February exhibition showcases three dynamic textile artists

(Top image: Ben Venom in Kimball Gallery, photo by Randy Dodson)

Two of our artists this month take a look at popular culture. Quilter Ben Venom takes inspiration from music, tattoos and the occult, while Norwegian tapestry artist Kristin Saeterdal cites Science Fiction and computer games as part of her visual references. Using these as the foundation for their work brings textiles bang up-to-date and the vibrancy of their art leaves no question that the medium of textiles can have far more impact that just paint and a canvas.

Speaking of canvases, Philadelphia-based Matthew Cox uses the unlikely material of x-rays as his starting point. Proving that less is more, his careful stitching highlights the fast pace of technology and photography against the slow hand-made. We’ll be taking a further look at his new range of work ‘Fragmented Hosts,’ in an upcoming blog.

Video of 400 hours of tapestry weaving

For those of you from Australia, Happy Australia Day for January 26th.

This week we have a video from fellow Australian textile artist Diana Wood Conroy.

She is in our current online exhibition and her tapestries take around 400 hours to complete.

For a glimpse of what 400 hours of tapestry weaving ‘What must I do now?’ (shown below) looks like,

visit our Facebook page or www.dianawoodconroy.com to watch the time lapse video.

Review of Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art

Let’s face it, textiles isn’t the fastest form of creativity so when I read ‘Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art,’ by Claire Wellesley-Smith I was quite intrigued about what angle it would take. It begins by explaining the origins of the Slow Movement which started in the mid 1980s as a reaction to multi-national fast-food companies. It then spread to different genres and as Claire sums up it is ‘doing everything as well as possible, instead of as fast as possible.’ This rings true with most people who enjoy textiles and so starts an enjoyable book.

As well as looking at materials and techniques it touches on the history of textiles, illustrating projects and different techniques including Kantha (a quilting technique found in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) and Piecing and Patching (with a back to basics Log-cabin patchwork project). Including work by contemporary textile artists scattered throughout there is also a how- to section on beginning a stitch journal so there is plenty to inspire.

If you’re looking for something bold and colourful with a contemporary edge, this isn’t the book for you. However, for a book to make you stop and think, and learn about different cultural techniques as well as projects to follow, you can’t go wrong.

For more information visit www.batsford.com

Lou Gardiner’s Inspiring New Video

It’s always inspiring to see how other textile artists work and Lou Gardiner has a fabulous new video showing just this. She talks about how addictive embroidery is which is something anyone keen on textiles can relate to. If you’re considering embarking on a project watch this and you’ll be threading your needle in no time. See her in action on her webpage www.lougardiner.co.uk or our Facebook page  www.facebook.com/TextileCurator-330233843768058/

Lou has had a busy six months since we featured her (check out her interview on this site), and is currently exhibiting at Anthropology on the Kings Road in London until 31st of January where ‘You Blow Me Away,’ (above) is on view.

Congratulations to Liesbeth from Wales for winning the competition we launched in December, the prize is Ineke Berlyn’s Shape to Stitch online course.

Have a creative week.

First exhibition of 2016

Happy New Year. To start 2016 we have a colourful collection of contemporary textile artists. Two quilters from the USA, Sidnee Snell and Ann Brauer illustrate how two artists can treat the medium of quilting very differently both in their technique and subject matter. It’s fascinating to see the depth and variation that can be achieved through colour and fabric. Check out a great clip of Sidnee at work on Oregon Art Beat  www.opb.org/television/programs/artbeat/segment/quilter-sidnee-snell

Australian tapestry artist Diana Wood Conroy incorporates her love and study of history into her work. Her long career links, weaving, writing and teaching and her experience and knowledge is evident in both her tapestries and her recent collaboration on the recently published Handbook of Textile Culture by Bloomsbury.

FINE CELL WORK

Our last post for 2015 has a festive touch with these beautiful decorations from Fine Cell Work.

