A New Home for Girl’s Day Out

A Girl’s Day Out in the East End for Hilda, Nellie and Ida 
mixed media • hand and machine stitch with acrylic paint
size 128 x 102 cms

Yesterday I delivered this piece to its new home in the North East of England. I was sad to see it go so I decided to revisit how I made it, however, I am very happy that it has gone to such a good home with new owners who love it so much. It was made in 2012 for one of the 50th Anniversary exhibitions by the 62 Group of Textile Artists ’62@50′ at the Holden Gallery at Manchester School of Art.

This is my Artist Statement for that exhibition.
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.

Image of Grimsby St E2

3 Sisters walk down the prom in Cleethorpes

Hilda, Nellie and Ida were 3 sisters and Ida, the tall, elegant one on the right was my sister’s mother-in-law. This piece combined the then, the now and alludes to a journey in-between. The street art in the background is by an artist called Stik and was found in Grimsby St London, E2 in 2011. The images above are the original images I combined to make the work and those below are of the work in progress.

work in progress

work in progress

work in progress

 

 

Inspiration for Stitch – Part 4 – The Innocent Victims of War

The inspiration for my work can come from anywhere and everywhere and it sometimes takes on a more serious note. I turned on the radio and heard her voice and the words I will never forget “This is not my War”. They were the words spoken by a Syrian mother whose children aged 5,10 and 12 had just been killed by mortar fire in a war she did not understand. The sound of her voice will stay with me forever.

Some Things Never Change commemorates those children and the many others like them that have lost their lives, or have been mentally or physically scarred by war. The lives of those who have survived war and atrocity are changed for all time.
My Dad and his siblings Harry and Madge were children of the First World War, born just before and during so called ‘war to end war’. I have used their images to represent the universal child. The concrete pillar in the background is inspired by the concrete architecture of the skate park on the South Bank of the Thames and the graffiti of street artist Stik and is covered with cross stitches representing the kisses those Syrian children will never receive.

Some Things Never Change 2012

I listen to the Radio and hear his Voice again recalls something I heard on Radio 4. A 10 year old boy was talking to the reporter “You can’t imagine what I’ve seen, what my country has seen”. The Universal Child uses an image of my Dad to represent children affected by war worldwide.

The Universal Child

I Listen to the Radio and Hear his Voice.

The Unknown Statistic comes from my research into the First World War during the run up to the centenary in 2014 of the start of the war. A photograph is of some children, unknown to me, but in my husband’s family album was my starting point. I have had this image waiting to be used for many years but it was only when I saw the graffiti in the East End of London I knew how I was going to use it. The children have a poignancy to them. They look as though they are watching someone walking away. I decided to use their images as a way of commemorating all the children left fatherless by the First World War. The exact number of children is unknown as it was not recorded accurately either locally or nationally. I imagined their father was one of the brave Grimsby fishermen whose trawlers went minesweeping the coast with very little protection and little recognition. He walked away and never looked back. It was bad luck for a fisherman to turn around and look back as they walked away to sea. They never saw him again. My own Great Grandfather, Harry Conder died during the first few weeks of World War One when the trawler Fittonia, of which he was skipper, was blown up by a mine in the River Humber. He was survived by a widow and several children. His eldest son Charles Conder died during the last weeks of the war of Spanish Flu, the virus that would be responsible for more than five times as many deaths as the war itself.

Kids from the Family album

east end graffiti

The Unknown Statistic

Inspiration for Stitch – Part 2 – The East End of London

In this second post about my inspiration I take a look at the East End of London, and my love affair with the Grimsby Street area. The street is situated in E2 and shares its name with my hometown. In the early 2000s both my sons lived in London so I was a regular visitor. My younger son, Sam lived in Hackney at that time and had come across Grimsby Street E2 when visiting a friend nearby. The next time I visited he took me there and it was love at first sight.

Here are some of the images I fell in love with. They may seem strange. It’s quite rundown, but an art school education taught me to look and to see beauty in the smallest detail and to enjoy the ‘out of place’. When I look at these vistas I see my next piece of work.

Grimsby St Graffiti

East End Sofas

Grimsby St Stik graffiti

Abandoned chair in East End of London

The images above inspired pieces that depict the then, the now and the journey in-between. The first pieces I made were East End Chair and Closed pictured below.

East End Chair 2007

Closed 2008

East End Chair is a portrait of my Grandmother Annie Jane Smith sat in an abandoned armchair nursing a fish. My hometown of Grimsby is best known for its connection with the fishing industry and the fish represents the prosperity the fishing industry brought to the town.

Closed depicts the demise of the Grimsby fishing industry. The closed shop sign represents the end of the town’s prosperity after the Cod Wars in the 1950s and 60s.

East End Girls

Girl’s Day Out for Hilda, Nellie and Ida

RIP Grimsby St E2 – 2012

RIP Grimsby St E2 version 2

This series made in 2012 combine 2 or more images to represent the passing of time and the transience of life. A Girls Day Out, East End Girls and RIP Grimsby St E2 version 1 & 2.

East End Girls combines an image of my grandmother, Alice Ann Stone, her daughter Madge and my Mum Muriel May Sone with an image of 2 abandoned east end sofas. It’s 128 cms wide x 104 cms high.

A Girl’s Day Out for Hilda, Nellie and Ida combines an image of 3 Grimsby sisters Hilda, Nellie and Ida with an image of Grimsby Street E2 graffiti by graffiti artist Stik.

RIP Grimsby Street E2 versions 1 & 2 chronicle the knocking down of part of Grimsby Street E2 in the run up to the 2012 London Olympics. An analogy between 2 different eras and 2 different environments .1930s Grimsby girls meet London 2012

The ever changing images of street art are fascinating. I have now been documenting the area for more than 10 years. Part 3 of the inspiration for Stitch posts will look at my documentation of the South Bank and more recent pieces inspired by the East End.

Anna Scott : I am inspired…

Anna Scott who is an Australian embroiderer and blogger has kindly posted about my work.

Anna Scott : I am inspired….

It was so refreshing to get an email from Anna asking if she could use my images for her blog. Usually people just help themselves nowadays. I don’t really mind this on the whole as the images are usually used by students as reference material. Reproduction for financial gain would be another thing but images of my work can be found all over the internet and I like to share. She asked me why I use the image of a fish so often. It ‘s quite simple really. My hometown is Grimsby in Lincolnshire in the UK. Grimsby was once the largest and the busiest fishing port in the world and was known as the ‘ Klondyke of the East Coast of England’. Sadly this is no longer true, the northern cod wars with Iceland put paid to that and the place has gone to rack and ruin. Actually there are quite a few of my pieces that are about this very thing with references to a Grimsby St in London which has been knocked about somewhat in recent years. My family was very involved in the fishing industry both as fishermen and fish merchants so the fish has become my signature if you like, a symbol of where I’m from and I usually try to include on somewhere on my major pieces. The image below shows the first work in which I included a fish.

Public voting for the craft&design selected awards 2014 is now open

To vote for me please go to at the bottom of my makers page  http://www.craftmaker.co.uk/suestone/

Woman with a Fish 2007

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I am delighted to say that one of the major pieces from my Stuff and Nonsense exhibition will soon be going to a new home in London although I will be very sorry to see it go. I have a soft spot for this piece as it combines some of my favourite people with one of my favourite places. It was first exhibited in the 62@50 exhibition at the Holden Gallery at Manchester School of Art in 2012.