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A wealth of talent - textile Art in the South West

26/10/2015

Exhibitions now on and coming soon.

I think I am very lucky to live in the South West of the UK. Not only is it a beautiful part of the country, but I am surrounded by some of the most creative and talented textile artists currently working in the UK.

This week I took a day out from decorating the house (yuk!) to visit 2 fantastic exhibitions - MAPPING EVOLUTION: showcasing the work of k3n and Alicia Merrett at Ilminster Arts Centre & IMPRINTS TEXTILE EXHIBITION: a wonderful display of the work of many of the members of South West Textile Group in the Museum of Somerset, Taunton.

Here are a few inspiring photographs from the exhibition in Ilminster. Alicia and k3n's work looks superb in this light and airy gallery.

Protoplanetary Disk by k3n

Alicia at work

MAPPING EVOLUTION
an exhibition of art quilts
Ilminster Arts Centre
5/10/15 - 31/10/15

k3n & Alicia Merrett

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Half an hour later, after a short drive, I was in Taunton - in the beautiful 12th century castle which houses the Museum of Somerset. This is the venue for the excellent exhibition of work by members of the South West Textile Group. I was able to take a lot more photographs here and I hope you enjoy looking at some of the work - and perhaps inspire you to make a visit.

Michelle Cooke: The Burial of cadbury bronze Age Shield

Rita Fisk: Sumorsaete Ealle

Sarah O'Hora: Circles in Circles

Penelope Florance: New Look to Ancient Shield

k3n: 'Sea Lily'

Caroline Reali: Fragments

Kate Dowty: Zulu (close up)

Anne Amosford: Subjoined Lines

Christine Seager: Fragments of War

Alicia Merrett

Carole Watson: 'Little Moll: A Girl in the Workhouse'

Veronica Broadley: Crossing the Levels

IMPRINTS TEXTILE EXHIBITION
10/10/15 - 2/1/16
The Museum of Somerset, Taunton

South West Textile Group

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Exhibitions coming soon

And if that has whetted your appetite, there are 3 further exhibitions also in our area, about which I am very excited.

Flights of Fancy: A solo exhibition by Angela Knapp at Midsomer Quilting
Angela has developed her own distinctive style, intensely stitching the most amazing images of birds. I am particularly looking forward to this exhibition.
6th to 23rd November, 2015

FLIGHTS OF FANCY
6/11/15 - 23/11/15
Midsomer Quilting, Chilcompton

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West Country Quilt & Textile Show: at the University of the West of England Exhibition Centre

There are many galleries - here are some of the artists whose work I am looking forward to seeing.

WEST COUNTRY QUILT & TEXTILE SHOW
12/11/15 - 14/11/15
University of the West of England

The annual Midsomer Quilting 12 x 12 challenge at Midsomer Quilting (see link above)

A lot of fun for a good cause.
Anyone with a link to the shop is invited to create a small quilt, measuring 12" x 12" for the exhibition which runs from 4th until 21st December 2015.

You can optionally put your quilt up for secret auction with all proceeds going to Dorothy House. Have you made yours yet?????

I hope you have enjoyed looking at this wealth of textile art - and maybe even manage to visit one or more of these exhibitions.
My thanks to all who have created such inspiring work. If I have made any errors with any of the information I have added, please let me know and I will change it immediately.

Thanks for reading.

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A wonderful weekend at the Dorset Quilters Regional day Regional day & workshop with Hardy Quilters

11/10/2015

I have just spent a lovely weekend surrounded by all things 'quilt'. My thanks and congratulations to Maureen Rhodes and her team who organised the very successful Region 4 day at Hamworthy Club, Wimbourne. I had the pleasure of giving the afternoon talk to the members of this large region - and was overwhelmed by the warm reception I received.

During the morning we listened to a superb talk by the very talented Gwyneth Rose give her talk 'Always read the instructions'. Gwyneth shared lots of images of her fabulous work with felt and rust as well of many of the quilts she has made. She also made us all laugh as she shared lots of personal stories from her life - and explained to us how she finally became a teacher - something she had always wanted to be! To see more of Gwyneth's work do look at her page on the Guild website by clicking here, and if you ever have the chance to go and see Gwyneth's work or hear her speak - don't hesitate to go.

