| Welcome to November, the season of mists and bonfires. I do hope that this finds you well and you are managing to enjoy some of the autumn colours before the rain washes the leaves away. Halloween is barely over but all the Christmas goodies are cramming onto the shelves already. I find I have already bought advent calendars and ordered my Christmas beef! I hope as many as possible of you are having your boosters and flu jabs. My husband contracted COVID last week and we have been in isolation since. Apparently I don’t need to isolate as I’m testing negative, but that seems bizarre to me, so I’m staying safely at home, with my man flu victim. I seem to still have enough antibodies to avoid the virus despite being in close quarters with an infected person, which is a relief. Fortunately he is not too bad, just very fatigued and hating being without taste and smell. The TV and a roaring fire have helped! I’ve no stories or photos from members this month, but I have suggestions for visits and podcasts. ————- It’s the Knitting & Stitching Show at Harrogate soon –18th– 21st November, with lots to see and do. Have a look at https://www.theknittingandstitchingshow.com/harrogate/the-textile-galleries featuring artists: Maria Thomas, Hannah Lamb, Sabi Westobi, Omone Otite, and the Embroiderers’ Guild will be bringing its current exhibition “Exquisite Containers” to the show.    ———— If you fancy some fresh air and a walk: The Weston Gallery at Yorkshire Sculpture Park will be transformed by Annie Morris’ vibrant sculptures and intricate ‘thread paintings’ – Wakefield 25th Sep 2021 – 6th Feb 2022 Annie Morris’ installation creates an immersive experience of the artist’s own studio, mimicking a creative environment where the immediacy of her drawn and stitched work sits alongside sculptures in various stages of creation. Aptly named The Stacks, the colourful structures are precariously balanced in towers to demonstrate a sense of instability and fragility. They poignantly represent themes of grief and loss, as the artist took inspiration from a tragic event in her own life whilst creating them, the death of her first child before birth. The exhibition will be accompanied by a new monumental bronze work that will sit in the park outside, marrying Morris’ work the striking Yorkshire landscape. .  ————— At the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes, from 9th Oct – 20th Feb 2022 you can see the work of a pioneering painter of women, war and marginalised people. Laura Knight’s staggering success in the male-dominated art world paved the way for the recognition of women artists. With a style that sat somewhere between figurative painting, realist tradition and English Impressionism, Laura Knight (1877-1970) is considered one of the most prolific 20th-century English artists. She was particularly known for her work as a war artist during the Second World War, shining a new light on women’s role in the war effort, and for her fascination with the backstage world of ballet, theatre and circus, often painting marginalised people. As an artist Laura Knight was constantly breaking conventions and challenging stereotypes – notably she was the first woman elected to full membership of the Royal Academy. The exhibition will feature 160 of her powerful works, from commissions created during the Second World War, rarely seen paintings and graphic works, to ceramics jewellery and costume.  —————– If you are in London over the Festive season, Don’t forget about: Beautiful People: The Boutique in 1960s Counterculture at the Fashion and Textile Museum, London. 1 October 2021 – 13 March 2022. Frilled shirts, Regency brocades and velvet trousers – there’s plenty in this exhibition to inspire you to push the boat out with your costume this Halloween. Beautiful People explores the designers who defined radical fashion in the 1960s, driven by freedom and flamboyance. The exhibition is an explosion of colour, materials and decorative design – the perfect way to brighten up the greyest of days. —————- On Saturday 20th Novemberthere will be a Closing Down Sale at Pentrich Village Hall, 10.30 – 4pm. Ann Mayner, owner of Quilt Essential, Cromford Mill, is retiring and moving away. She has always stocked a great range of fabrics and notions, so that should be very worthwhile. ————— In Nottingham I urge you to visit the Castle Museum for the Paul Smith exhibition. It’s exciting and inspirational, full of colour, character and images. For this exhibition he focuses on photographs and colour and his eclectic use of both. It’s on until February, but if you go out-of-holiday times there’s no need to pre-book and you can wander round at leisure. The Castle has been revamped with two cafes and the shop has plenty of goodies and gift ideas. Another shop with great gift ideas is at the Contemporary Museum in the Lacemarket, Nottingham. It’s my go-to spot for quirky and unusual gifts, art books and children’s toys. Closed on Mondays. ———— A new Podcast to listen to: Meet Me at the Museum – new series. The Art Fund podcast features well-known faces taking someone they love to a favourite museum or gallery, to explore what’s on offer, have a chat about what they find, and generally muse on life. Previous series have featured guests including comedian Mae Martin, poet Benjamin Zephaniah, and actor Mathew Horne, all exploring museums they love. As well as getting a peek behind the scenes, finding out what makes a museum tick, their visits are also the starting point for some great conversations about life, the universe and everything. Oh, and also a chance to eat lots of cake in the cafe. (You will have to bake your own of course!) On TV I’ve been watching interesting craft contests. Channel 4 hosts HandMade, a weekly show featuring competing woodworkers, with a different set of challenges each episode. It is fascinating to watch the designs coming to life, the energy and, in some cases, excellence of the craftsmanship. On Netflix and You Tube there is a show called Blown Away, about glass blowing. Very American in nature, but each episode is only a half hour long, so very compulsive! Mindblowing and very instructive, I absolutely love it.  