HUE exhibition opens in Bishop's Stortford

Yesterday we installed HUE's 4th exhibition at  the Rhodes Gallery in Bishop's Stortford. There are 40 textile pieces exhibited, 5 of which are mine.  

Three of these pieces are the first of my Atacama series to be exhibited, with the one on the right only being completed late on Friday evening. Tight? Definitely! It took longer to install the exhibition than I anticipated, perhaps they always do, and had planned to take a couple of close-ups when my pieces were hung but at the end of a busy day, I completely forgot. 

I have previously posted about the 'Hidden Pathways' piece is here and I will post about the other two pieces just as soon as I have some more detailed photos to show you. If you are able to why not visit the exhibition? It's free to enter and there is a lovely variety of work on display.

Hue at the Knitting & Stitch Show

My work has been delivered. What a relief! There's nothing else I can do now. The plan is that my three pieces will all hang together on the same wall and so I wanted them to be presented in a similar way and with two of them having 3D elements on the front they needed to be supported. I've had all three pieces stretched by Val of Kendals framing and I'm very pleased with the result. Val comes to Art Van Go every Saturday, which is handy for me as I live nearby. Val has given very useful advice and has been very patient with me as I have explored different options and made some changes.

This is 'Geo Landscape II'. Each of the blocks is based on the shapes in the landscape and the background cloth has been printed using some of the shapes. The colour gets lighter as it moves up the piece and the shapes have been outlined with hand stitching.

70 X 60cm

Believe it or not this is a picture of the same piece! I think the real colour is somewhere in between the two photographs and I've had the image below printed onto some postcards, which I will have for sale during the exhibition.

This is Geo landscape III. In a similar manner to the Geo Landscape II, I created a strip of fabric, using shapes from the landscape as my source but this time I pleated the strip. The background fabric was printed with triangles, to echo the more angular forms in the pleating. Again, I outlined the shapes with hand stitching and the depth of the colour fades as it goes up the piece.

90 X 58 cm

I have also had postcards printed with this detail from the piece and I was really pleased to see the stitching visible on the postcard. All the faffing composing and playing with the light reflector paid off.

Initially I wasn't sure whether to use an image of the whole piece or just a detail on the postcards but I've almost got the best of both worlds by including all 3 finished pieces on the back of the card and the detail on the front. It took some work in Photoshop to get what I wanted but I think it was worth it.

And last but not least, Geo Landscape I...the piece it all started with. I have posted images of this before but this is the first time I have shown it stretched....and anyway you would want to see the set wouldn't you?

The packaging of the 3D pieces has been a concern for me but after much thought I hatched a plan for using cardboard boxes and polystyrene. However, hubby thought they needed something better and stronger and he has made me wooden boxes for the 3D pieces. How lucky am I? They will be secure and I'll certainly have less cause for concern about them being transported in a crate to Harrogate now.

So here's one of the boxes with space for the 3D bits to fit into the gap.

And here's the piece in the box...it's a good fit isn't it?

and here's the three of them ready to get transported....

There's more to this exhibiting that meets the eye, isn't there? I wonder how much time I have spent on these pieces, the packaging, the photography etc. Lots! I'm sure it's all going to be worth it though. Perhaps I'll have the discipline to keep a tally for my next piece?

I'll be stewarding on the stand on Saturday, so if you're visiting then come and say hello. I'll be visiting with my Mum and friends on Sunday, I get the feeling that there won't be much time to see anything on Saturday!

Exhibitions and Good Company

I've been really busy at work this week but what a lovely finish to the week I've had. Firstly there was the HUE exhibition private view, which I really enjoyed. I did a lot of chatting....so much so I suspect that I missed seeing a few pieces!

Here's me in front of my two of the pieces with Viv and Kevin (Art Van Go) and my friend Laura. In fact I first met Laura on a workshop at Art Van Go and shortly after she gave me my first dyeing lesson! If you have been following my blog you will have seen these two pieces as they were developing. 

On Friday we went to London with friends and we couldn't have packed any more in if we tried! We went to see the Glamour of Italian Fashion exhibition at the V&A and the curators talk. This was very enjoyable, with some lovely things and some very bling things. It's well worth seeing but it didn't have the same wow factor as some of their more recent exhibitions or maybe the recent exhibitions have set unrealistic expectations?

We also had a guided tour of parliament with an excellent guide. What a lovely building.

We also saw Van Gogh's Sunflowers and the National Gallery. The first time in 65 years that the National Gallery's Sunflower has been seen together with the one owned by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

We then had a very nice meal to round the day off.

Saturday was the  Embrioderers' Guild AGM.....the AGM and so much more! There were talks, classes, exhibitions, traders, good food and good company. What's not to like?  I came away with a few additional metres of fabric, some expensive (but lovely) silk threads and some additional inches on my waist. Well done to everyone who was involved in organising it. It was a great day and I came away with even more appreciation for the value of the Guild.

I hope to sneak in a little textile work later and then back to work and back down to earth tomorrow.

HUE Exhibition - Letchworth Arts Centre - 2nd - 29th April

On Wednesday 2nd April our exhibition opens at the Letchworth Arts Centre, with the private view being held on Thursday 3rd April, all welcome.

There will be over 50 pieces of textile art on display and it will be well worth a visit. I have 4 pieces in the exhibition and there will be lots of variety of wall hung art as well as 3D pieces. Hope to see you there!