If you’re unfamiliar with Fine Cell Work, it teaches embroidery to inmates in UK prisons who can sell their work to support their families.  The prisoners are taught by volunteers from the ‘Embroiderers and Quilters Guild,’  and they make high quality bags, cushions, pictures, quilts and Christmas decorations, all with a modern aesthetic. Started by Lady Anne Tree in 1997 the aim was to ‘broaden horizons beyond the prison walls and [give prisoners] a brighter outlook on their future.’ With patrons including Kaffe Fassett and Gavin Turk, 60 volunteers train over 400 prisoners. For more information and to see their range of colourful textiles, visit www.finecellwork.co.uk

Online journal quilt courses and competition

Learning new skills or even brushing up on existing knowledge can become tricky with day-to-day commitments so when we came across textile artist Ineke Berlyn’s on-line courses we wanted to tell you about them. She offers three different courses including a 12 month course ‘Exploring Landscapes,’ and one about making your own Art Textile books, but our favourite is the ‘Shape to Stitch Course.’ This 12 month course gives monthly instructions with tips and suggestions on how to make a small art quilt each month. It is quite print orientated, encouraging different ways to print and create fabrics. Over the course of the year you should be able to develop your theme while learning new techniques. For more information visit www.inekeberlyn.com

Ineke has donated one ‘Shape to Stitch Course,’ for our competition so if you are looking for a new project for 2016, email your name, country and email address to info@textilecurator.com by January 4th and the winner will be announced on January 11th.

Christmas inspiration

Christmas is the one time of the year where we can feature smaller, textile related items and this fun Christmas wreath (measuring 30cms) made from galvanised wire, wool and thread by artist and jewellery maker Yuka Jourdain, caught our attention with it’s simple design and originality www.yukajourdain.com 

It can be a struggle to find gifts for textile enthusiasts so if you are an artist with smaller pieces that are suitable for presents let us know and we can try and add you to our December posts.

Artists for the December exhibition

This month’s exhibition features textile artist Alice Fox and two well established tapestry artists, Norwegian, Brita Been and Hungarian, Ibolya Hegyi.

Brita Been’s work focuses on the bold use of colour and pattern where repetition makes her pieces simultaneously intricate yet simple. Her tapestries can also be used as rugs. Historically tapestries were used for both walls and floors and seeing them in the Soft Gallery in Oslo (above) shows that maybe it is time more artists made their work this versatile. As well as her main pieces, Brita also weaves delicate shawls in a variety of yarns including silk.

Ibolya’s Hegyi weaves using very dense warping allowing her to incorporate incredible detail into her work. Using universal themes such as space and weather forecasts, makes her pieces mood inspiring as well as technically interesting. The use of fibre optics also adds another dimension to her art.

Alice Fox has only been a professional artist since 2011 yet her recognisable style, talent and work ethic has already made her an established part of the textile scene. Her love of natures translates to organic tactile pieces where her light touch on natural materials enhances their beauty.

New selection of artists

As always Textile Curator aims to show the depth and variety of contemporary textile art world wide, and this exhibition is no exception. The three featured artists this month all use vastly different techniques and subjects as their inspirations yet all three show a richness of colour, texture and knowledge. The intensity of imagery and colours combined with their complexity and combinations of stitches makes the work of South American’s Chiachio & Giannone (Leo Chiachio and Ganiel Giannone) truly unique. We’re thrilled to have an exclusive interview with this duo who to date have a relatively low internet presence. Alaskan based artist Keren Lowell’s art uses texture, pattern and often illumination to create thought inspiring atmospheric pieces often in muted tones. In her interview she details some of the concepts behind her images as well as why textiles is her favoured medium. Finally, Australian Lucy Carroll’s quilts cover a topic rarely depicted with such sensitivity – the military. Her description of how she makes a quilt is well worth a read to those who are new to quilting or looking for a different technique as she often paints the fabric which gives her work such an artistic quality.