Annie Montgomerie - Hand Me Downs - Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Annie Montgomerie - Giraffe

Annie Montgomerie's anthropomorphic creatures capture a sense of nostalgic childhood when children played hide and seek, skipped along the pavement, explored the woods whilst wearing hand me downs from their siblings and couldn't keep their socks up.

Annie Montgomerie - Toftly the Dog

Annie Montgomerie
- Urshalla the Cat

Cats, dogs, foxes, alpacas, bears and more appear in her collection and often have a special "loved" toy with them. 

 

Annie Montgomerie - Alpacas, Bombom the bear, Locka & Eztree the foxes

Her making starts with the face which she creates from muslin and glue until she has a hard outer shell whilst the body and clothes of her creatures are made from vintage finds. Annie says, "I use muslin, 100% wool felt, ‘up-cycled’ wool garments, velvet, leather, cotton, moleskin and blankets for wall hangings and figures. I then stitch on curious little things I find including vintage buttons, charms and jewellery."

Annie Montgomerie - Agny the Sun Bear

Annie Montgomerie - Blip the Mouse

They are skillfully made and spookily realistic. I found them rather unsettling but fascinating.

Annie Montgomerie - Fizzle the Owl

Annie Mongomery - Pidge the Pigeon

The Hand Me Downs exhibition has closed now but was at the wonderful Yorkshire Sculpture Park which is always a great day out.

Chris Gray at City of York Embroiderers' Guild

Afghan Bodice - richly embroidered 

This month Chris Gray came to talk to us to share her inspiration and work.  Chris is inspired by the textiles of Central Asia and Eastern Europe with their rich symbolism and fantastic detail.  She brought some amazing world textiles for us to see and handle.

Child's Hat

Blanket from India/Pakistan area made from collar and cuff edges

Detail from a door banner

Shisha mirrors are used to ward off the evil eye and cowrie shells are fertility symbols.  Chris likes the idea of work being more than just decorative and uses symbolism in her own richly decorated pieces.

Decorative scroll pouches - Chris Gray

Decorations - Chris Gray

120 hours stitching to make this triptych - Chris Gray

Beautiful patterns (detail) - Chris Gray

Chris says, "You don't have to visit (a place) in person to interact with other cultures and allow influences to enrich our lives and what we do."  Thanks for the inspiration, Chris.