What's on in June

Karen Grenfell a professional artist who combines her love of hand embroidery with painting producing mixed media works including a range of Cockney Sparrows and Budgie Stufferies, and a unique pet portrait service which can be found around the globe from Alaska to Australia! She is the artist behind MimiLove Forever and her works have appeared in various shows and galleries.

© Karen Grenfell

"A Needle, a Paintbrush and Too Much Time on My Hands"
7.15 pm on Wednesday 10 June 2015
at Iffley Village Church Hall, Iffley, OX4 4EG.

Visitors welcome £5.00

What's on in May

This month's guest speaker, Rosie James, is a textile artist who, in her own words, "creates all kinds of things using my sewing machine". Rosie will be giving a lecture exploring the work of contemporary textile artists who use the sewing machine as a drawing tool. We will be looking at various artists and considering their inspirations and techniques, concepts and ideas.

© Rosie James

"Stitch Draw"
7.15 pm on Wednesday 13 May 2015
at Iffley Village Church Hall, Iffley, OX4 4EG.

Visitors welcome £5.00

What's on in March

This month our guest speaker is Claire Blackburn.

"An Insight into my work with an emphasis on the anthropological nature of my pieces; recording stories in stitch, the things that inspire me and the variety of techniques I employ within my practice."

© Claire Blackburn

"A Homage to the Ordinary"
7.15 pm on Wednesday 12 March 2015
at Iffley Village Church Hall, Iffley, OX4 4EG.

Visitors welcome £5.00

What's on in February

This month our guest speaker is Cherrilyn Tyler.

Cherrilyn has been a practising textile artist and teacher for over 20 years. Her work has an ethereal quality using a very delicate colour palette and fine fabrics strongly based on quality of stitch and design.

© Cherrilyn Tyler

"It's Pants"
7.15 pm on Wednesday 1 February 2015
at Iffley Village Church Hall, Iffley, OX4 4EG.

Visitors welcome £5.00

What's on in January

Our first guest speaker of 2015 is our very own Wendy Hughes! Wendy's profile begins by saying

"In a globalised world in which hi-tech is more and more playing a major role in peoples lives, Wendy Hughes’ work goes against the trend. Her preoccupation is with work which has an effortless randomness and irregularity only possible when produced by hand."

and concludes with

"Wendy Hughes’ work is intuitive and materially led. She pares down her ideas to minimum. There is no unnecessary decoration. The fabrics she uses add softness and vulnerability to forms the otherwise would be severe in their minimalism.

The work stands by itself, a statement in simplicity."

© Wendy Hughes

"My Journey with Fabric and Thread"
7.15 pm on Wednesday 14 January 2015
at Iffley Village Church Hall, Iffley, OX4 4EG.

Visitors welcome £5.00

12 November 2014, Yulia Badian - "Woodland Boudoir"

Yulia is a member of Silkfelt - a collective of fibre artists interested in working with fairy tales, myth and folklore. Their website entices you to "play with fibres, fabrics, dyes; add soap and water, heat and time; stroke, rub, vibrate, roll, throw, tie, press, clamp, stitch, fold or cut. And let us use our creativity freely and find out what IS possible". Yulia herself is a self-confessed "ditzy" mother of two girls and a felt fanatic, and if her talk is anything to go by, if you do a workshop with her, you will have a day full of surprises and giggles.

Yulia first took us through an installation project entitled Woodland Boudoir which was shown at the Knitting & Stitching Show 2013. The idea had come about over a glass of wine (or three) shared with friends during a stay in Yorkshire. As can be the way when a group of creative women get together, they decided to work together and share their skills to create an installation project which would tell stories of their lives through fairy tales. Whilst you may think of the surface innocence of stories from Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, such tales often had undercurrents running through them where the woods stood to represent female sexuality, a place that young girls could get lost in but which was inhabited by mature women in tune with both nature and themselves (at least that’s how these ladies chose to view it !!)

