Nostalgia: An Exhibition at Farfield Mill

Earlier in the year I was delighted to be invited to exhibit with artists collective Decorum. I was invited to join them as they had an exhibition coming up at Farfiled Mill in Sedbergh but unfortunately one of the artists was unable to take part for personal reasons. I was invited by Priscilla Edwards (exquisite mixed media assemblages, sculptures and drawings), who I'd met when I booked her for a workshop at Cumberland Embroiderers Guild in January last year. At the workshop (which was excellent) we got chatting and discovered we were both graduates of the Manchester Metropolitan University Embroidery Degree. So, when Decorum found themselves with a gap Priscilla kindly thought of me!

Exhibition panorama

Exhibition view: Val Jackson's dresses (right hand side)

Exhibition view: Priscilla Edwards mixed media pieces and drawings

 

Exhibition view: Christine Stanford's paper and wax dresses

The other artists taking part, Christine Stanford (beautiful paper and wax dresses) and Val Jackson (amazing embroidered dress and hat pieces), are also MMU Embroidery graduates and when looking at the exhibition it's interesting that although we all produce very different work there are a number of connections between us all. One of the Trustees at Farfield Mill said that one of the things they liked about all of our work was the quality of the finishing and I think this is probably one of the things we all got from our degree and the tutors there.

Exhibition view: My work

The theme for the exhibition was 'Nostalgia' which worked well for me as at the moment a lot of my work is about exploring memory. I was excited by the chance to make some new work and as I was only a small part of the exhibition there was less pressure to 'fill space' so I felt I could experiment a bit more. I used the opportunity to start exploring some ideas I've had flying around in my brain for some time.

Traces I, II and III

Traces III
Handmade felt, naturally dyed silk chiffon, feathers, beads and hand embroidery. 2018

Traces II
Naturally dyed silk organza and cotton, feathers, gold thread and hand embroidery. 2018

My sketchbooks are full of various drawings and sketches of ideas for 'vessels' and this exhibition provided me with an opportunity to finally make some of these pieces. I've always been intrigued by the idea of vessels as they can be both containers and carriers, used to store or to transport; concepts which relate well to memory. I've also been doing a lot of work around natural dyeing recently and I wanted to use this in these pieces too.

Exhibition view: Val Jackson (left) and Christine Stanford (right)

Exhibition view

I created three large hanging vessels in the end, all naturally dyed, all with embroidery and all with feathers. I was really worried about showing them as I wasn't at all sure how they'd look or whether they'd work but in the end I think I'm quite happy with them. There's a lot more experimenting to be done and if I'd had more time I probably would have done more to them but I like them well enough and am excited about developing the ideas further.

Memory Cloth: For Cathy
Rust dyed fabrics, samples, feathers and hand embroidery. 2018

I also created a hanging wall piece called 'Memory Cloth: For Cathy' for the exhibition. This is another piece I've had in mind for a while and this exhibition gave me a chance to just get on with it. I inherited a large collection of materials, supplies and samples from a member of Cumberland Embroiderers Guild when very sadly she died. She was always very supportive of my endeavours and so enthusiastic about things and I really wanted to make something to commemorate her. The piece uses many of her supplies and is dyed with her rusty pins and scissors and incorporates some of her samples. It also includes lots of hand stitch and gold foil and is meant as a celebration of her life and all the people she affected.

Memory Cloth: For Cathy (detail)

Memory Cloth: For Cathy (detail)

'Memory Cloth' developed from the small fabric banners I've been making and I exhibited some of these as well. I love these pieces, for me they are full of meaning but I hope that they are also beautiful objects that people can enjoy whether or not they understand/want to understand the concepts behind them.

Flow: Tide
Naturally dyed fabric,  shells, feathers and hand embroidery. 2018

Tied to the Earth
Naturally dyed fabrics, feathers, beads and hand embroidery. 2018

Skywards
Naturally dyed fabrics, feathers, hand embroidery. 2018

I was really pleased to be invited to join this group for this exhibition, they were all very friendly and supportive and it's been a pleasure to work with them. I was very nervous at first as they are all much more established artists than myself and it's always hard to join a group who are already familiar with each other. However, it's been a positive experience and exhibiting with them has given me some different ideas and inspiration. I hope we'll be able to work together again in the future.

Nostalgia is on at Farfield Mill from 23rd May-30th June 2018