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Spring Renewal

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:

 

‘Meandering’, Kathrina Hughes

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?

 

‘Georgous Garlic’, Caroline Fitzgerald

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!!

‘The Hills’, Rina Whyte

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.

Stitched Up!

We recently had the second part of a two day workshop with Rose Mary Cullen, BA MA who teaches in National College of Art and Design (NCAD).  We were working on stitch, surface and manipulation techniques to interpret the drawing work we had produced in our sketchbooks in the first session.   This could have been very daunting, but Rose Mary brought loads of samples of work she had completed using different stitch and fabric manipulation techniques.  Rose Mary gave each of us individual attention, both before, during and after the class, suggesting ways in which we might achieve the textures, colours and shapes  that we were aiming for.

We spent a wonderful day revising (or learning for the first time) embroidery stitches such as fly stitch, feather stitch, Cretan stitch, blanket stitch, button hole stitch and lots more and getting to grips with using gathering and smocking to manipulate fabric in creative ways.

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Among Rose Mary’s samples was this gem (pictured above) – a hanging made by using pieces of colourful linen union fabric stitched onto a grey background and embellished with layers of Cretan stitch in a variety of thread colours and thicknesses.  We loved the blending of colours, the organic shapes and the contemporary use of an old embroidery stitch.

And this sample of subtle colour threads, couched shapes, trapped buttons and a myriad of stitches also won our hearts.

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These samples of chain stitch and running stitch highlighted how effective simple stitches can be when used in imaginative ways.

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Some more images of the work we produced, both sketching and interpreting in fabric and stitch, over the two sessions.

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We had a good learning experience, good chat and good food – and we hope to do it all again early next year if Rose Mary will put up with us!

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