DIS/rupt exhibition at Gallery Oldham

The DIS/rupt exhibition shows recent work by members of the Textile Study Group.  The Group encompasses well-known artists and teachers including Jean Draper, Sarah Burgess, Ruth Issett and Bobby Britnell, who work in a wide range of media. In this exhibition their work comments on some of the major disruptions of the twenty first century.  Alice Fox, who will be speaking to us at our meeting on 28 March, is also a member of the Textile Study Group and has one of her works in the exhibition.

Unfortunately the exhibition closes at Gallery Oldham this Saturday, 24 February.  However, three members of Glossop EG were very fortunate to attend a recent workshop run by Sarah Burgess and based on the same concepts as the exhibition.

Using various found objects, we focused on monoprinting (a form of printmaking) and stitch on paper and textiles, to tell the story of a particular found object.  Between us, we worked with a sock, buttons and a shell - items whose existence could be disrupted by being lost or moved from their original location.

To give us some inspiration Sarah showed us a piece she had worked, based on a lost glove:-

Here are some examples of monoprinting including, of course, the sock, the buttons and the shell.....

 

When we had completed the printing we could start to stitch the story of the lost item back together:-

Everyone who attended the workshop had a great time with wonderful tuition, and an opportunity to meet other textile artists.  Not forgetting the exhibition itself, which was both thought-provoking and inspirational.  You can take a virtual tour of the exhibition by clicking on the link on the right-hand side of our blog, under 'Textile Artists & Groups' there is an entry for the Textile Study Group.

Textile Workshop based on Harry Ousey's work

Glossop branch hosted a workshop at Stockport Memorial Art Gallery on Saturday, 3 February.  The Gallery is currently holding an exhibition of Harry Ousey's work and the paintings were the basis of the workshop.  

Remember the fantastic panel made by our branch members last year?

It was included in the exhibition and showed just what can be achieved by translating a painting into textiles.

About a dozen  people arrived to take part in the workshop and, with Liz Smith's expert guidance, they each selected a painting to translate into a stitched textile.  Here is some of their work:-

We took along our own stash of fabric space-dyed by Christine Bardsley and some of the participants chose a piece to use in their stitched work.

Everyone really enjoyed the day and lots of questions were asked about our branch, and what we get up to.  Fingers crossed that we may get a couple of new members!

100 Hearts War Stories Project

The Embroiderers' Guild is inviting members to commemorate the 100th anniversary since the end of WW1 by stitching a heart.  Exhibitions of the hearts will be held in conjunction with the armed forces charity: SSAFA.

The January meeting brought together lots of inspiration and ideas for making a heart which could have a great deal of personal significance, as so many families lost at least one young man during the conflict.

Here is some of the memorabilia which was available at the meeting:-

These were kindly lent to us by the Manchester Regiment Museum, based in Ashton-under-Lyne and comprised lots of thought-provoking items.  Have a closer look at the silk postcards:

The soldiers sent these home from France and sometimes, like in the second postcard, they formed an envelope containing a card on which the soldier could write a message to a loved one.

For those who have registered to take part in the project, you should receive your instructions and package of materials by the end of February.