What Do I Need To Do To Make It OK? - Pump House Gallery, London

Celia Pym - First One's the Best

Recently on a flying visit to London I popped into the Pump House Gallery in Battersea Park to see "What Do I Need To Do To Make It OK?"  It's an exhibition about "damage and repair, disease and medicine and the healing and restoration of landscapes, bodies, minds and objects through stitch and other media".  Some of the work on show follows ...

Celia Pym - I Think I Will

Celia Pym has used darning as a tool for understanding mending both in garments and bodies.  In the "First One's the Best" she continually practised her darning technique recording differences as she became fluent with the process.

Freddie Robbins - Basketcase

Freddie Robbins - I'm So Bloody Sad

Freddie Robbins through knitting, crochet and sculpture explores her preoccupation with sadness, pain, fear and anxiety.  (You may remember her Knitted Homes of Crime which were part of WOW - the Contemporary Art of Knit & Stitch exhibition at Rheged in 2012 where Celia Pym was also exhibiting)

Dorothy Caldwell - Comfort of Fog

Dorothy Caldwell - History of Stone

Dorothy Caldwell describes her work as "a map of land and memory".  In the wild landscapes of the Artic and Australia she has looked for traces of current and past civilisations and records these through techniques of patching, mending and darning.  I have written about Dorothy's work before - you can find it here. 

Saidhbhin Gibson - Comfort & Joy

Saidhbin Gibson - Huddle 2D (print)

Saidhbhin Gibson is concerned about humanity's impact on the environment.  Her work interacts with nature often through stitch as in the crocheted addition to the thrush's nest in Comfort & Joy.  There is ambiguity in her work as to what makes things better - art or nature.

Karina Thompson - 60 beats a Minute

Karina Thompson - The Leper's Skull

Karina Thompson's work looks at the physical aspects of disease through heart scans e.g. the machine embroidered "60 beats a Minute" and scans of historical bones from medical archives such as "The Leper's Skull".

If you're in London this exhibition is well worth a look.  It's on till 1 November 2015. 

"Beauty is the First Test - Contemporary Craft & Mathematics" was also on at the Pump House Gallery. You can read about it here.

Knitting & Stitching Show 2013 - Harrogate

So exciting ...the Knitting & Stitching Show 2013 is now on in Harrogate (until Sunday 24 November 2013 anyway!).  It's the highlight of my textile year!  And you always bump into friends there too which is just an added bonus. 

Strippy Quilted Skirt - Mandy Patullo

Here are my choices from the Textile Gallery ... first up is Thread & Thrift - Mandy Pattullo which was my personal favourite.   Mandy lives in the North East and her work is based on a love and respect for vintage textiles and the satisfaction of making a connection with needleworkers from the past.  She recycles and reuses very old & often disintegrating quilts into new patchwork pieces adding and embellishing as she goes.  Vintage buttons are also used.  Her work relates to the past culture of thrift and "make do and mend".  Her work has a certain "wonkiness" (Mandy's own words) which, for me, certainly brought it alive.

Quilted Dress (based on a Clothkits Pattern)

The Blues - Mandy Pattullo

http://www.mandypattullo.co.uk/

Next up is Rhythms & Counter Rhythms by Jan Beaney & Jean Littlejohn who are international textile artists and members of the 62 Group.  Jan's work was based on sketches and observation of local fields throughout the seasons and at different times of day and under different conditions to highlight the unusual together with complexities of mood, colour, pattern & texture.  I particularly liked "Winter Hedgerow"

Winter Hedgerow - Jan Beaney

This Choker by Jean Littlejohn with the use of washers, screws and other do-it-yourself bits and pieces is also ingenious.

Choker - Jean Littlejohn

http://doubletrouble-ent.com/

My third favourite was Susan Chapman and Terrie Hitchcock with their Evidence of Bodies exhibition.  This largely achromatic exhibition concerns itself with evidence of bodies through mark making including fingerprints and signatures ...

Making Your Mark - Susan Chapman

Little Ladies - Terrie Hitchcock

Susan Chapman

http://www.susanchapman.com/

http://www.theknittingandstitchingshow.com/london/exhibitor/Susan-Chapman-and-Terrie-Hitchcock-Evidence-of-Bodies  

And finally there was Dorothy Caldwell's exhibition Marking the Everyday which was quite fabulous.  Drawing on her on-site research from the Australian Outback & the Arctic Dorothy uses the graphic quality of the "everyday" proceses of stitching, darning and mending to make her marks.  Her inspiration comes from both the large scale landscape features experienced during her research and the up close detail.

Dorothy Caldwell

Fjord - Dorothy Caldwell

Wandering Time - Dorothy Caldwell

 http://dorothycaldwell.com/

There were many other wonderful artists exhibiting too. And if you've never been, the Knitting & Stitching Show is definitely a must see event for anyone interested in knitting, stitching, art or if you just need to stock up on your crafting supplies as the range is amazing.  Read more here ...

http://www.theknittingandstitchingshow.com/harrogate/