Come As You Really Are
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself”, according to George Bernard Shaw. But how many selves do we create? How is the self that office colleagues see related to the one out dancing tango on a Saturday night? In the Artangel exhibition Come As You Really Are, housed in a former department […]
When Forms Come Alive at the Hayward Gallery
“Sixty years of restless sculpture…inspired by movement, flux and organic growth”. Sounds right up my street you say? You bet! I loved this exhibition currently on at the Hayward Gallery. Growth implies movement, which happens quite literally in the first room of the exhibition, as silk-clad lights rise and fall, open and close above your […]
5th World Wicker and Weaving Festival
Last week I attended the 5th World Wicker and Weaving Festival in Poznan, Poland. It was held in the cavernous Poznan Expo Centre over four scorchingly hot days, when the external temperature was above 30C. The main highlight was the live weaving competition, where over 130 competitors from around the world had 15 hours over […]
Warped exhibition by Prism Textiles
The Warped exhibition by Prism Textiles is now in full swing at the Art Pavilion in Mile End, London. At the private view last Wednesday evening Sumi Perera gave the opening speech, dressed in an outfit that most of us instantly coveted! Some of my stitching friends (Carol and Jane) turned up wearing shibori indigo […]
Warped: Prism Textiles exhibition 2023
Where has this year gone? It’s March already and this is my first blog post of the year. I seem to have been busier than usual, as I’ve started teaching basketry evening classes at Morley College (more about this another time) and also I’ve been editing the March issue of the Basketmakers’ Association Journal. That’s […]
Tadek Beutlich at Morley Gallery
I first came across the work of Polish printmaker and weaver Tadek Beutlich (1922-2011) in Ditchling Museum several years ago. Beutlich lived in Ditchling for a while, where he ran a weaving studio. Then in 1974 he moved to Spain, where he ditched the looms and worked just using his hands (“off loom weaving”). The […]
Maria Bartuszová at Tate Modern
Around five years ago I did some experiments with plaster and textiles, experimenting with pouring plaster into balloons or over felt vessels. You can read about it here on my previous blog. It never really went anywhere, but it meant I could definitely relate to the fragile, evocative work by Maria Bartuszová at Tate Modern. […]
Ruth Asawa at Modern Art Oxford
Revelling in my new freedom now that my course is finished, I took myself off to Oxford on Tuesday to see the exhibition Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe at Modern Art Oxford. Before the pandemic I managed to visit another Asawa exhibition in London at the David Zwirner gallery. The Oxford exhibition seemed to […]
City Lit basketry course final show
So – it’s all over! Our final show opened on Monday with a private view, and ran the rest of the week until yesterday, when we took everything down. We had lots of positive feedback and we are all pleased and relieved that it is over. Here are a few pics of my work in […]
Inspired by Haeckel: molluscs
For my final assessment piece I could choose whatever technique or combination of techniques I liked. I decided to make a coiled piece, as I have previously had some success with coiling and it seemed perverse not to play to my strengths! My plan was to make a double-walled piece, inspired by Haeckel’s prints of […]
