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
I will be teaching my workshop ‘Off the Grid’ in the Textileartist.org Stitch Club from 26 September to 7 October 2022
Sign up now to find out exactly when Stitch Club Registration opens.
https://training.textileartist.org/stitchclub-closed/ This link will take you to a form to get notifications when Stitch Club registrations opens. This will be very soon and it’s a very short window so don’t miss out!
Off the Grid •
Experimenting with Texture and Pattern in Hand Stitch
The aim of the workshop is
To encourage exploration and experimentation
To use positive limitations to develop your skills in decision making.
To help you develop an understanding of the importance of thread choice and how it affects the surface quality of your work.
To push your your stitches to their full potential and create more surface texture.
To have fun trying out stitches that are new to you and find out what they can do.
There’s also a new article on Textileartist.org about where I find my inspiration written by Mary Carson
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
I’m really excited to be teaching again for TextileArtist.org Stitch Club next week. It’s a textile story telling workshop and this week they have published a new article about my New York travel story pieces. Check it out here.
Brooklyn Recollections detail 1
Brooklyn recollections detail 2
Brooklyn Recollections detail 3
Sue Stone Brooklyn Recollection, Return and Repartee photo Pitcher Design
From Grimsby to Greenpoint & Beyond
Detail of From Grimsby to Greenpoint & Beyond – photo Yeshen Venema
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
This workshop explores the power of positive limitations ; as a design tool, to create colour schemes, or to audition fabrics and threads for your next piece of work. Use fabric strip weaving and hand stitching to embrace the power of 3 as a starting point; 3 different coloured fabrics, 3 different coloured threads, and 3 stitches.
This simple exercise provides easy way to get rid of the blank page and give a ‘quick start’ to a piece of work. Work with the limitations to achieve a cohesive result and use the grid made by the strip weaving to add pattern, texture or even include a simple line drawing.
The members of Stitch Club produced some amazing work. Here’s a small selection.
Re-Tellings – a major solo exhibition by Grimsby based artist Sue Stone whose work is inspired by people, place and time. Hand embroidery plays a big part in Sue’s work sometimes mixed with machine stitch and/or paint and there are also some digital prints and new iPad drawings.
A Family’s Life 2 – 2019 – mixed media
The pieces in this exhibition are part of an ongoing series of narratives inspired by memories; both the artist’s own and those of others. Members of the public were invited to take part by sharing memories of themselves and their relationships in the form of anecdotes, and images and Sue has now collected stories from all over the world.
A Family’s Life 3 – 2019 – mixed media
The common link in this particular selection of work is that of family and friendship. Many of the stories focus on relationships between family members; the bonds between siblings and cousins, mothers and daughters, grandparents and grandchildren. But there are also tales of imagined journeys and that illusive dream of a Desert Island.
Detail of They Shared the knitting of the Jumper 2019Fish, Chips and Lanky Twang 2019A Family in China 2019For the Desert Island 2019 – mixed media
A selection of smaller works for Re-Tellings
Podding Peas with Gran
A Visit From Grandma
Remembering Gran
Study for A Family’s Life
Study 2 for a Family’s life
Study 2 for From Grimsby to Greenpoint
The exhibition also provided another outing for the epic chronicle of the artist’s own life story told in a series of self-portraits one for each year of the artist’s life so far. 66 in total . The 3 new self-portraits below made in 2019 bring the installation up to date.
Self Portrait no 66 – of 66 self portraits 2019 – hand and machine stitch – 26 x 30 cms Self Portrait no 65 – 2019 – hand and machine stitch – 26 x 30 cmsSelf Portrait no 64 – 2019 hand and machine stitch
A Series of iPad drawings made for the Re-Tellings Exhibition 2019.
A Special Commission 2019 – Portrait of Jonah, Felix and Reuben
FISHING HERITAGE CENTRE, Alexandra Dock, Grimsby, N E Lincolnshire, DN32 0RA,UK
Tel: 01472 323345
My retrospective mixed media and textiles exhibition opens on 24 March 2018 at 11 am and includes work inspired by personal relationships, life observations and a pride in my Grimsby heritage. Follow the journey from my first ever figurative piece ‘The Wedding’ made in 2006, to my most recent work made in 2018.
A few images below of work included in the exhibition to whet your appetite.
Detail of From Grimsby to Greenpoint and Beyond 2018 – photo by Yeshen Venema
63:63 – 2016
Pop Stone * Family Tree 2016
The Unknown Statistic 2014 – photo by David Ramkalawon
RIP Grimsby St E2 – 2012
Exhibition Dates: 24 March to 15 July 2018
Opening Times: (24 March to 31 March) Tuesday to Friday 10 am – 4 pm (Closed Mondays) Saturday and Sunday 10 am – 4 pm (including bank holidays)
(1 April to 15 July) Tuesday to Sunday 10 am – 5 pm (Closed Mondays)
Bank holiday Mondays open 10 am – 5 pm
Exhibition Opening Saturday 24 March 11am to 1pm Light refreshments available.
Exhibition Walking Tour – Saturday 24 March at 2pm
Join artist Sue Stone in conversation with Alf Ludlam for a walking tour of Sue’s solo mixed media textile exhibition ‘Remember Me?’
The event is free but numbers are limited.
Please book by calling the Fishing Heritage Centre on 01472 323345.
Portrait of a Grimsby Girl 2014 – photo David Ramkalawon
In this residential workshop I will introduce you to the many ways of working figuratively. We will look at a series of different artists and the various methods they use to depict the human figure from the substantial and serious to the light-hearted and whimsical.
During the week we will create some characters, and make some small studies using figurative and narrative elements and look at ways to incorporate your own narratives and memories using images and text.
I will guide you through quick & easy ways to get started and share the simple processes I use myself. There will be a focus on hand stitch, layering and appliqué with an option to add machine stitch if you wish.
I will advise you on how to use your own drawings, photographs or vintage illustrations to convey ideas, thoughts and memories. You’ll quickly gain the confidence to stamp your own personality on your work.
Fate – photo by Sue Stone
Detail of From Grimsby to Greenpoint & Beyond – photo Yeshen Venema
Detail of I Am Me – photo Sue Stone
Detail Family Tree – photo Sue Stone
Detail of From Grimsby to Greenpoint & Beyond – photo Yeshen Venema
Detail Family tree – photo Sue Stone
We will take a break from the course mid-week to enjoy a day of dyeing with the original blue dye from the woad plant, grown in the Toulouse area since medieval times. You can bring things to dye from home, pick items up at local markets or buy natural fabric from Chateau Dumas.
During the week there is also a visit to the nearby atmospheric Sunday morning food and craft market in St Antonin-Noble-Val, the medieval town where the films Charlotte Gray and The Hundred Foot Journey were filmed.
The workshop is suitable for all abilities. For those who are worried about their drawing ability I will provide some simple black & white guides and some vintage illustrations as a base from which to work and a collection of my own handling samples to inspire you. By the end of the workshop you will have new ideas with which to work and the necessary skills to develop your own work further.
Every year, Selvedge hosts several all-inclusive residential craft workshops at Chateau Dumas, a private estate with 18th century interiors, a large pool and glorious panoramic views – set amongst rolling hills in peaceful, scenic countryside less than an hour north of Toulouse international airport. Owned and run by Lizzie Hulme the Chateau is a place you can relax, unwind and be truly creative in.
womanwithafish 