World of Wearable Art - Auckland Museum

Whilst at the museum we saw a fantastic exhibition of Wearable Art. This competition has been running now for 27 years. More information, including how to enter can be found at their website (www.worldofwearableart.com)

I have included some of the pieces that I particularly liked.

'Ornitho-Maia' Nadine Jaggi, New Zealand
wet moulded, embossed and carved leather

'Inkling' Gillian Saunders, New Zealand
eva foam and paint

'Skin' Marjolein Dallinga, Canada
felted wool, shibori silk

'Second Skin' Hadley May and Fiona Chaste, New Zealand
lycra, tulle, nylon and sheepskin

'Hermecea' Jan Kerr, New Zealand
hand made fabric, paper mache and wire

'Totally Sheepish' Sarah Peacock, New Zealand
wool

'Lunanoia' Jane Ewers, New Zealand
stainless steel mesh

'Born to Die' Guo Xiao Tong, China
cable ties

Alexandra Palace

The Knitting and Stitching Show is a fantastic opportunity to see both contemporary and traditional work. There are lots of people demonstrating and trying to sell you things you never knew you needed. For me, the best thing is that you get a chance to actually talk to all these wonderful artists.

As usual there were plenty of interesting things to look at. Ann Small and Sue Walton had collaborated to produce a collection called 'Walk on the Wildside' making use of found objects.

 There was a lot of felt on display this year. Fi Oberon and Alula's Garden had some beautiful felted animals on their stand. (alulasgarden.co.uk)

This work by Jo Beattie entitled 'Precious Moments' was so fine and delicate. She had produced much larger pieces as well as these small framed ones. Jo was there very enthusiastically explaining to anyone how she produced her beautiful work.

Black Sheep - The Darker Side of Felt contained some very unusual felt pieces

 Caren Carfen's 'She Was Cooking Something Up' considers women's issues in the 21st century. It took quite a while to read all the captions. (carengarfen.com)

This work 'Ripeness and Age' by Renate Keeping featured wonderful watercolours and embroidered 3D apples showing their gradual decay. (thekeepinggallery.co.uk)

 Another take on felt was by Stephanie Metz who produced lots of organic looking items (stephaniemetz.com)

These felt pieces by Bridget Bernedette Karn were so fine and detailed they didn't look like felt. (bridgetbernadettekarn.com)

 There was quite a lot of 3D work on display this year including these pieces by Jean Bennett

 Environmental issues were again a popular theme. These pieces by Lindsay Taylor emphasised the effects of our rubbish on wildlife. (lindsay_taylor.co.uk

'The Shore Archive' by Mary Flynn used rubbish, particularly plastic, that she collected on the beaches on the the Isle of Wight.

EAST (easttextile.co.uk) had an exhibition called 'Between the Lines' and is a response to the First World War. This piece by June Carroll particularly caught my eye.

Gilda Baron was there again with her stunning work, still sharing her enthusiasm with everyone but particularly students. (gildabaron.com)

This work by Robina Melville was made using bobbin and needle lace. It formed part of an exhibition called 'Shape Shifting' by the Westhope Group. (westhopegroup.org.uk)

Of course after a long day walking around and being inspired we had to stop for something to drink

Buenos Aires continued

I forgot to mention that we visited a number of museums and art galleries where we saw some fascinating work. There was also lots of art for sale at all the street markets we visited.

It was strange for me to see the trees starting to turn colour as in England it is spring rather than autumn. The streets are wide (one I crossed was 16 lanes wide) with plenty of trees and other greenery.

There are plenty of magnificent buildings, many of which reminded me of Paris or Budapest.

Casa Rosada is where the President works but we were allowed inside to have a look around. The courtyard photos are taken inside an old townhouse in San Telmo.

The shops are colourful and contain an eclectic assortment of goods.

I thought I would share some of the starters and snacks that I had.

 If people weren't dancing or playing they would sit and watch.

