Sunday, 7 August 2016
Quilt Museum, Lampeter. 2016 Exhibition
This year's exhibition features quilts made using flannel. (I have an exhibition guide in my file which includes more, and better, photos.)
Ruth Packham Felting Exhibition
Introduction and Artist's statement:
Ruth lives and works in Borth, Ceredigion. Trained as a Fine Artist, Ruth makes work that has its origins in the space between art and craft.
Describing herself as an artist/maker Ruth works predominantly with British wool fibre, using felt making techniques to realise her nature-inspired creations. Ruth has exhibited her felt work widely, taking it to Muscat in Oman and Norway in 2014. She takes part in wool and craft fairs throughout the UK and regularly teaches felt making.
This exhibition sees a departure from Ruth's usual more colourful work into the graphic and striking world of black and white and is Ruth's second visit to Gallery 3.
Felt Places
'Felt Places' is an exhibition of work inspired by and in memory of Roger Clive Powell, husband to Jen Jones, architect and restorer of old buildings, resident of Ceredigion and a generally lovely person who passed away in 2015.
The needle-felted buildings are just a few of those that Roger worked on.
The landscapes are snapshots of Ceredigion, celebrations of the beauty within which we live. Taking time to look at the world around us, whether over a fence to the distant hills, or at seagulls wheeling above, reminds us to stop, to breathe and to feel joy in the moment; life is short.
The work is made by pushing wool fibre through the fabric using a needle-felting needle - the results give an almost charcoal effect, sketchy and soft focus. The wool used in this work is all from the Cambrian Mountains.
Birds gathering on a wire, some say, have a sense of the ominous. There are flocks of corvids that fly around Borth at dusk and together with seagulls the noise of these is the day to day soundtrack to life in this seaside village. Ruth spends time looking at and photographing these birds as they perch and interact on the wires in front of her house. These wet felted pictures are the result of her observations.
Ruth lives and works in Borth, Ceredigion. Trained as a Fine Artist, Ruth makes work that has its origins in the space between art and craft.
Describing herself as an artist/maker Ruth works predominantly with British wool fibre, using felt making techniques to realise her nature-inspired creations. Ruth has exhibited her felt work widely, taking it to Muscat in Oman and Norway in 2014. She takes part in wool and craft fairs throughout the UK and regularly teaches felt making.
This exhibition sees a departure from Ruth's usual more colourful work into the graphic and striking world of black and white and is Ruth's second visit to Gallery 3.
Felt Places
'Felt Places' is an exhibition of work inspired by and in memory of Roger Clive Powell, husband to Jen Jones, architect and restorer of old buildings, resident of Ceredigion and a generally lovely person who passed away in 2015.
The needle-felted buildings are just a few of those that Roger worked on.
The landscapes are snapshots of Ceredigion, celebrations of the beauty within which we live. Taking time to look at the world around us, whether over a fence to the distant hills, or at seagulls wheeling above, reminds us to stop, to breathe and to feel joy in the moment; life is short.
The work is made by pushing wool fibre through the fabric using a needle-felting needle - the results give an almost charcoal effect, sketchy and soft focus. The wool used in this work is all from the Cambrian Mountains.
Birds gathering on a wire, some say, have a sense of the ominous. There are flocks of corvids that fly around Borth at dusk and together with seagulls the noise of these is the day to day soundtrack to life in this seaside village. Ruth spends time looking at and photographing these birds as they perch and interact on the wires in front of her house. These wet felted pictures are the result of her observations.
Sandie Lush Exhibition, Lampeter, 2016
This was a lovely exhibition displaying a selection of cot quilts all made using just 3 quilting motifs taken from a vintage Welsh quilt. The artist's statement follows:
Sandie has always been interested in crafts and for many years spent her spare time both hand and machine knitting, making crochet lace and working counted thread cross stitch designs. She had never seen a patchwork quilt until moving to New York in the early 1980s and it was another ten years before she attempted to make one herself. Initially interested in machine piecing, she regarded hand quilting as a chore. However, seeing a wholecloth quilt at a quilt show was a revelation and soon she was designing and stitching her own wholecloth quilts. Without the need to stitch over bulky patchwork, hand quilting became the love of her life.
Sandie's first wholecloth quilts were all inspired by Amy Emms and her flowing feather designs traditional to North Country quilts. It was several years before Sandie discovered that traditional Welsh wholecloth designs were very different. Their infinite variety and sculptural quality made them much more of a challenge to design. It was love at first sight.
This collection of cot-sized quilts was inspired by two motifs used to make her quilt, Yn y Pinc in 2002. The original quilt was in reality more akin to the Durham quilts, albeit using two Welsh motofs; a cable known as Welsh Trail and a paisley pear motif taken from the cover of a traditional quilt group newsletter. It was several years later that Sandie discovered that the paisley had been copied from a quilt in Jen's (Jen Jones) collection made by Mrs May Thomas at the turn of the 20th century. Mrs Thomas's quilt and her novel paisley design inspired Sandie to try to create as many designs as possible using this motif. the decision to limit herself to only a few additional motifs added to the challenge.
The project started slowly. Yn y Pinc was made in 2002 but the idea for a series of quilts lay fallow for another ten years. Sandie created two quilts in 2012 and then one in each of the following two years. It was following a conversation with Jen in June 2015 that the project really sparked into life. In the following seven months Sandie designed and had stitched another 18 cot-sized quilts as well as a small pram quilt. Her original intention was to make 12 quilts, but new fabrics were found, the ideas kept flowing and Sandie kept stitching. Sadly, making all these new quilts has not even made a dent in her fabric stash!
Sandie has always been interested in crafts and for many years spent her spare time both hand and machine knitting, making crochet lace and working counted thread cross stitch designs. She had never seen a patchwork quilt until moving to New York in the early 1980s and it was another ten years before she attempted to make one herself. Initially interested in machine piecing, she regarded hand quilting as a chore. However, seeing a wholecloth quilt at a quilt show was a revelation and soon she was designing and stitching her own wholecloth quilts. Without the need to stitch over bulky patchwork, hand quilting became the love of her life.
Sandie's first wholecloth quilts were all inspired by Amy Emms and her flowing feather designs traditional to North Country quilts. It was several years before Sandie discovered that traditional Welsh wholecloth designs were very different. Their infinite variety and sculptural quality made them much more of a challenge to design. It was love at first sight.
This collection of cot-sized quilts was inspired by two motifs used to make her quilt, Yn y Pinc in 2002. The original quilt was in reality more akin to the Durham quilts, albeit using two Welsh motofs; a cable known as Welsh Trail and a paisley pear motif taken from the cover of a traditional quilt group newsletter. It was several years later that Sandie discovered that the paisley had been copied from a quilt in Jen's (Jen Jones) collection made by Mrs May Thomas at the turn of the 20th century. Mrs Thomas's quilt and her novel paisley design inspired Sandie to try to create as many designs as possible using this motif. the decision to limit herself to only a few additional motifs added to the challenge.
The project started slowly. Yn y Pinc was made in 2002 but the idea for a series of quilts lay fallow for another ten years. Sandie created two quilts in 2012 and then one in each of the following two years. It was following a conversation with Jen in June 2015 that the project really sparked into life. In the following seven months Sandie designed and had stitched another 18 cot-sized quilts as well as a small pram quilt. Her original intention was to make 12 quilts, but new fabrics were found, the ideas kept flowing and Sandie kept stitching. Sadly, making all these new quilts has not even made a dent in her fabric stash!
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