A Grimsby Girl’s World Tour version 1 30 x 30 cms & version 2 • 33 x 28 cms
Version 1 was shown at the Uk Knitting & Stitching shows in the 62 Group of Textile Artists Essence exhibition celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Group.
These are very poignant pieces which capture the essence of my creative practice: textural stitch, appliqué and paint combine to create the allusion of a journey to another place and time. It is a poignant work depicting the visit of grandmother to a grandson she never met. He was born 3 weeks after she died. The Grimsby girl, my Mum, Muriel is shown as a child in this piece. She never had the opportunity to travel outside the UK in her lifetime; here she travels to Copenhagen where her grandson, Sam currently lives with his wife, Eliana.
A Step into the Unknown 2022 – revamped version • mixed media • 74 x 52 cms
Lost in a Strange World 2022 • mixed media – 74 x 52 cms
A selection of samples made for my Cast of Characters workshop for Textileartist.org
A selection of samples made for my Off the Grid workshop for Textileartist.org
Imagined Journeys A series of small mixed media studies
Below: A Grimsby Girl’s World Tour continues • Stopover Brooklyn. Image credit Pitcher Design. Hand and machine stitch study
Below: Another Time, Another Place and In Another Life were selected for The Broderers Exhibition The Art of Embroidery 2022
In Another Life 2021 continues a Grimsby Girl’s world tour with a stopover in Madrid . Size 48.5 x 59 cms • Hand/machine stitch with applied fabrics
Born in 1913 she was not able to travel during her lifetime and had very few opportunities in life to pursue her artistic and musical interests. She left school aged 13 and was apprenticed to a tailor. It was a hard life with no recognition of her skill as a seamstress. She loved singing and was a talented contralto. Here in another life, alongside her best friend she travels to Madrid to study music, dance and theatre.
Another Time, Another Place 2021 • Size: 48.5 x 59 cms
Hand/machine stitch/applied fabrics.
Born in a time when women had no right to vote and many left school at 13 or 14 years old. Ordinary women without opportunities to work after marriage or to travel abroad. Combining images of unknown people from the family album with images from the Alcázar Real in Seville, Spain; symbols of heritage combine with memories to make the composition and bring together an imagined journey to another time and place.
Below: Made in Grimsby was selected for the 62 Group exhibition Connected Cloth
Made in Grimsby • The documenting of a small lifestyle clothing brand called Anywear. 1975 • in an Edwardian shop premises, womenswear was designed & made in Grimsby from cloth that travelled from far and wide. During the lifespan of the business the need to become more commercial had replaced the ‘one off’ designs. By 2002 the designer had had enough of designing other people’s clothes and Anywear closed its doors.
Materials :linen and recycled clothing fabrics, cotton and linen threads
Techniques: hand and machine stitch, appliqué, piecing, drawing
Size: 139 x 87.5 x 2.5 cms
Photos by Pitcher Design
Below: Portrait of Mrs P •a head and shoulders portrait of Constance Howard MBE 1910 – 2000.
Portrait of Constance Howard MBE (1910 – 2000) who established the influential Embroidery department at Goldsmiths College, University of London. She had a huge impact on contemporary embroidery in the second half of the 20th century.
Constance was a small, charismatic person with bright green hair which she sported from the 1930s up until her death. She was always known to her students as Mrs P.
Below: A Stepinto The Unknown
A StepInto the Unknown is part of the Imagined Journeys series • mixed media – Size: 116 x 84cms (46 x 33ins)
Which Way Now? (below) aka A Self Portrait in Turmoil is perhaps an indication of my frame of mind during lockdown.
size:132 x 59 cms
mixed media
The Girls who made the Suits version 2 (below) is an experiment in texture and pattern
3 new self portraits (below) for the ongoing self portraits now numbering 67. 2 are replacements for portraits that have gone to new homes numbers 26 and 27 and a new one number 67.
Boxing Day with Grandad – iPad drawing – commission for Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre GFHC in a Box project 2020
A Book Before Bedtime (below) was a commission for the Grimsby Fishing heritage Centre – GFHC in a Box project supported by Arts council England
Made in 2020
Size: 54.5 x 40 cms
Materials: Acrylic gouache, pencil crayon, cotton and wool threads on cotton calico
Techniques: Hand embroidery, painting
A domestic scene from the 1950s when every night my Mum would read me a book at bedtime. We would sit on the settee with me ready for bed in my pyjamas. Our 1950s living room had heavy, dark utility furniture, a patterned carpet, patterned cushions, antimacassars on the settee, and faded patterned wallpaper with plaster ducks flying across the wall. Always a handbag, letters to post, and a favourite photo of my older sister on the side board and always a pair of shoes underneath the sideboard. The wireless set (radio) has a particular significance in capturing the atmosphere of the times. It was via the wireless that we would hear the news, both good and bad, of triumph and of loss. On the wall a picture of my Dad, Fred Stone working on the old pontoon on Grimsby docks in the 1950s with his brother, my Uncle Harry.
