Jeanette Orrell – Drawings on Indigo - Ruthin Craft Centre, Wales

Jeanette Orrell - Untitled (Indigo blanket) XIV

I have long wanted to visit Ruthin Craft Centre. I have read about their exhibitions, particularly their textile and mixed media exhibitions, and wished I was a little closer and able to visit. Having seen that Jeanette Orrell was exhibiting, I made arrangements to go - and was not disappointed.

Jeanette Orrell was born in Leigh, Lancashire in 1964 but has lived in Wales for more than 20 years. Originally trained in ceramics at Camberwell School of Art, following graduation she travelled between London, Japan and Greece before returning to the North West to continue her art and bring up a family. In 2017 she was awarded an Arts Council of Wales Creative Wales Award to study indigo dyeing on a farm in the foothills of Mt Fuji in Japan. Orrell brings fine art and craft together informed by familial ties, making, nature and motherhood.

Jeanette Orrell - Untitled (Indigo blankets) & Untitled 

(Indigo plant drawings) I-VII

Orrell's work combines a daily drawing practice with the art of indigo dyeing. This particular body of work was developed following the death of her father and contemplates mourning, recovery and regrowth. Jeanette found she had chosen a tradition that has a longstanding connection with mourning. Indigo was woven through the funerary wardrobe of Tutankhamun, the hand dyed ikats of Central Asia and the uldebe funerary cloths of the Dogon people of West Africa Here abstracted botanical forms are painted on to woollen fabric with a resist paste and then dyed in indigo. Dyeing a single blanket can take days. There are also hand stitched appliqued botanical collages using naturally dyed linens...

Jeanette Orrell - Blue Poppies I & II

Whilst the work employs simple forms they are stunning and the large indigo blankets are breathtaking. I also found the samples and ephemera that were exhibited fascinating...

Jeanette Orrell - Samples, notebooks & ephemera

Jeanette Orrell - Samples & ephemera

I loved the indigo samples where white thread had been couched down to form elaborate patterns...

Jeanette Orrell - Indigo sample with couched white thread

There were also a number of short films made by Jeanette's daughter, Ellie Orrell, illustrating Jeanette's practice. This exhibition continues to 2 July 2023. Jeanette and Ellie Orrell are running a two day indigo dyeing workshop at Ruthin Craft Centre on 1-2 July 2023. You can book here.

Other exhibitions on show were Animal Rites - celebrating fauna in clay. I loved Susan O'Byrne's work which looked like patchwork...

Susan O'Byrne - Hare 2023

(Hand built and printed paper porcelain)

Susan O'Byrne - Hoopoe 2023

and Louise Bell's Endangered Species that looked like pull-along toys. Louise fears these representations may be all that is left if humans don't change their actions in relation to these animals.

Louise Bell - Black Rhino 2023

Love the angels coming out of the elephant's trunk...

Louise Bell - Elephant Finding Hope 2021

All of Louise Bell's work was fantastic.

The other exhibition was Zoe Preece - In Reverence. Zoe Preece has created a series of ordinary domestic objects – intricately carved by hand from porcelain or turned from plaster on a lathe. Each piece takes many hours to create. For Preece, the repetitive and unseen activity of her craft resonates with the ceaseless, invisible domestic labour undertaken within the home. It is this often unnoticed, undervalued work that Preece tries to capture in this installation.

Zoe Preece - Spoonful

Zoe Preece - Carved Tools

Ruthin Craft Centre has a large car park and a spacious cafe. If you need somewhere to stay try Manorhaus Ruthin - nice rooms, lovely food & great welcome from Gavin. Also, lovely to see Julie Arkell and Dionne Swift represented in the artwork on display at Manorhaus.

"Away, Away" - Julie Arkell at the Harley Gallery

Tiny Pond - Julie Arkell

    
Julie Arkell currently has an exhibition at the Harley Gallery.  This is a rare treat so if you can get to see it, don't hesitate! Julie is a textile and mixed media artist who creates whimsical folk art inspired scenes.  Her creations are made from papier-mâché and have knitted and handstitched garments or features and are embellished with handstitched phrases.

Comfort List - Julie Arkell

Away - Julie Arkell

Ponds - Julie Arkell

The Pond Looks Deep - Julie Arkell

"Away, Away" has grown from her exhibition "Away" which was shown at the Ruthin Craft Centre in 2014 for which Julie made 100 creatures.  Julie says that since then her collection of nature books has grown, mentioning "Pond Life", "British Birds' Eggs and Nests" & "Woodland Trees".   You can see the influences of these in her work - some of her characters now have their own ponds and fantastically some of the trees and characters have knitted shadows and there is even a knitted strip of land.  There are birds' eggs, books and twigs - all sorts of "collections"

What's hidden behind... - Julie Arkell

Trees - Julie Arkell

A strip of land - Julie Arkell

A Shadow for Myself - Julie Arkell

On Fragile Ground - Julie Arkell

Large Knitted Crow Shadows - Julie Arkell

The shapes of the large knitted crow shadows were made from tracings of actual shadows from some of Julie's crow figures.

Birds' Eggs Illustration - Julie Arkell

Twigs & Books - Julie Arkell

Matchbox collections - Julie Arkell

The bird that refused to fly - Julie Arkell

It is impossible to not be fascinated by her vignettes and to wonder about their stories.

Owls - Julie Arkell

Long live the glorious crow - Julie Arkell

Saints - Julie Arkell

Becoming Jane Eyre - Julie Arkell

I wish I'd been kinder - Julie Arkell

Houses have secrets - Julie Arkell

Julie's brooches displayed in Hotel D'Angleterre

The Harley Gallery is situated on the Welbeck Estate in Nottinghamshire.  There is ample car parking and a cafe close by. 

Note: It is also handy for Hope & Elvis, where Louise Presley curates a fantastic range ot textile and mixed media workshops, run by leading artists and makers.

This exhibition is on until 8 January 2017.  Go see!