Detail of ‘Which Way Now?’ 132 x 59 cms
‘Which Way Now?’ aka ‘A Self Portrait in Turmoil’ is perhaps an indication of my frame of mind during lockdown.
At first I couldn’t make any work at all and then I became a little obsessed with ideas that I had to get out of my system whatever the result.
I have worked in my studio most days on both large and smaller work and my larger work seems to have become more free and experimental.
I recently taught an online workshop called ‘ The Power of 3’ for the Textileartist.org Stitch Club.
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.
‘This Life Matters’ is a series of 7 small portraits which focus on the inequalities 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.
Reference Shakespeare ; 7 ages of man.
I am delighted that my stitched illustration of textile artist Anne Morrell will be featured alongside an article entitled ROOTS IN TWO CONTINENTS by Brinda Gill who dives into Anne Morrell’s textile life.
Issue 95 (July /August) of Selvedge magazine will be published on the 15th of June. This issue will be available in print and digital formats from the Selvedge website but will not be available as usual at galleries and the newsstand. It is available for pre-order now #selvedgemagazine
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.
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.
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.
A selection of smaller works for Re-Tellings
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.
A Series of iPad drawings made for the Re-Tellings Exhibition 2019.
A Special Commission 2019 – Portrait of Jonah, Felix and Reuben
Re-Tellings Exhibition and a review of my online course in conjunction with Textileartist.org Exploring texture & Pattern
I am delighted that my work will be featured in the January issue of Selvedge magazine.
A detail of my work From Grimsby to Greenpoint & Beyond is part of the article Text-ile Messaging by Doctor Nicola Donovan.
The magazine is due to be published on December 14th.
Buy your copy here
If you’d rather see it ‘in the flesh’ then head off to Sleaford for the 62 Group Ctrl/Shift exhibition where it will be shown in the main gallery at the National Centre for Craft & Design from 2 February to 22 April 2019.
Inspired by a visit to Greenpoint, Brooklyn the emphasis in this piece shifts slightly away from people, and towards place and contains a multitude of references from a specific place, New York and a specific time period 21/12/16 to 3/01/17.
A new approach and a move away from control in the design process meant the work evolved and had several incarnations during the making process rather than being pre-planned.
In September I had a fantastic trip to Vancouver, Canada to teach at and give a talk at the wonderful place that is Maiwa School of Textiles.
These images give just a flavour of the trip.
Read about Maiwa and if you get the opportunity go and see for yourself.
A Focus on Faces – 2 day workshop.
Work by my brilliant students at Maiwa School of Textiles, Vancouver
3 Day Workshop – Every Picture Tells a Story.
All work by my fantastic students at Maiwa School of Textiles, Vancouver
A trip to the Museum of Anthropology, at University of British Columbia, Vancouver
English Bay day and night
Self Portrait with Bear and Masks
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
New Handling Samples 2018
I’m delighted to announce that the 62 Group exhibition Ctrl/Shift will be touring next year.
First stop is the National Centre for Craft and Design where the exhibition will be shown in the main gallery space from 2 February to 22 April 2019. More venues will be coming later.
So if you missed seeing my work ‘From Grimsby to Greenpoint & Beyond in Birmingham why not try and catch it a NCCD, Sleaford, Lincolnshire.
Details of From Grimsby to Greenpoint & Beyond by Sue Stone.
Photos by Yeshen Venema.
Ctrl / Shift
New Directions in Textile Art
2 Feb – 22 Apr 2019
Main Gallery, NCCD, Sleaford, Lincs, UK
The creative tension between accomplished skill, experimentation and the development of new ideas, provides the starting point for Ctrl/Shift, the latest exhibition from The 62 Group of Textile Artists. The exhibition enables participating artists to explore projects which manifest as transformations in their practice. Ctrl/Shift takes shifts and changes as its theme; in particular it is centred on artists whose practice is or has transformed, in small or large ways, especially towards expressions of innovation in textile art. These shifts may be around changing attitudes to control; the introduction of new materials and techniques; and/or the impact of innovative and contemporary themes and ideas, and evolving technologies.
The exhibition comprises over thirty artworks by twentyfive artists, including carefully selected outcomes from a collaboration between three artists who reflected on and were inspired by each other’s work.
The exhibition concept has been developed in partnership with the 62 Group and independent curator Liz Cooper.
The 62 Group is an artist-led organisation which aims to incorporate and challenge the boundaries of textile practice through an ambitious and innovative annual programme of exhibitions and events. Since its establishment in 1962 some of the most highly regarded British & international textile artists have been members of the group.
The artists are (UK unless otherwise noted):
Imogen Aust, Caroline Bartlett, Heather Belcher
Eszter Bornemisza (Hungary), Lucy Brown, Penny Burnfield
Nigel Cheney, Daisy Collingridge, Isobel Currie
Flox den Hartog Jager (Netherlands), Catherine Dormor, Dawn Dupree
Caren Garfen, Emily Jo Gibbs, Ann Goddard
Joanna Kinnersly-Taylor, Hannah Lamb, Debbie Lyddon
Jae Maries, Sian Martin, Jane McKeating
Sumi Perera (Sri Lanka/UK), Shuna Rendel, Vanessa Rolf
Sue Stone
More Details of From Grimsby to Greenpoint & Beyond
Photos by Yeshen Venema.
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