New Hippystitch necklaces for cambridge contemporary crafts - August delivery

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces

 

Another lovely selection of my fabric necklaces has arrived at cambridge contemporary crafts...

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces

Go and take a look - cambridge contemporary crafts have lots to choose from for the perfect present or as a treat...

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces

As well as jewellery, there are ceramics, prints and paper, sculptures, glass, textiles and cards. Find them at 5 Bene't Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QN.

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces

Always worth a look!

Untangled Threads, Totems & More - Scarborough Art - July 2024

Untangled Threads - The Butterfly Effect
Colourful Stitchbook Collective Members' Squares

From mid June to early August, Scarborough Art is in full flow.  It is a festival that takes place across various venues in the town, showcasing the work of the creative community.  I popped along in late July and just visited a couple of venues...

Untangled Threads - The Butterfly Effect - Birds

The first was Untangled Threads which runs collaborative textile projects and is led by Helen Birmingham, a talented mixed media textile artist.  The current project is The Butterfly Effect and the aim is to create a large-scale textile art installation which will represent Mother Nature, and show how, with very small changes and co-operation by us all, she can ultimately win the battle over the misuse and depletion of the earth’s resources.  It is also a charity fundraiser for Mind, the charity working for better mental health.

Untangled Threads - The Butterfly Effect
Colourful Stitchbook Collective Members' Squares

Untangled Threads has a committed community - the Stitchbook Collective, a subscriber group, who produce fabulous textile work under Helen's guidance.  Now in its 5th year, their current project is The Butterfly Effect.  Members have already been making colourful squares which will go to making up the skirt of Mother Nature's dress along with other slow stitched pieces.

Untangled Threads - The Butterfly Effect
Bird

This will flow into an entangled mossy bank populated with flora and fauna.  Helen is already working on birds and bugs that the Collective can make (or you can buy a kit here)...

Untangled Threads - The Butterfly Effect
Bugs

Untangled Threads - The Butterfly Effect
Butterflies & Flowers

The bodice of the dress will be covered in butterflies which will be wired so they seem like they are moving.  You can join in the project by subscribing to The Stitchbook Collective here or you can buy a pack to make two butterflies or two flowers and keep one and donate one to the project here. Money from each kit is donated to Mind and sale of the brooches at a later date will raise more money for them.  I can't wait to see the finished installation!

Untangled Threads - The Butterfly Effect

One of the Collective's previous projects was Primordial Soup. This was inspired by Helen's DNA textile work. Two ideas which are explored in the work are Homophily (the tendency to form friendship networks with people of similar occupations, interests and habits), and also the science of basic genetics where the letters C, G, A & T represent the nucleotides which pair to form the structure of DNA...

Untangled Threads - Primordial Soup

I also visited the Old Parcels Office (OPO) Artspace.  They had an exhibition - Totems - which displayed giant sculptures made by a variety of community groups led by different artists. These were wonderful.  I particularly liked the work that Julie Bailey, Wendy Galloway and Nikki White had made with the Blueberry Academy.  The Blueberry Academy provides specialist support to young people and adults with learning difficulties, autism, social, emotional and mental health needs.  They had made two Totems.  A magical tree, focusing on the healing power of nature, and a cityscape, symbolising how we have become more insular in recent years, where homes can be both a place of refuge and security but also isolation...

 

Blueberry Academy

Katie Gill, working with activity co-ordinators Debby Hill & Lucy McGuire, and patients of Esk Ward at Cross Lane Hospital also produced two Totems.  Cross Lane Hospital provides mental health care to people in Scarborough.

Made from cardboard boxes, packaging, newspaper, pva glue and brightly coloured paint they produced a number of symbols that represented what community meant to them.  For example rainbow - acceptance, dove - peace & unity, teapot - comfort from having a cuppa and a chat, tree - support, heart - kindness & love, peas in a pod - being together, never lonely...

Cross Lane Hospital

Also on at the OPO Artspace was Mary-Ann Stevens - Sometimes I feel So Happy, Sometimes I Feel So Sad.  Her unconventional, quirky sculptures are made of papier-mâché and explore women's identity, expectations and representation. Here are some to give you a flavour of Mary-Ann's work...

Mary-Ann Stevens - Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town, Gloria, Edith & Scooter Girl
(clockwise from top left)

After the exhibitions, a swim and a long walk, I very much enjoyed a latte and a slice of lemon meringue at the Clock Cafe.  If you go to the cafe, remember to take cash as they don't have a card machine! 