© Silkfelt

Yulia finds working in a group very inspirational and she worked with 7 others to create this work which includes not only felt but woven willow (by Debbie Hall), hand painted wallpaper (Hannah Stippl and Anita Duller) and embroidery (Gilda Baron). Yulia had a good range of photos that showed how meticulously made and varied the pieces were, some being multi layered and she explained how these were done. There were technical problems along the way, but Yulia is a positive and resilient person, so found a way round them – including jetting off to Holland barely days before the show to use large-scale felting machines.

It was over another glass (or three) of wine that the next project took shape – The Mermaid Project (shown at K&S 2014). A conversation which started along the lines of "what women do to change their bodies and all for the sake of love" culminated in the idea that The Little Mermaid made the ultimate sacrifice in using cosmetic surgery to try and catch her man. "A shape-shifting figure for our own times, a tragic heroine who seeks to transform her appearance in order to get what (she thinks) she wants, and in the process destroys her own beauty and ultimately herself." There was much laughter and ribaldry at the suggested props required to turn a pretty little mermaid into a middle-aged woman…. followed by what middle-aged women do to keep up appearances (and we don’t mean elocution lessons from Hyacinth Bucket). To quote their thoughts "We all resonate with the lure of the quick fix the sweet banter of the witch. Luring us with our insecurities promising to fulfill our desire for love with her lotions and potions, shaving, lifting, filling, tucking our flesh as short cuts to a happier life."

Using felt, Yulia, Rosi and Linda addressed all these themes. I must admit to getting a bit lost at this point… I wasn’t quite sure how a piece which seemed (to me) to be seahorses and was entitled "Shotgun Wedding" came out of The Little Mermaid idea. Made from Bergschaf (wool from Austrian sheep), Teeswater curls, Silk, Horsehair, French Lace, Silicone, shells all wet felted over various armatures, it was nonetheless an interesting and clever trio of pieces. I could understand the pink legs, cross-stitched all down the back, and appreciate the full length felted and slashed Sea Witch coat, but I wasn’t sure about a twisted, gnarled and felted shape representing the witch itself. Many of the pieces are 3d and Yulia explained some of the clever techniques used to create them – such as felting around shapes which are cut out when it is dry so the 3d shape is maintained.

© Silkfelt

Now, if you embarrass easily or prefer not to know the more intimate type of other props they created, feel free to skip this paragraph. The Mermaid idea then moved into colourful phallic shapes and pale hymen-busters complete with beaded edges (cutely entitled Honeymoon Fresh) followed by a set of mounted merkins (genital wigs as used by stars of film and theatre and, apparently, a lot of oriental ladies). By now our audience had dissolved into a giggling mass of amusement, both from discovering such things existed and seeing how they were being portrayed in felt and other materials.

Obviously Yulia and her co-workers can get a lot of mileage from one idea. The phrase "impossible textiles" is one that is associated with this sort of work – the type of image that you can see in your head but wonder how on earth you will actually create it. One of her collaborators – Sue Walton – did a similar thing with Jabberwocky – "a surreal tableau inspired by the vivid imagination Lewis Carroll… where sculpted felt combines with contrasting and diverse materials". If you’ve never seen it, have a look on www.suewalton.co.uk.

© Silkfelt

There is no doubt that Yulia has an ethical approach to the materials she uses – for example, preferring wool from sheep that have lived as naturally as possible. She is a lady now comfortable in her own skin and that comes across in her work. Her presentation was natural and fun, scattered with anecdotes about how she got to where she is now, but can be thought provoking if you look beyond the initial ideas. Her Facebook page has lots more interesting stuff if you like her work and want to know what she is currently thinking about. This was a side of felt-making that I had not seen before and I had not appreciated how stunning it could look when done on such a large scale. She knows her subject, and if you’d like an evening with a capital E for entertainment, then look no further than Yulia.

