Caroline Fitzgerald Archives

I have just noticed a bit of a vegetable theme in some recent work by Dee Kelly, Caroline Fitzgerald and Rina Whyte – and all of it yummy !! Pungent and odorous, onions and their family members sometimes get an undeserved bad rap but our team are doing their best to elevate these humble vegetables to the place they deserve – on the kitchen wall and not in the pot!

Caroline and Dee produced some beautiful work using actual pieces of garlic. Who would have thought that the papery, bleached texture of garlic skins and the intricate detail of the root, would produce such amazing works of art.

Dried garlic skins mounted on paper, stitched with linen and rayon threads

Garlic root, herbal teabags, handmade paper, markings made with watercolour, cotton muslin, stitched and mounted on linen — Gorgeous Garlic, Caroline Fitzgerald

Garlic root, herbal teabags, handmade paper, markings made with watercolours, cotton muslin, stitched and mounted on linen

Rina has produced a series of three pieces exploring the beautiful shapes and colours of the onion

Blind drawing with stitch on brushed cotton, embellished with hand stitch, cotton net, ink dyed

Onions, free machine embroidery — Onion II and III, Rina Whyte

Dyed cotton, pen and ink drawing, free machine embroidery

Never has garlic and onions looked so good! Who wouldn’t want to have one of these pieces on their kitchen or dining room wall?

We are just finished putting up new work in Las Rada Wine and Tapas Bar in Naas – a springtime renewal. It is always a pleasure to exhibit our textile art in this venue and Joanne and Jules have been very supportive of our work since the first invited us to be resident artists in 2015. This is the thirteenth exhibition of work we have shown in this venue and it continues to be one of our favourite haunts.

Here are some glimpses of the new work:

Kathrina has used Shibori dyed thread and fabric, machine and hand stitch to create this very interesting piece. Layers of texture have been created using white thread on white to form the background over which the darker threads have been stitched. This piece invokes, for this viewer at least, an aerial image of a frozen landscape, the tracks, the hedgerows, the boirins and hidden contours. What do you see?

Caroline has gone all organic in this piece using a garlic root, some of its papery skin and a tea bag to create a textured and tactile artwork. Hand made paper and linen fabric form the background and the colours are earthy and calming. Definitely one to appeal to proponents of ‘recycling’ and natural forms and colours!!

Rina has used linen fabrics to produced a layered and densely stitched landscape based on her local area of Kildare. She has managed to create an undulating, naturalistic landscape through stitch and fabric manipulation that is evocative and very beautiful.

The framing on this piece is wonderful which is something we sometimes forget to recognise as part of the overall ‘look’ of a piece. A really good mount and frame adds expotentially to any artwork

Well done all on the great work.

Tag: Caroline Fitzgerald

Know your onions!

Spring Renewal