date came around, everybody had produced at least one piece of work and the final display attracted many admiring comments.

Text by Daphne Knott and Eva Cantin Images courtesy of the artists and © Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies

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Eva says: Group exhibitions inspired by locations and their stories have often left me wondering how to get involved in these projects. So when information about the “Threads Of Time” project dropped into my inbox I was ready to go. Textile artists and enthusiasts in Hertfordshire were invited to create a piece of work inspired by items from the Wittewronge family archive held at Hertfordshire County Archive.

At first my attention was caught by the historical themes which repeat over the centuries; communities in conflict, persecution of those who appear different, the social effects of economic downturn, luxury and profligacy for a select few... the list goes on. My head was buzzing with the possibilities but stumped over how I could begin to reflect these in thread. Other participants responded to some of these themes while I re-focussed on the visual aspects of the documents.

Above: “Scripts and Scrolls I”, Eva Cantin Below: “Scripts and Scrolls II”, Eva Cantin

Scrolls of parchment bundled together, some squashed flat, some still in springy rolls. All showing the marks of age in different ways. The details fascinated me; the surface textures and colours, the variety of scripts, tiny stitches joining parchment lengths and tacked on slips with indecypherable notes, like ancient Post-its. One of my favourite finds was a bunch of tally sticks. I had heard of these but never seen any before, and now I had them in my hands.

My textile toolkit has been developing randomly for some time. Recreating and reflecting my impressions of the scrolls would be an opportunity to practise some of those techniques and skills. I don’t usually take the time to make samples, but for this project I felt this would be an important learning

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process. My intention was to take a more purposeful approach than I usually do.

To create the different components of my piece I experimented with:

enthusiasm we generated as well as the generous sharing of ideas helped keep us going when some might have dropped out.

Layering and laminating paper and textiles to make surfaces for stitching and printing.

Digital manipulation of photos, simplifying images of scripts for use as design elements.

Transfering design elements to computerized stitching and thermofax screens.

Screen print on textile and paper.

Hand and machine stitching for design elements, embellishment and attachment.

As well as assembling the elements and several project pieces, this preparation helped me consolidate some skills and identify areas for future development.

During the project we also had the opportunity to attend a bookbinding workshop - this was a revelation for me and I have already started experimenting with different book forms as a result

“The Alchemical Curiosity Cabinet”, Catherina Petit - Van Hoey

“Keeping a Tally”, Eva Cantin

Below: “Revelations”, Amanda Bloom “Beyond Threads of Time”, Eva Cantin

As I worked my mind was still exploring some of the themes thrown up. I thought a lot about collecting, storing and transmitting information. How technological developments influence and affect how this is done and who has access to it. This is an area I hope to explore further in future. Meanwhile it led to a 3D piece reflecting some of the information systems used over the centuries, including tally sticks.

For further information about this project: http://www.hertsmemories.org. uk/category/threads_of_time

Taking part in “Threads Of Time” has been more than a textile challenge. It also brought together people who might never have met. Having a common aim made it easy for us to come together. The

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“Metaphor”, Maggie Grey

www.throughourhands.co.uk 11 Knightcote Drive, Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, UK 07877 402455