What's on in November

When Jo Smith visited us in June 2014, she spoke about a piece she had created (the Dancing Wolf) for a colaborative project, The Woodland Boudoir.

In November, Yulia Badian, will tell us more about The Woodland Boudoir.

© Yulia Badian

Inspired by a stay in Yorkshire amongst joyful, whole-hearted, lusty older women telling tales of their lives, by fairy tales and my fellow artists skills.

In fairy tales the woods stand for female sexuality, a place for young girls to get lost in but inhabited by mature women in tune with nature and themselves. Conceptualized, designed and curated by the multi-talented, creative, Yulia Badian - SILKFELT, the boudoir combines the talents of 8 inspirational female artists in a celebration of mature female sexuality.

Ancient techniques like Shibori, willow weaving, felting and embroidery are used in new and exciting ways to produce meticulously and lovingly hand crafted pieces.

"Woodland Boudoir"
7.15 pm on Wednesday 12 November 2014
at Iffley Village Church Hall, Iffley, OX4 4EG.

Visitors welcome £5.00

8 October 2014, Katie Pirson - "My Journey Through Stitch"

Katie arrived with her fabulous display of hand-stitched work created during her time on the Royal School of Needlework 3 year course and a range kits she has designed. Also accompanying her were her very supportive partner and her adorable 5 month old baby, which we were all coveting! Katie was a very lively, humorous and personable speaker, who gave us a wonderful insight into what it was like to do the RSN course as she talked about the works on display that she had created during her time there.

Katie began by giving us a little of her background, indicating that she was the youngest of two children, but most importantly she was the ONLY girl grandchild in contrast to the 7 others who were all boys! Katie started on her textiles route at an early age, as her mum and grandmothers all did a variety of stitching, knitting, crochet etc. She began with simply sorting the colours of buttons, but soon progressed to darning – which became an underlying theme for her as she developed! At school the focus was more on machine work than any hand-stitching and for some reason Katie had never quite gone much beyond darning in the family arena. At 16 she chose A levels more suited to her preferred career route to archaeology, studying History, Psychology and English Literature. She also opted to take A level Textiles, but only as an added extra! It was during this period that she learned to recognise 'Beauty in everything' as her teacher taught her, including the detailed drawings she had to do of a freshly dismembered chicken carcass, where she appreciated the rich colours and textures she discovered there.

Despite being accepted to study Archaeology at York University, literally weeks before she was due to go she had a 'road to Damascus' moment and realised she had to instead pursue her interest in her much loved and never abandoned 'playing with fabrics and threads'. Despite her worries about breaking this volte-face to her parents, they merely laughed! They told her they’d realised textiles was ultimately her passion and what they had always believed she would do, but if they were to have suggested it to her she wouldn’t have listened to them!

© Katie Pirson

Coupled with her textiles interests Katie’s continued love of history and English literature lead her to opt for a costume designing course at the London College of Fashion. She had a fabulous time exploring designs from ancient to modern, from theatre to film sets and much in between. At the conclusion of her course she managed to get the opportunity to design 150 costumes for a charity event with Cliff Richard, which she felt certain would enable her to dazzle everyone with her amazing costuming talents, thus setting her on the road to fame and fortune in the costume world. However, one should never count one’s costume success before the designs have arrived, as she discovered on learning that she was actually required to create 150 flesh-coloured thongs! This was hardly the chance to shine in the costume world that she had imagined!

After a time Katie began to hanker for some more hands on embroidery and initially struggled to find a suitable course, until she came across a leaflet for the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) 3 year course and realised this was absolutely the one for her! She had to endure a gruellingly rigorous 4 stage interview process, including one with the bursar who insinuated her parents might be less than willing to offer her accommodation during her course. She was one of only 4 students (apprentices) accepted by the RSN.

