Stitch Draw by Rosie James

It has been quite a struggle finding books to review that are both informative and inspiring so we were thrilled when we came across ‘Stitch Draw, Designing Technique for Figurative Stitching,’ by Rosie James. It always seems that those who are best at what they do are happy to share their knowledge and textile artist Rosie James is no exception.

Demonstrating how to use machine stitching to draw with thread, the book is ideal for all levels of expertise taking the reader through drawing exercises, to which surfaces to use, what subjects to choose and how to present your work. If you’re already familiar with machine embroidery you should still find some useful gems that will help expand your stitching repertoire. Or if machine embroidery isn’t your preference, details on how to make inexpensive screen prints and creating a cloth book are skills that can transfer to most types of art.

Rosie’s work is scattered throughout so it doesn’t become a dry lesson in textile D.I.Y. and it also showcases other stitch artists making it an attractive and inspiring book to browse through and have on your bookshelf.

Stitch Draw, Designing Technique for Figurative Stitching by Rosie James is published by Batsford Books. RRP £19.99 (www.batsford.com) and is available on Amazon internationally.

Textile Curator’s First Newsletter

We just wanted to let you all know that Textile Curator’s first newsletter has just been sent out to our subscribers. Thank you for your patience to those of you who have already signed up. It will be written in conjunction with each new online exhibition and has additional images and information about our featured artists. If you are interested in receiving a copy please sign up on the Home Page or our Facebook page.

New featured artists

We aren’t gender focused at Textile Curator, but purely by co-incidence this month we are featuring three male textile artists. Aiming to show the diversity of textile art internationally it’s incredible to see the range of creativity from all corners of the globe. American quilter Luke Haynes is based in L.A, Japanese born Takashi Iwasaki lives in Canada and Faig Ahmed lives and works in Azerbaijan.

Luke Haynes is currently working on an incredibly ambitious project ‘The Log cabins of Donald Judd,’ and is producing 50 quilts all 90″ square. The theme is taken from the Donald Judd installation at the Chinati foundation ‘100 untitled works in mill aluminium, 1982 – 1986.’  As he explains, “in learning my trade and the vernacular of quilting I have been practicing block types and learning history of piecing.  The log cabin is arguably the first repeatable quilting block and therefore that is where I started. The reason it’s alluding to Judd is the material and iteration and to suggest that the show is objects in space and sculpture and remove the ‘Quilt’ pre-conception of bed and private and valueless.”

In neighbouring Canada Takashi Iwasaki is continuing his hand embroideries, that are so immaculate at first they appear to have been machine stitched.

Finally, we are thrilled to featured Faig Ahmed, who’s diverse work continues to inspire. It’s fascinating to see his reinterpretation of classic rugs from his native Azerbaijan that he exhibits worldwide.

Welcome to Textile Curator

Welcome to Textile Curator. If you’re reading this you hopefully have some interest in textiles, whether you are a collector, student or simply someone who enjoys sewing and creating.

This website evolved after I was struggling to find some yarn and I was trying to find out about textile exhibitions.  There are very few websites devoted to quality textile art so I started Textile Curator.

Each four to six weeks there will be an online exhibition of three talented textile artists from all disciplines as well as an in depth interview to discover their motivations and techniques. Along side this is a regularly updated directory of resources and book reviews are coming soon.

Our first exhibition features the beautiful work of Louise Gardiner. One of the most high profile artists today she has an enviable c.v that includes work in the Collect exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery and decorating Liberty of London’s window.

Her latest work is The Lighthouse of Liberty Love.  A large linen quilt with embroidery, paint and appliqué. 2015. 230cms x 175cms. It was commissioned by Liberty and had to be completed in an awe inspiring 20 days. It is on display in their haberdashery department until 2016.

I first became aware of Sara Impey‘s work when I saw it at the Shipley Gallery in Gateshead in the UK. Her impeccable quilts have stitched words that address relevant topics of today and one of her newest pieces ‘Identity Crisis’ contains a list of passwords and lists that she usually keeps secret. “I wanted to create a sense of life unravelling by wrapping the quilted ‘tape’ around a giant spool,” she explains.

It also challenges the conventional idea of what a quilt is, yet as it is three layers of fabric held together with stitch the almost 8 m long finished piece is indeed a quilt.

Marie-Thumette Brichard is the third featured artist this month. While she usually specialised in tapestry as you can see on her gallery page she also diversifies such as this weaving from a series called ‘Transparancies’  that incorporates old nets, lames, fishing yarns and synthetic and metallic threads.  The interplay of light on the textured hanging contrasts with her flatly woven tapestries and proves what a versatile artist she is.