I also love the Thursday episode of Strictly: It Takes Two when they have the costume people showing the outfits for the next dance show. They often discuss the structure of the garments, show their plans and current work, but that often evolves during the Friday dress rehearsal and changes get made. Fascinating. ———– I’ve been compiling my Christmas list, from my armchair. Books on my list are:    I’ll review them in January, if I find them under my Christmas Tree! Any more reviews or gift suggestions are very welcome, as I’m sure readers would appreciate some ideas. ————- I also attended a lovely in-person workshop at Hope & Elvis, up at the Harley Gallery near Worksop. Fabulous workroom with a delicious hot lunch. The class was run by Mandy Patullo, a friend and fabulous stitcher, who mainly uses antique materials and quilts in her work. We made small hand stitched dolls. Here are some of Mandy’s and our class efforts.    —————- If you have any newsletter contributions, puzzles, recommendations, etc, do please send them to me via the Living Threads email address: livingthreadsgroup@gmail.com or email me directly at gillitheokritoff@gmail.com It’s a hopeful time of year and but we still need some tips and interesting or amusing snippets! Email us at: livingthreadsgroup@gmail.com or check us out on Facebook. We wish you all a speedy recovery if you or family have been unwell or had Covid-19, and that the booster keeps us all safe. Everyone please enjoy the season and keep creating. Until December Cheers, Gilli Theokritoff, Newsletter Editor Copyright © 2021 The Living Threads Group, All rights reserved. |
Month: October 2021
October 2021 newsletter
Welcome to October and the darkening evenings and cooler weather. It’s nearly time for me to put my socks on! As I write, we are all in the middle of a kerfuffle about petrol. I’ve not been too affected as I’m staying fairly local and have half a tank of fuel, but I understand the frustration if you need to make longer journeys or commute daily. I feel bemused when I pass a 50-car queue for a petrol station, when I know there is another round the corner with only 6 people queuing!
Quite a few people will be out in their gardens, getting them ready for the winter, etc, or raking leaves and tidying their flower beds. Frosts will be here soon. I prepared a new bed for a wisteria, using home-made compost. Imagine my surprise 2 weeks later when a melon plant sprouted from the compost and proceeded to ramble across my terrace. 4 weeks later it is now 14 feet long, with dozens of flowers and mini melons appearing. It won’t survive this late in the season, so will have to be pulled up, but it was amazing to watch it grow so quickly. I scattered a “Bee Bomb” on an empty flower bed this summer and have been delighted with what came up. The bed was filled with poppies, marigolds, cosmos, clary sage, and dill and attracted so many bees of so many different kinds. I have been researching bees for a creative project and was thrilled to be able to identify so many varieties of bee. Now to build a bee house for the solitary ones to overwinter!
Have you been listening to Haptic and Hue’s Tales of Textiles, which you can find on all major podcast platforms, or on the Haptic and Hue website https://hapticandhue.com/tales-of-textiles-series-3/.
The series takes 8 different fabrics and listens to their stories, looking at what they are and where they came from as well as what they meant to the people who made and used them. The episodes run every two weeks from 9th September until 16th December 2021.
‘Wholecloths From the Hills’ is the next podcast episode that will explore North Country quilts with Quilters’ Guild Museum Collection curator, Heather Audin, and quilter and textile researcher, Deborah McGuire. The episode will air on 7th October. It’s great to see that there are textile-related podcasts about. If you know of others, please let me know so I can share the knowledge!
Our newest member, Ann Bruntlett, has encouraged me to look at the work of Meredith Woolnough, an Australian embroiderer with a great collection of resources and teaching classes available online at https://meredith-woolnough-studio.teachable.com/
See below for examples of her soluble embroidery teaching samples.
She also has a rather lovely book out, Organic Embroidery, available from Amazon and all good retailers. I remember seeing her amazing embroideries based on corals, so fragile and on such a large scale, in a TV programme a few years ago. http://meredithwoolnough.com.au/past-work
Julie Williams is feeling bemused:
Is it because you never see this in a newsagents or have I just forgotten (along with everything else that’s “slipped my mind”)…..
I didn’t realise that Embroidery Magazine was still being published.
It’s not the same as our old favourite version, of course, but I saw this online and sent for it, it’s quite a good issue.
I was interested to see that the Embroiderers’ Guild were advertising ‘Join us Today’ in it?????
The Knitting and Stitching Shows are on again this year, very COVID secure, as the Festival of Quilts was. The Alexandra Palace Show is 7-10th October, the Harrogate one will take place 18-21st November. Maybe that could be combined with a trip to Betty’s, some Christmas shopping and a visit to the RHS gardens for some frosty inspiration…
Don’t forget to make sure your 2022 diary is marked with our Living Threads Exhibition, Wednesday 30th March – Friday 8th April, to be held at Trent College, Long Eaton, as previously. The theme is “Garden” and we have lots of exciting work to show, plus some special exhibitions and projects, plus work from our Study Group.
If you have any newsletter contributions, puzzles, recommendations, etc, do please send them to me via the Living Threads email address: livingthreadsgroup@gmail.com or email me directly at gillitheokritoff@gmail.com Your newsletter will be all about me if you don’t send me some stories, book reviews, places of interest, etc!
Everyone please stay safe and keep creating. We will get through this and come out the other side. Full vaccination (and boosters) will eventually mean we can all meet up and share our stories and textile work.
Until November,
Cheers
Gilli Theokritoff, Newsletter Editor
The Living Threads Group 