I am very proud of my Grimsby heritage and the close ties my family had with the Grimsby fishing industry in the 1950s is often reflected in the artwork I make. I was born in 1952 and as a child I spent a lot of time ‘down dock’ with my Dad, a Grimsby fish merchant. ‘Down Dock’ was a community within a community.
The passing on of knowledge has always been an important part of my artistic practice so when the chance to be involved with this project arose I was honoured to be able to take the opportunity to revisit my roots and make a piece of work for the Fishing Heritage Centre Collection and I welcome the chance for my work to reach a new audience through the loans boxes.
This Life Matters (below)
Work size w 190 cms x 35 cms
Portrait sizes 2 x 17 x 21 cms, 2 x 18.5 x 23.5 cms, 3 x 21 x 26 cms
‘This Life Matters’ is a series of 7 small portraits which focus on the inequality spotlighted by the Covid 19 pandemic. Each representative of the global community wears the same white t shirt with a slogan ‘This Life Matters’, a nod to Katherine Hamnett’s ‘Choose Life’ slogan t-shirts of the 1980s, Each has their own word embroidered at their side which indicates their circumstances or mindset: Displaced, disenfranchised, disconsolate, dispossessed, dispirited, disabled, and lastly disappearing. Each life is as important as the next.
A series of new teaching samples (Below) made in 2020
Narrative, Strip Weaving & Portrait – hand stitch & mixed media
Portrait of Anne Morrell (below)
hand stitch 26 x 30 cms
A commissioned work to accompany the article Roots in Two continents by Brinda Gill for Issue 95 (July /August) of Selvedge magazine
Brooklyn: Recollection, Return and Repartee (below)
Techniques: hand stitch, machine stitch, appliqué, painting
Part of a series of work called From Grimsby* to Greenpoint & Beyond this piece Brooklyn: Recollection, Return, and Repartee recounts the artist’s memories of return visit to Brooklyn in March 2019. The viewer is taken on a journey during which flashbacks and glimpses of everyday life, are encapsulated in the ‘mind’s eye’ of the artist; attempting to capture of the essence of a specific New York borough and recalling the brogue of Brooklyn in the form of sights, experiences and written word.
Meandering lines plot our paths and the conversations twist and turn; from small talk on the subway to bantering with tall statues in Banker St, taking in gibberish and graffiti in Greenpoint, a powwow at Prospect Park, books at the Brooklyn public library and the buzz of Brooklyn Museum on the way.
The references in this piece include a homage to the street artist ESPO aka Stephen Powers & artist Deborah Kass
Inspired by a visit to the Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver.
Size 18.5 x 19.5 cms
hand and machine stitch with appliqué
From Grimsby to Greenpoint & Beyond
From Grimsby to Greenpoint & Beyond • photo by Yeshen Venema
Materials :Linen and recycled clothing fabrics,cotton threads, InkTense pencils,acrylic paint
Techniques: Hand and machine stitch.appliqué, piecing, drawing, painting
A visit to Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York sparked the idea for this work in which the emphasis shifts slightly away from people, and towards place, a specific place, New York and a snapshot of a specific time period 21/12/16 to 3/01/17. Another small shift is in the use of materials, black thread was used abundantly in this piece this is a new departure as was the use of Derwent InkTense pencils to draw and colour the background fabric.
A new approach, an attempt to capture a new energy in the work and a move away from control in the design process meant the work evolved and has had several incarnations during the making process rather than being pre-planned.
There are a multitude of references in this work; to the atmosphere and fast pace of New York City to the areas and places visited and to great beer, coffee and food consumed. Also referenced are a selection of the many street artists in Greenpoint and Bushwick including Faille, a Brooklyn-based artistic collaboration between Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller and there’s tribute paid to particular artworks, ‘Jawbone of an Ass’ by Jean-Michel Basquiat and ‘The Mermaid’a sculpture by Liz Craft at the Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan.
Studies for Collected Memories
Virginia and her Mum
Beryl’s Gran and her Friends 2018 Study for Collected Memories Hand/machine stitch with paint.
Randi and Mr Bunny 2018 for Collected memories Hand/machine stitch with appliqué .
Carmel and Dora 2018 for Collected Memories Hand/machine stitch with paint.
Study for 6 Little Girls 2018 for Collected Memories machine/hand stitch, ink pencils and paint.
