Retrospective • An Archive of Work 2015

A Gallery of Work made in 2015

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

63:7

63:8

63:9

63:10

63:11

63:12

63:13

63:14

63:15

63:16

63:17

63:18

63:19

63:21

63:21

63:22

63:23

63:24

63:25

63:26

63:27

63:28

63:29

63:30

63:31

63:32

63:33

63:34

63:35

63:36

63:37

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63:41

63:42

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63:49

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63:57

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

Retrospective • An Archive of Work 2013/14

Portrait of a Grimsby Girl 2014

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

RIP Grimsby St E2 version 2 2013

Retrospective • an Archive of Work 2017

Retrospective • an Archive of work 2016

Retrospective • An Archive of work from 2015

Retrospective • An Archive of work from 2013/14

Retrospective • An Archive of work from 2011/12

Retrospective • An Archive of work from 2009/10

Retrospective • An Archive of work from 2007/8

Retrospective • An Archive of work from 2003 to 2006

 

Designer Crafts at the Mall 2013

Designer Crafts at the Mall 2013 is nearly here. I’m frantically trying to get organised along with my preparations for Christmas. I will be showing some large textile mixed media, embroidery in the exhibition and also some small hand embroidered studies and handmade cards and postcards will also be for sale in the Shop within the Show.  Click here for more images and information .