Buenos Aires was a lovely place to visit, everyone I met was friendly and helpful, even though my Spanish is poor. I would definitely recommend a visit.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

I recently spent a few days in Buenos Aires - it is a fascinating and very beautiful city. As my internet connection was so slow in the hotel I decided to wait until I got home to post some pictures. I had been sent there to do some training (I know, how amazing is that?) so I worked on the Friday that I arrived but at the weekend ...
On the Saturday we started by going to Cementerio de la Recoleta. It is a huge necropolis that was started in 1822 and is still having people interred in their family tombs. There were streets and streets of over 150 monuments.

Some of the doors and gates were stunning

The door on the left belongs to the tomb that contains Eva Peron

After the cemetery we went to an area called El Caminito. This contains many buildings made of painted zinc

The variety of windows and balconies were stunning

If you've visited my blog before you will have seen some of the yarn bombing or graffiti knitting that my students have done. Here they had graffiti crochet - all the trees had some.

Of course, being Argentina you expect to see dancing and music. We were not disappointed. In the cafe where we stopped for lunch there was Tango, there was dancing and musicians in the streets as we walked around.

Spring at last

 A little bit of warmth and suddenly the gardens and countryside are full of colour. The left hand photo shows cultivated flowers and the right thrift growing wild on a Cornish cliff

Most of the fruit and ornamental cherry trees are in blossom. The main road where I live has beautiful mature flowering cherries which are looking spectacular at the moment - this means we will have heavy winds in the next day or so.

Greens and browns are wonderfully fresh too.

A walk through the woods shows little secrets pockets of colour.

After seeing all these beautiful colours around me I decided to dye some fabrics and threads using procion dyes and the low emersion method.

These have all been machine washed and are ready to go ... 

the only thing is, what to make?

Fashion, Embroidery and Stitch

Last week I went to see the above show at the NEC. There was some lovely work on display and I had the chance to have quite long chats with several of the artists.

Two of my favourite artists are Linda and Laura Kemshall. I subscribe to DMTV and so it was lovely to see in 'real life' many of the pieces I had seen on the screen. Linda had been creating a series of painted birds from her garden, these were then digitally printed onto fabric. Of course I had to buy one for myself and one for my daughter.

Laura had been working on some large quilts and these were displayed behind their workstation.

There was also plenty of printed and dyed fabric and threads.

I was looking forward to seeing the project 'Barkcloth to ArtShoes' as it was promoting the charity 'Hands up for Uganda' and my daughter has recently returned from living in Uganda. The shoes were decorated by a whole variety of artists and were beautiful.

 The shoes were displayed alongside traditional baskets and mats made in Uganda.

I was also captivated by the work of Gillian Travis who kindly let me photograph her work. You may notice the resemblance to photographs on earlier posts. Gillian has travelled widely in India and we had a good chat about the textiles we had seen there. I recommend her book 'Journeys in Stitch'.

There was an amazing exhibition showcasing embroidery from Palestine.

 These are wedding pillowcases from the Hebron area in the 1920's.

The picture below on the left shows a historical Qabbeh and the one on the right is a modern interpretation of it.

There was an exhibition of costumes from the film version of 'Les Miserables'. Costumes worn by Helena Bonham Carter (the Thenardiers) and Hugh Jackson (Jean Valjean)

Costumes worn by Russell Crowe (Javert)

Costumes worn by Sasha Baron Cohen (the Thenardiers)

 Another artist whose work I really admired was Hilary Beattie. Not only was her work wonderful but she was more than willing to explain how she had constructed each piece. She gave a good hours length demonstration of how she creates both her canvasses and her collages. I highly recommend her book 'Make it Personal'  which is full of clear pictures and instructions on how to create your own work.

Echinacea 1

Echinacea 2 and 3

Beauty Matters 2 and 1

It was a lovely show and I enjoyed the work but I still think £10 for parking is a bit steep. Of all the shows I have visited only the NEC charges this much, most have free parking.