‘From Grimsby to Greenpoint and Beyond’ has been selected for the 62 Group exhibition ‘Ctrl/Shift’ which will open at MAC, Birmingham on 21 July and runs until 9 September. The piece is made up of 9 sections measures 175 x 123 cms when assembled.
Materials :Linen/recycled clothing fabrics,cotton threads, InkTense pencils,acrylic paint
Techniques: Hand and machine stitch.appliqué, piecing, drawing, painting
Details of ‘From Grimsby to Greenpoint & Beyond’ photos by Yeshen Venema
A visit to Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York sparked the idea for this work in which the emphasis shifts slightly away from people, and towards place, a specific place, New York and a snapshot of a specific time period 21/12/16 to 3/01/17. Another small shift is in the use of materials, black thread was used abundantly in this piece this is a new departure as was the use of Derwent InkTense pencils to draw and colour the background fabric.
A new approach, an attempt to capture a new energy in the work and a move away from control in the design process meant the work evolved and has had several incarnations during the making process rather than being pre-planned.
There are a multitude of references in this work; to the atmosphere and fast pace of New York City to the areas and places visited and to great beer, coffee and food consumed. Also referenced are a selection of the many street artists in Greenpoint and Bushwick including Faille, a Brooklyn-based artistic collaboration between Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller and there’s tribute paid to particular artworks, ‘Jawbone of an Ass’ by Jean-Michel Basquiat and ‘The Mermaid’ a sculpture by Liz Craft at the Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan.
first shown at Festival of Quilts 2017 in the Through Our Hands gallery ‘A Portrait’
Individuality, distinctiveness, uniqueness form our identity; who or what we are. This series of self-portraits was inspired by the humankind’s urge to categorise. Whatever you think you see in these images it is still me. Visual decoration or types of clothing may suggest class, culture, creed, religion or ethnicity. The outer shell and its various wrappings; skin, clothing, accessories, may change and alter appearance as they do. The viewer is asked to form their own opinion of who I really am. The person portrayed whose the inner soul remains the same throughout is me.
Faith, Hope & Fate commissioned artist for ‘Unknown People’
This book was published to accompany my solo exhibition Do You Remember Me? at the Knitting & Stitching shows 2016
Alexandra Palace, London – 5 to 9 October
RDS, Dublin – 20 to 23 October
HIC, Harrogate – 24 to 27 November
Documenting the thoughts and processes behind my series of portraits and self-portraits, stitched and painted marks on cloth; one embroiderer’s personal examination of memory, self and relationship with self.
When we observe ourselves, what do we see? Our observations and opinions of ourselves can change and our memories can alter those observations and opinions over time. My observations have been recorded in a way that invites the viewer to take a glimpse inside my life and draw their own conclusions.
Family Tree (below) 2016
mixed media
An installation of 18 images which explore relationships with, and between, the artist’s immediate family members; grandparents, parents, sons, daughters, in laws are all represented here.
David Pitcher
Sue Pitcher née Stone 2016 26 x 30 cms
Images below are of the work installed at the 2016 Knitting & Stitching Shows in Dublin (left) and Alexandra Palace, London (right)
Numbers 58 t0 63 of 63• a Self Portrait were completed in 2016
63:58
63:59
63:60
63:61
63:62
63:63 – 2016
Family Portrait (below) 2016
mixed media
Inspired by Gilbert & George’s self portrait ‘We’ this is a portrait of the artist’s immediate family
Family Portrait 2016
Self Portrait with Fish (below) 2016 mixed media
This self portrait was inspired by a gifted image. Thank you Gienia Bartlett, Leeds EG.
The fish is a symbol of the artist’s Grimsby heritage.
Self Portrait with Fish
Detail of Self Portrait with Fish
Self Portrait with Fish on a Washing Line 2016 hand stitch
Exhibitions 2016
Shifting Images 8 September 2015 – 6 March 2016 – a group exhibition of self-portraits, Grimsby, UK
Illustrative and Stitched Drawings – 28 November 2015 – 10 January 2016
part of the Drawing Project, Customs House Gallery, South Shields, Tyne & Wear, UK
Trait – Portrait • April 16 to September 26, 2016. My work Portrait of Benjamin Bohin will be shown as part of the Normandy Impressionist Festival
(www.normandie-impressionniste.fr) at the French needle manufacturer La Manufacture Bohin, Saint Sulpice – Sur -Risle, France
People • Place • Time – 27 May to 10 July • solo exhibition – Howden Park Centre , Livingston, Scotland, UK
Making Space – 16 June to 3 September • 62 Group exhibition – Silk Museum, Macclesfield, UK Do You Remember Me? October/ November invited gallery artist Knitting & Stitching Shows 2016 • Alexandra Palace, London, RDS Dublin, Harrogate International Centre
Most of the year 2015 was taken by the making of 63 • a Self Portrait made up of 63 images but I did manage to fit in a couple of other pieces. I began the year by making a partner piece for Portrait of a Grimsby Girl 2014 which was called Portrait of a Lincolnshire Lad a triple portrait of my Dad. It measures 76 x 55 cms and is mixed media : hand and machine stitch with paint.
