ShadowPlay: Style and Substance: The Hepworth Wakefield

ShadowPlay: Style and Substance: The Hepworth Wakefield

Thrunscoe Community Learning Centre

As someone who struggles with her actuaI embroidery technique when I was recently asked to present a City & Guilds Gold medal at Thrunscoe Community Learning Centre I felt a bit of a fraud. This is a fantastic achievement as only one medal in each discipline is awarded per year. This one was for Level 3 Embroidery.
My own knowledge of stitches is very limited and I adapt my basic 4 stitch vocabulary to suit what ever piece I am working on.

The recipient of the gold medal, Lynn Haith, on the other hand has definitely mastered the technique of embroidery in all its forms and her wonderful use of strong colours is sublime.

 images below work by Lynn Haith.

 I went to see the end of year show at the Thrunscoe Centre two days prior to the medal ceremony and was blown away by the standard of the work produced by Jan Dowson’s students. I have been going to see this show for a few years now and the diversity of the work produced never fails to amaze me.
As usual the things I liked best were the sketchbooks , containing little gems of samplers waiting to be developed in to finished pieces.

images below from various sketchbooks.

 Thrunscoe Community Learning Centre
 

For me the highlight of the exhibition was a moving and empathic piece by Sue Normandale which was inspired by a visit to the Foundling Museum in London.
I would urge that anyone thinking of doing a creative arts course in the Grimsby and Cleethorpes area to go to Thrunscoe  and see what they have on offer.

image below : Sue Normandale work inspired by the Foundling Museum

 

Bathing Belles meet the Old Masters

 Just back from the opening at Museum Rijswijk which was great. The Museum is housed in an old mansion that dates from 1790 with a brand new extension. Imagine my amazement when I found my work amongst some impressive paintings and separate from the other textiles. They looked fantastic and it gave the pieces great status.

Check out the pictures of Bathing Belles amongst the Old Masters in Museum Rijswijk

The exhibition was very varied and well presented. It was a joy to see all the variety of textiles in such a lovely setting . See more at : http://www.museumryswyk.nl/rtb2011/uk/index.html

Gate Gallery

Great news. Gate Gallery has been successful in securing Arts Council funding to convert part of the upstairs into Artist’s Studios. Watch this space for further info.

7 Strands

Helen Banzhaf

I am very excited that the 7 Strands exhibition is to be hosted by Gate Gallery in my hometown of Grimsby. See the Gate Gallery website for further details .This will be a rare opportunity indeed for Lincolnshire folk to see such a diverse high quality Textile Exhibition . www.gategallery.co.uk

7 Strands brings together the work of Helen Banzhaf, Lucy Brown, Dorothy Ann Daly, Ann Goddard, Christine Gornowicz, Tilleke Schwarz, and Sue Stone, all members of the Internationally renowned 62 Group of Textiles Artists working in various disciplines including Stitch, Weave and Conceptual Textiles which challenge the boundaries between Fine Art and Making.

The images below are a taster of what you will see in the exhibition. 2 June to 23 July 2011.

David as Dali (left) and From Grimsby to Gracia (right) by Sue Stone

Tilleke Schwarz

Dorothy Ann Daly

Christine Gornowicz

Lucy Brown

Ann Goddard

Lineaments of a Coast exhibition 7 April to 21 May

 If you are in the Grimsby area between 7 April  to 21 May, Gate Gallery is well worth a visit . The gallery is hosting an exciting exhibition of paintings by Pippa Llewellyn, who has lived and worked in Theddlethorpe for over 20 years. Theddlethorpe on the Lincolnshire coast is an area of sea dunes and both saltwater and freshwater marshes. The paintings are mainly large and abstract. Some are vibrantly coloured some more subtle in hue. They are not literal interpretations of a particular landscape but capture the pure essence of her familiar coastal environment. The images shown are my own personal favourites. See www.gategallery.co.uk for more images and information.

Top • Untitled Landscape • mixed media
Below left • Boats on Blue and Grey .Below right • Boat on Yellow • mixed media