Lemon Meringue & Latte at the Clock Cafe, Scarborough

Scarborough is a good day out and there are lots of events and places to visit.

New Hippystitch Brooches Arrive At The Ropewalk - August 2024

Hippystitch Flower Button Brooches

 

Just arrived at The Ropewalk Craft Gallery in Barton upon Humber are a new selection of Hippystitch brooches.  There are colourful flower button brooches in various guises...

Hippystitch Flower Button Brooches with Knitted Stems

and some resin button brooches made in upcycled bottle tops...

Hippystitch resin Button Brooches

and a selection of button brooches using all sorts of different buttons, beads and haberdashery...

Hippystitch Button Brooches

There are a selection of vintage inspired brooches using vintage buttons...

Hippystitch Vintage Button Brooches

old coins...

Hippystitch Vintage Coin Brooches

and vintage dominoes...

Hippystitch Vintage Domino Brooches

not to mention some more unusual wooden and metal domino brooches...

Hippystitch Wooden Domino Brooches

Why not take a trip to visit The Ropewalk.  It has exhibitions on in its galleries as well as its Craft Gallery Shop. There's also The Ropewalk Museum and a coffee shop, not to mention some nice walks nearby. It's well worth a visit - go see!

New Exhibitions at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield - Carol Douglas, Leila Babirye & Bharti Kher

Carol Douglas - Autumn Kitchen II

I went along to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to see the Carol Douglas exhibition Actually I Can.  It didn't disappoint.  Carol is a York based artist, who using acrylics on canvas, paints everyday objects and people in an slightly abstracted way. She only embarked on her painting career in her 60s and has become very popular.  I have seen her work at several York Open Studios events and if you're from further afield you might have seen her work in TOAST stores across the UK in 2022 or in other exhibitions across the country.  Actually I Can is on until Sunday 27 October 2024.  Here's a flavour...

Carol Douglas - Checked Kitchen Cloth, Early Breakfast, Dinner for One 

Carol Douglas - Conversation II & Conversation III

Carol Douglas - Grey Corner

Carol Douglas - Grey Fruit Bowl II, Two Vessels, Diamond Patterned Cloth, Flower Vase, Grey Fruit Bowl, Check Table Cloth II
(L to R from top to bottom)

Carol Douglas - Secret Meeting II, Encounter, Secret Meeting, First Date, Evening Walk, Orange Skirt

Carol Douglas - Tango

Another talented York maker, also championed by TOAST, is Kate Semple.  Kate is one of TOAST's 2024 New Makers and her beautiful ceramics are currently available in the YSP shop...

Kate Semple Vases - YSP Shop

Of course, whilst I was at YSP I also went to see Leilah Babirye's Obumu (Unity) in the Chapel.  Her work reinvents trash as something beautiful.  Leilah Babirye is based in the USA but was born in Uganda and the work on show was made in summer 2023 when she visited YSP.  The wood is from the YSP and was sculpted with a chainsaw and then charred to black and waxed before elements from the YSP workshops were added.  Her work references African masks to explore the diversity of LGBTQ+ identities.  I loved these sculptures.  This exhibition is on until Sunday 8 September 2024. Take a look...

Leilah Babirye - Obumu (Unity)

Leilah Babirye - Obumu (Unity)

Leilah Babirye - Obumu (Unity)

Leilah Babirye - Obumu (Unity)

Leilah Babirye - Obumu (Unity)

And in the Underground Gallery and outside is Bharti Kher: Alchemies which is on until Sunday 27 April 2025.  These sculptures and 2D pieces are based round the idea of transformation. This is just a very small selection of the pieces I liked...

Bharti Kher - The hot winds that blow from the West (218)

This piece is made from old radiators that Kher had shipped from the USA to India.  We are told they look like animal carcasses with their ribs exposed and the title refers to changing east west power dynamics.

Bharti Kher - Milk Teeth

Bharti Kher - Milk Teeth (detail)

Bharti Kher - A poem for night creatures

These two pieces are made from smashed mirrors with bindis attached.  A bindi is a dot of pigment worn between the eyebrows of South Asian women.  They are supposed to represent the "third eye",  relating to inner wisdom and how we see the world. These stick on felt bindis that Kher has added to these pieces have become a signature part of her work.  She has been using them since 1995.  The fractured mirrors suggest many different views.