Portrait of a Lincolnshire Lad 2015
I also managed a commission of Great Grimsby Ice Factory.
Great Grimsby Ice Factory 2015
About 63 63 is a self-portrait made up of 63 images, one for each year of my life so far. So why put myself through all this work, and, to be perfectly honest, the angst of self examination, a replaying of all the ups and downs of life?
There were several reasons, but the main one was that I was asked to take part in a self-portrait exhibition in 2015 and I was given a 6 metre wall to fill!
For this I had to work to a deadline and that in turn forced me to look at the way I work and helped me find a simplification of my mark-making.
I didn’t finish it in time as my thought process was slower than expected and so it was shown as work in progress. Numbers 1 to 42 were shown.
Numbers 1 to 57 were completed in 2015 and are shown below.
63:1
63:2
Self portrait age 3 2015 one of an ongoing series of self portraits
63:4
63:5
63:6
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Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries
I’m proud to say that Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries 2015 shown above is now part of the prestigious Diana Springall Collection . It measures 25.5 x 30.5 cms.
Exhibitions 2015
Society of Designer Craftsmen Christmas Market – 14 – 20 December – Mall Galleries, London Illustrative and Stitched Drawings – 28 November – 10 January 2016 , Customs House Gallery, South Shields, Tyne & Wear, UK New Textiles Transformed – 3 October – 7 November – Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, USA Shifting Images – 8 September 2015 – 7 February 2016 FHC, Grimsby, N E Lincs, UK Face the World – 12 October – 25 October Sam Scorer Gallery, Lincoln Festival of Quilts – 6 August – 9 August – NEC Birmingham with Through Our Hands 62 Group • NOW! -17 March – 10 May Upfront Gallery Cumbria Designer Crafts at the Mall – 8 January to 15 January, Mall Galleries, London
Portrait of a Grimsby Girl 76 cm x 55 cm + Book 29 cm x 26 cm
Statement about work 1: 2014 marks the centenary of her birth. The usual ups and downs of life preceded the diagnosis, in 1978 of a rare form of Leukaemia. In 1979 her family watched helplessly as her life ebbed away. As one life ends another begins. 3 weeks later her grandson, Sam was born.
Materials: cotton/ linen fabric, cotton threads, fabric and acrylic paints, bondaweb
Techniques: hand and machine embroidery, painting, bonding
Photo credit: David Ramkalawon
Portrait of a Grimsby Girl Book 2014
The Unknown Statistic
The Unknown Statistic 100 cm x 70 cm
Statement about work: They stood in the doorway and watched. He whistled as he walked away. He didn’t look back and they never saw him again. The number of children left fatherless by WW1 was not accurately recorded either nationally or locally. Memories fade. Their young lives went on but were changed forever.
Materials: cotton/ linen fabric, cotton threads, fabric and acrylic paints
Techniques: hand and machine embroidery, painting
Photo credit: David Ramkalawon
The girls go to London Town 2014
Double Take 2014
Shopping trip 2014
Murals Day Out 2014
The Girls who made the Suits 2014
3 Girls and a Fence 2014
Family Gathering 2014
The Boys Go to London Town
mixed media • 122 x 92 cms
A Group of small studies made in 2013
Study for East End Girls 2012
Auntie Madge 2012
Study for Double Take 2012
Study for Some Things 2012
Study for Tea Party 2012
hand stitch portrait
Do You Come Here Often? 2013
As usual my subject matter comes from close to home and I have combined three images. My Mum, my Dad and a church window are the component parts of the composition.
The piece is about my parents early courtship.
He was always a snappy dresser who was a Fish Merchant when Grimsby was known as the ‘Klondyke of the East Coast’. Working his way up he was first a barrow boy and then a filleter before starting his own business. She was a talented tailoress with a rich, and vibrant contralto voice and from a staunch Methodist family.They often met at Flottergate Methodist Church where she was in the choir.
My sister and I have a theory that he only joined the Men’s society so that he could court my Mum. They were married in 1939 when she was 25 years old.