Katie had visions fuelled by her love of Jane Austen, which led to her imagining she would spend her days idyllically sewing dressed in period costume heretically sealed in the historical Hampton Court Palace setting. Although there were lovely views the reality was nothing like that or the original Victorian origins either! The view was the first thing she was introduced via a seeming initiation ceremony of going through various doorways, spiral staircases and ending up finally going through a trapdoor in the roof to emerge on top of the palace and they were left there to get on with a drawing that would be translated into a finished stitched sampler piece – she created a beautifully detailed image of the chimneys. She gave us in depth information on the types of threads she used in her various pieces, the plethora of stitches employed and the grounds they were worked on including French Linen Batiste at a staggering £92 for a piece about A4 sized! She indicated that they never just worked on one piece alone, but usually had at least 3-4 on the go at once, all exploring differing techniques. The most valuable part of the learning process was the understanding how to make a design that was workable for each method.

She discussed every stitch you could imagine (and maybe some you can’t!), but she said one of the most popular methods was the silk shading method, or painting with a needle, using long and short stitch. Although Katie felt it would be better named the long and longer stitch, as if you used too short a stitch it just ended up short and stubby. She indicated this was popular for altar frontals, regimental banners and restoration work. She showed us her example a beautiful poppy (chosen for her grandmother who worked for the British Legion), which actually included 32 different red threads, some only used for a few stitches!

© Katie Pirson

She showed several examples of goldwork including a Tudor rose, the only design all students work on that is NOT designed by them! This work was important for Coronation Goldwork, a method including specific symbols on velvet since the 17th C. She also told us about showing this on an open day when some 'bright spark' refused to believe that she had actually sewn it all, arguing instead that it had to have been glued on and to prove his point he picked up her slate frame, turned it upside down shook it scattering all her materials sitting on top of it to the ground! There was a collective gasp from all of us on hearing this! We couldn’t believe anyone could be that stupid and inconsiderate!

© Katie Pirson

They were required to do many different finished pieces using a range of methods. One piece they had to do used to be termed 'church work' but now altered to be a symbol, figure and animal. Due to a love of JRR Tolkein she created an eagle (in silk shading), a tree (in silver work) and JRR Tolkein in an armchair (tapestry silk shading). She also showed us quite a lot of white work and some Mount Melleck work too. She pointed out one piece that took 90 hours! She indicated they had to time every piece of work they created because this would be useful for later work when they would need to estimate costs/charges.

© Katie Pirson

In the RSN final year Katie indicated that anything could fall into their laps! For example a famous Brazilian artist contacted them and wanted one of his watercolours translated into an embroidery for his large table! She also spent 350 hours on a christening robe! But they also had 'silly' things like restoring a small green felt teddy called Mr. Pickering and then recreating him in blue felt for the owner’s new grandson!

As a result of her RSN course Katie never went back to costumes, but now only does hand embroidery and also enjoys teaching. Katie finished her talk by giving us a few pointers gleaned through some excellent questioning by our members. She indicated that when they washed items they only used Ecover and Calgon water softener. They only do a cold wash in shallow basins, laying the fabric gently on the top of the water and allowing it to sink of its own accord over time, NOT pushing it down. If you push it down it can create watermarks. It is left to soak for an hour and then rinsed with a very gentle showerhead over it. Items can be washed many times using this method until the water is completely clean when poured away. When finished you just roll the textile in a towel to remove any excess moisture.

It was a joy to hear Katie’s talk and see her intricate work close up and to hear the context of how it was created.

What's on in October

Annual General Meeting followed by Katie Pirson. Katie says her interest in textiles and hand made goodies came from early childhood thanks to her mum and grandmothers putting up with the mess she made. Katie is a graduate of the Royal School of Needlework and now runs her own small business taking private commissions, building a range of personalised items to sell, teaching and travelling around exhibitions to keep the art of hand embroidery alive in a machine mad culture. .

© Katie Pirson

AGM and Katie Pirson
7.15 pm on Wednesday 8 October 2014
at Iffley Village Church Hall, Iffley, OX4 4EG.

Visitors welcome £5.00