Gwyneth Rose

The following day I had the pleasure of teaching the workshop 'The ones that got away' to some of the ladies from Hardy Quilters. We had a fabulous day together in Osmington village hall - made even more special by the selection of freshly baked cakes which several people brought. We even had one which was baked while we worked. Now that is what I call multi-tasking!

Since everyone at the workshop was already an accomplished quilter the quality of the finished work was excellent and lots of ideas were explored.
Thank you to Maureen, Liz, Birgitta, Chantal, Ann, Del, Sheila, Diane, Maureen, Liz, Barbara, Alison and Steve for a great day.

Here are some pictures of the day as it unfolded

Lunch was followed by...... more cake!

There was delicious flapjack for the morning session too - but unfortunately I ate it before taking a picture. Sorry.

Exploring layers of transparent fabrics and different colour choices

Some of the semi-finished pieces

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the fabulous work the ladies of Hardy Quilters created. It was a great day with lots of experimentation and exploration with the techniques of faux trapunto, free motion quilting and the layering of transparent fabrics. Thanks, ladies. I would love to see your pieces when they are finished.

Thanks for reading

Surface design with Markal Oil Sticks

6/10/2015

A very big 'Thank you' to LA-CO Industries Inc and Artemio

My love of Markal oil stick paint grew even stronger this week. I am presently working on a new quilt and am in the process of using these great paints as part of the design. Whilst I was busy exploring new ways of using them on some fabric samples I wondered if the good people who manufacture them would be willing to let me have some samples to use as part of my 'Techniques' workshop which is coming soon on 18th October. So I looked them up on the internet and wrote them a note.

Many thanks to LA-CO industries for their generous sponsorship of my work and upcoming 'Techniques' workshop at Midsomer Quilting.

I am delighted to say that I received a lovely reply from a lady called Lidia Salgado from LA-CO Industries, Inc (the American manufacturers of Markal Artist Paintsticks).

This is what she wrote:

Dear Claire
We would like to thank you for using our product and spreading the word on the Artist Paintstiks!

I am working on your request as we would absolutely like to assist you.

Please give me a day or two to see how I can get samples to you ASAP.

Well, the next day I had another lovely note, this time from Céline Van Vynckt from Artemio in Belgium. Lidia asked her to organise the paintsticks for me since delivery from Belgium would be quicker. As you can imagine, I was not only delighted, but amazed at the generosity of LA-CO and the kindness of Artemio in expediting the samples to me.

And this morning the postman arrived with a package from Belgium and look what was inside!

Thank you to Céline at Artemio for expediting the paintsticks.

So, to all the people who will be attending the 'Techniques' workshop soon - you have these wonderful Markal Paintsticks to look forward to experimenting with, thanks to the generosity of LA-CO Industries Inc, the manufacturers of Markal Paintsticks. How great is that?

If you are new to using Markal Paintsticks then take a look at my blog post from last year by clicking here or on the button below. You will instantly see why I love them so much!

Markal Paintstick blog post from last October

Upcoming events:

Saturday 10th October: I will be giving a talk at the Dorset Quilters' Day (Region 4 of the Quilters Guild of the British Isles) next Saturday at Hamworthy Club, Magna Road,Canford Magna, Wimborne, Dorset,BH21 3AP. Doors open at 10.15. If you are in the neighbourhood I would love to see you! For more information clickhere.

Sunday 11th October: 'The Ones that Got Away' workshop (for Region 4) Osmington Village Hall, Dorset.

Sunday 18th October: 'Claire's Techniques' workshop at Midsomer Quilting, Norton Green Garden Centre, Chilcompton, Bath, BA3 4RR

Thanks for reading.

A wealth of talent - textile Art in the South West

Exhibitions now on and coming soon.

A wonderful weekend at the Dorset Quilters Regional day Regional day & workshop with Hardy Quilters

Surface design with Markal Oil Sticks

A very big 'Thank you' to LA-CO Industries Inc and Artemio

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