The Universal Child 2013
Statement for ‘The Universal Child’ and ’I listen to the radio and hear his voice’
Children are killed, maimed, physically and mentally scarred every day, caught up in the crossfire of senseless religious and sectarian wars
Each stitch on the recycled, linen fabric becomes a symbol of remembrance for the hundreds of thousands of lives lost. The cross-stitches used to represent the kisses those children will never receive.
On radio 4 the news is bad, the words of both bereaved mothers, and victims of horrific attacks are heartbreaking. Those words are depicted by machine embroidered graffiti.
Images of Fred, ‘The Universal Child’ and Harry,’I Listen to the Radio and Hear his Voice’ turn into a device to connect past with present and the materials used to portray them form the common link. The two boys are children of the first world war, the so-called war to end war. Almost 100 years on there is still no end in sight .
I Listen to the Radio and Hear his Voice 2013
Grimsby Girl’s World Tour Stopover Tokyo 2013
A girl from Grimsby, a tuna from Tsukiji, a holiday in Harajuku combine. Travel through ethereal layers of time and place to Takeshita Street. The artist’s mother was born on 6th December 1914 in a fishing port in the UK. 99 years later this Grimsby girl meets modern day Tokyo.
Linen/cotton fabric, cotton threads, fabric paint. Hand and machine stitch, painting. 59 x 145 cms
A Tea Party in Tokyo 2013
Grimsby, UK, once the world’s busiest fishing port, is the artist’s hometown. East, west, past and present, connect when three sisters from 1920s Grimsby have a tea party in Tokyo. The youngest of the three, Irene, the artist’s mother-in-law was an avid tea drinker all her life.
Linen/cotton fabric, cotton threads, fabric paint.Hand and machine stitch, painting. 60 x 115 cms
Some Things Never Change 2012
Children of the First World War, the so-called ‘war to end war’ commemorate the plight of children worldwide.
Thousands of kisses on a concrete pillar will never be received.
Cut to 2012. A mother sobs. This is not her war.
Killed by mortar fire, her children were 12,10 and 5 years old.
Materials: Window cleaning linen, applied recycled shirting.
Technique: hand and machine stitch, acrylic paint, appliqué.
First shown at the Knitting & Stitching Shows 2012.
Homage to Nicholson 2012
Weekend in Barcelona 2011
From Grimsby to Gracia • right and David as Dali • left were inspired by a recent visit to Barcelona, they reference cardboard cutouts of Dali seen outside the Dali Museum , the Gaudi mosaics and tiles in Parc Guell , a colourful tiled floor from a neighbourhood bar and fish from the artist’s hometown of Grimsby.
A Lot can Happen in 50 Years 2011
A Lot can Happen in Fifty Years • 2011 84 cms x 117 cms • hand and machine stitch
Referencing several items from the Manchester Museum’s costume Collection, including a button shaped like a fish, and a dress and jacket from 1962, the year the 62 group was formed this is a portrait of my sister, Jean, first aged 17, then aged 67.
The clock on the wall shows 2.05 am whilst the wrist watch is set at a later time to indicate the passing of time.
The side panels are made up from labels showing more items from the Collection .
They also reference personal, national and global events from the past 50 years .
Family with Fish 2011
RIP Grimsby St E2
RIP Grimsby St E2
mixed media • hand and machine stitch with acrylic paint
size 70 x 100 cms
An analogy between two different eras and two different environments, which nonetheless share a name and a sense of loss. Three friends, one carrying a fish, explore one lost environment, Grimsby Street, London, E2 whilst hailing from another. 1930s Grimsby (Lincolnshire) girls meet London 2012.
Girl with a patterned Dress 2012
Study for Tea Party 2012
Girl with a Bow 2012
Study for Some Things 2012
Auntie Madge 2012
Study for East End Girls 2012
Study for Double Take 2012
Girl’s Day Out for Hilda, Nellie and Ida
Girl’s Day Out in the East End for Hilda, Nellie and Ida 2012
mixed media • hand and machine stitch with acrylic paint
size 128 x 102 cms
Exploring displacement using old family photographs, images of distant relatives I never knew, cut into to a modern day environs, Girls Day Out enquires into and questions, the sense of belonging/not belonging whilst referencing the passing of time and the transience of life itself.
East End Girls
East End Girls • aka Alice, Madge and Muriel 2012
mixed media • hand and machine stitch with acrylic paint
size 128 x 102 cms
Combining the then and now, evoking a sense of the journey in between produces an ‘at first glance’, homely domestic situation, three women with their dog. On closer inspection abandoned sofas, graffiti, the dilapidation in the slightly surreal composition create an allusion to the circumstance of the women portrayed.
Self Portrait with Bear and Masks
womanwithafish 