July meeting - Melanie Kay

Melanie is a Manchester based textile artist who is a former EG sponsored student.  She came to talk to us about her work and her innovative use of non-traditional materials.  Some of her work has involved the use of beer cans :-

As well as embroidery, lots of other techniques are used to decorate the cans including printing, sanding and punching.  The beer cans are more difficult to identify in some of her larger works such as this wonderful lampshade, in which even the fringes are made from cans:-

This piece of work originally formed a table top, underneath glass - when held up to the light it has the appearance of lace!

We are very much looking forward to seeing her next body of work.  Mel's talk was as entertaining as it was interesting and was very much enjoyed by the members and by the visitors who had travelled especially to listen to her.

If you would like to find out more about Mel, to look at her work and read her blog then go to:

http://www.melanie-kay.com/