Bharti Kher - Virus XV

Bharti Kher began her Virus series in 2010 and intends to continue until 2039, with a work each year.  Here the work consists of a spiral of bindis and a pre-written text prophesing what might happen in each year and for those past years, some facts about what has actually happened.  They are wide ranging and might relate to climate, health, politics, conflict, technology and scientific discovery.  At the end of each prohesy is her age which is the only thing that is certain.

The YSP is a great place to visit - interesting exhibitions, a great shop and cafe and plenty of outdoor space and sculpture to explore.  If you've never been, make a date to go!

Summer Exhibition 2024 at the Royal Academy, London

Bass Rock (Songs of the North Volume 1) - David Moore and Kate Davis
 woven music score

This year the RA Summer Exhibition's theme is ‘Making Space’. A friend very kindly took me along last time I was in London and it was great to peruse all the exhibits (over 1700 in 13 gallery spaces) and also a bit overwhelming. Here are a baker's dozen that caught my eye...

Bass Rock (Songs of the North Volume 1) detail - David Moore and Kate Davis
 woven music score - detail

Bass Rock by David Moore & Kate Davis was my favourite piece - not only because I'm familiar with the place as a landmark but also the picture's construction and that you could see the musical notes when you got close up.  It was woven from a musical score.

Super stitched, narrative piece by Sophie-Louise Pywell - very thought provoking...

A Common Thread - Sophie-Louise Pywell
hand embroidery on calico

A Common Thread (detail) - Sophie-Louise Pywell
hand embroidery on calico

A Common Thread (detail) - Sophie-Louise Pywell
hand embroidery on calico

Very nostalgic piece by Jane Chipp...

Vestiges - Jane Chipp
collage using antique papers

Who doesn't love a pencil!  I loved that Minty Sainsbury saved all these pencils and all that work they represented...

Practise - Minty Sainsbury
272 pencil stubs collected over nine years of drawing

Practise (detail) - Minty Sainsbury
272 pencil stubs collected over nine years of drawing

The textures of the porcelain and the colours were fabulous in this piece by Julie Massie... 

Vast Seas in Green to Grey - Julie Massie
porcelain on wood

Chunyoung Yang's work made me smile...

Love Myself - Chunyoung Yang
knitting wool and cotton filling

Loved the textures in Rachel Pearcey's A Space Redefined...

A Space Redefined - Rachel Pearcey
thread on cotton twill throw

A Space Redefined (detail) - Rachel Pearcey
thread on cotton twill throw

What I loved about Sam McKechnie's piece was that it offered so many possibilities of stories that could be told...

Clean - Sam McKechnie
glazed wooden box containing found objects, pastels and paper collage

Alison Aye made me wonder whether the end of the world was near...

Shifting to the Moon - Alison Aye
paper hand-stitched to tea towel

The colours and textures appealed in this piece by Viola Cullip...

Never Mind the Gaps - Viola Cullip
recycled sari fabric and handdyed muslin with hand and machine embroidery

I loved this mosaic from the Hackney Mosaic Project...

Some Hackney Birds - Hackney Mosaic Project
glass and ceramic mosaic

These were Abigail O'Brien's prints of the original stitched pictures which was hard to tell from where you could view it.  In fact throughout the exhibition, there were a number of prints of textiles that looked like the actual textiles, even up close...

Mentation I and Mentation II - Abigail O’Brien
archival print 

and of course I loved this by Neville Godwin...

Nothing to See Here - Neville Godwin

screenprint with hand distressing and applied glitter

This is an image of the postcard as the print was too high up in the gallery for me to get a good picture.

In addition, outside in the courtyard, this monumental piece by Nicola Turner was something to behold.   Tendrils, which Turner has twisted and stitched together, come off and wrap round the statue of Joshua Reynolds in a rather foreboding way. Turner uses found objects including grand piano legs, chair stuffing and horsehair from old mattresses. In using these objects she gives new life to what would otherwise be discarded.  I found this grimly fascinating...

The Meddling Fiend - Nicola Turner
mixed media including horsehair, wool, wood and brass

The Meddling Fiend (detail) - Nicola Turner
mixed media including horsehair, wool, wood and brass

The Summer Exhibition is on at the RA until Sunday 18 August 2024.  I think you could go many times and notice different things every time. There's so much, you're bound to find something you like.  There was a large piece by El Anatsui and some Cornelia Parker pieces that I liked and many smaller pieces that I enjoyed too.  There's lots for sale if you want to buy something, from less than £100 to many thousands of pounds - or you could just buy a postcard!