Monday 6 May 2019

Deborah Collum

Saturday saw us gathering to listen to Deborah talk about her art journey.

She wasn't inspired by textiles in school (most of us remember Binca!) 


Nice to know not everyone has an immaculate studio

Annie Albers exhibition was a great inspiration.

 It says something about art v textiles that we know next to nothing about who made the clothes in this portrait apart from the fact they were men.
 As Deborah pointed out women were normally busy running households and doing essentials like repairs to clothes, which can be beautiful in themselves
 Some of Deborahs early forays into art - collage paper pieces
 then simple stitch added
 She has four main strands to her work now - landscapes (hard to get the perspective right)

 Houses - especially those that have been abandoned. Objects can tell a story

 Characters (some of these were thoughtful and some just plain sad)

 Miss Haversham
 a installation about "home"
 some pieces of work Deborah had out on display for us to look at

 Fabulous sketchbook work


 Pieces based on "strips"


 The latest piece, only just finished.

Deborah said she has a compulsion to make and she loves textiles because they are portable, forgiving and with endless possibilities. I think all of us in the Guild can relate to that.
Thank you Deborah for a very entertaining lecture. 

April Members Day

Our members day is a great opportunity for everyone to pop along and have a catch up chat whilst working on their own projects.

 Una decorating a panel with kantha stitching. She died the pieces of fabric then assembled them into this attractive panel.
 

  There was lots of bling at the April members’ workshop. This beaded butterfly is work in progress.

 The relaxed atmosphere of the day provided an opportunity to look more closely at some of the wonderful work in the travelling books.





  Elaine’s panel was much admired. Beautiful colours! Stitching is thirsty work though so lots of cups of tea were needed.




Lorraine’s completed pincushion is covered in French knots whilst the next one has a beautiful lavender design.
 

 By contrast, Dina spent the day working on pieces of rust-dyed fabric.


  More cups of tea and Margaret’s workbox is overflowing with creativity. Meanwhile Joy was busy creating a set of panels to illustrate a poem by Walter de la Mare.


 Here are examples of the varied work that our members create. Lilian has started stitching into a piece of nuno felt that she made during our recent residential weekend. Gill is making an applique panel as part of a larger project.





 We also spent some time preparing the materials for the National Stitch Day activities. Here are Margaret, Carole and Karina busy cutting felt to size.




 Debbie’s beautiful panel.




 A lovely day enjoyed by all (Thanks to Gail for the text and photos)