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 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.

Ebb & Flow • Behind the Scenes

Portrait of a Grimsby Girl

The opening of the 62 Group Ebb & Flow exhibition is getting closer but the project itself has been almost two years in the planning. 

It started with an invitation from Grimsby Minster to show our work in the Minster which is a busy and vibrant resource for the people of North East Lincolnshire, an “architectural gem” tracing its history on this site for more than 900 years. I soon realised, however, that because we are such a large group of very diverse artists that there would not be enough suitable hanging space and display for smaller 3D work in the Minster for all of our work to be shown.

A second venue was sort and we were offered the upper floor, the mezzanine, of the Muriel Barker Gallery at the Fishing Heritage Centre in Grimsby. The Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre was purpose built and opened in 1991. Its permanent exhibition tells the story of the Grimsby Fishing Industry in its heyday in the1950s. The white-walled space at the Fishing Heritage Centre contrasts nicely with the grandeur of the Minster.

Lucy Brown
All at Sea

The Ross Tiger, GY398, is an ex-working 1950’s trawler and the largest item in the heritage collections. Lucy Brown, one of our exhibiting members has made site specific work to be shown on board the Tiger. The image left shows Lucy’s ‘sea bags’ which will be installed around the living quarters on the Tiger. Once the venues were in place we worked on the detail of the project and funding bid to Arts Council England by Grimsby Minster which was successful. This enabled us to work with freelance writer and curator, June Hill who has been on hand to advise the group throughout the project and who will be opening the exhibition on 13th September. It also helped the group to put together a full education programme and to produce a full colour catalogue with professional photography which will be on sale at both venues.

Details of our education programme can be found here. Many of our members visited Grimsby in February when we were given a tour of both venues and of the museum collections store. All of our exhibitions are selected by a selection panel of 5. The panel is different for each exhibition and can include a representative from the venue. The selection process has now been completed and 37 pieces of work were selected for the exhibition made by 28 artists.

Photography Day at the Minster

This week we also completed the photography for the catalogue which is now in the design stages. The catalogue will be on sale at both venues.

The photographer for the majority of the pieces is David Ramkalawon who came to Grimsby from London for 2 days to photograph work at both venues.

The snap left shows David photographing work in Grimsby Minster. 

Next week the hanging process begins. Watch this space for more ‘behind the scenes’ glimpses of Ebb & Flow.

Tilleke Schwarz: For the love of threads – TextileArtist.org

Tilleke Schwarz: For the love of threads – TextileArtist.org.

Interesting article by Tilleke Schwarz on textileartist.org. Tilleke will be showing work at the Knitting and Stitching show.
I am looking forward to giving a helping hand on her stand at Alexandra Palace in October.

62 Group exhibition • Small Talk opens today 4th June 2013

The latest 62 Group of Textile Artists’ exhibition opens today at the Constance Howard Gallery which is housed in the old Deptford Town Hall building on New Cross Road, London, SE14. 

The 62 Group has a strong link with Goldsmiths as many of the exhibiting members were past students and indeed teachers. “Small Talk”, as the title suggests, brings together new small-scale work in a range of mediums in response to the gallery space.

For more information about the exhibition dates, opening hours and accompanying talks from 62 Group members see: http://womanwithafish.com/Small_Talk_info.html

My piece ‘Do you come here Often?’ can be seen in this exhibition. For more information about this mixed media work which combines embroidery and appliqué with acrylic paint see: http://womanwithafish.com/Do_you_come_here_often.html

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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.

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 .

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Some Things never Change

The Knitting and Stitching Show is nearly upon us and I shall be travelling to London for the first show at Alexandra Palace next week. I am helping to install the 62 Group of Textile Artists’ ‘Package Tour’ exhibition and will also be on our Stand TGJ3 on Thursday afternoon.

My work ‘Some Things never Change’ can be seen in the exhibition. For more information about this work click on the “Some Things Never Change’ link above.

I am looking forward to seeing how fellow members of the group have risen to the challenge of fitting their work within a box of a set size. As I usually present my own work on a stretcher and sometimes frame it I decided to make my work as a hanging and roll it up to make it fit into the box.

It will be great to meet lots of new people at the show and there will be the opportunity to buy the 62 Group book, RADICAL THREAD, on the stand at a special Knitting and Stitching Show promotional price of £15 which is a saving of £4.50 on the recommended retail price. The book which celebrates our 50th Anniversary, is a great read.

Paint • Stitch • in progress 2

In the early morning listening to Radio 4 the news all seems to be bad. My most recent piece is called Some things never change. The need to make this work was triggered by an interview with a mother telling the reporter of the fate of her children aged 12,10 and 5 , killed by mortar fire in a war that was not hers. As a mother myself the interview deeply affected me. I have never been a particularly political person but I feel the need to speak out, in my own way, about the victims of these senseless conflicts. Born in 1913 my Dad was a child of the 1st World war, the so called the war to end war and I have used his image, along that of his siblings, as a mechanism to portray the plight of children still caught up in war in 2012. Thousands of kisses cover a concrete pillar for those who will never receive them. The images are of the work in progress.

62@50

The 62 Group of Textile Artists, of which I am an exhibiting member, celebrate their 50th anniversary this year. Their largest exhibition of this celebratory year, 62 @50 opens tomorrow at the Holden Gallery in Manchester with the majority of the exhibiting members represented. I have had three pieces selected for the show and am looking forward with anticipation to seeing what other members have produced when I visit the gallery later this week. I am also looking forward to meeting visitors to the exhibition on 2nd and 3rd August when I will be stewarding. Find more information about this exhibition and my work for the show on my website : www.womanwithafish.com

one 3 pieces selected for 62@50