Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Life in the
fast lane
Pauline Nijenhuis tackles
our technological world
A way
with words
SARA IMPEY
Jordan Nassar’s new
take on traditional PLUS…
hand embroidery Diana Harrison
Helen Banzhaf
01 Julie Heaton
9 771477 372037
Celia Pym
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EDITOR
Embroidery magazine
48
46 34
January 2019
front features reviews
REGULARS 16 LIFE IN THE FAST LANE COURSES
07 EMBROIDERY loves Pauline Nijenhuis explores the demands of 12 Celia Pym at Hope & Elvis
08 News modern urban life through embroidery BOOKS
09 Diary 22 DRAWN TO THREAD 52 The latest textile titles
10 Subscribe! After tragedy struck, Julie Heaton took to
11 Reader Showcase
EXHIBITIONS
drawing not with paper but with thread
using free-machine embroidery 54 Suffrage, Wales
15 Liberty: History of a brand
55 Anni Albers, London
PREVIEWS 28 JUST MY TYPE 56 The Most Real Thing,
14 Scottish Samplers Former journalist Sara Impey invented Salisbury
a unique outlet for her love of language 57 Walking the Line, Wales
34 ART & SOUL WHAT’S ON
40 New Yorker Jordan Nassar draws upon
the embroidery of his Palestinian ancestors
58 Exhibition listings
ANNI
ALBERS
An artist who changed weaving.
A weaver who changed art.
© 2018 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London
Anni Albers Ancient Writing 1936 (detail) Smithsonian American Art Museum. Gift of John Young
T H E E YA L O F E R G A L L E R I E S
Supported by
Media partner
6 EMBROIDERY January February 2019
EMBROIDERY loves...
Zarina Bhimji,
1/2d., white.
Hand embroidery, TATE BRITAIN’S NEW DISPLAYS include a major installation by Zarina Bhimji.
appliqué edged Consisting of over 100 unframed photographs and multiple embroideries, Lead
with coloured White is a meditation on power and beauty, and the culmination of a decade-
silks, on cotton long investigation into national archives over multiple continents.
©ZARINA BHIMJI 2018
Bhimji captures details of words, lines, stamps and embossing, excavating
these details in order to explore what archives do, how they categorise and
how they reveal institutional ideologies. The work also combines digital and
physical crafts – including the use of embroidery for the first time.
Zarina Bhimji was born in Uganda and lives and works in London. She was
nominated for the Turner Prize in 2007, exhibited at Documenta 11 in 2002,
and is represented in numerous public collections including Tate, the Museum
of Contemporary Art in Chicago and Moderna Museet in Stockholm.
A SURREAL EXPERIENCE
Dorothea Tanning (1910–2012), one of the most exciting female
exponents of Surrealism, explored a range of media during her 70-
year career, from the enigmatic self-portraiture of her early years to
the soft sculpture she pioneered in the 1960s, including the ground-
breaking room-sized installation Hôtel du Pavot, Chambre 202, which
featured contorted and intertwined textile bodies. Tate Modern
opens a retrospective of her career in February, which promises
to be an intriguing look at this important artist.
Dorothea Tanning,Tate Modern 27 February-9 June
tate.org.uk
2
latest exhibition staged at the Royal
Anni Albers, Eclat 1974
School of Needlework and reflects Another thought-provoking textile
how homes have historically been show at Ruthin Craft Centre:
Indian Threads features Eleri Mills
decorated with embroidery. and Julia Griffiths Jones amongst
Taking examples from the RSN’s Eleri Mills others. Closes 27 January.
collection, the exhibits are worked ruthincraftcentre.org.uk
in a variety of techniques and display
items include bedspreads, sheets,
10
tablecloths, cushion covers and fire
screens, as well as smaller items such
as letter holders and tablemats from
the 19th and 20th centuries.
We’d say Tate Modern has done a pretty
11
Tours start from £16 per person and fine job with Anni Albers. There’s still
the exhibition runs until August 2019
14
time to see it before it closes 27 January.
royal-needlework.org.uk tate.orguk
19
18 Cecil Beaton’s
Royal portrait of
Princess Margaret
on her 21st birthday
2
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Catch the exhibition of Jilly traces the impact of one of the 20th
Edwards’ woven tapestries century’s most influential couturiers.
inspired by glimpses and
memories of journeys from 10 Opens 2 February at the V&A.
vam.ac.uk
19 January-17 March at the
NCCD in Sleaford.
nccd.org.uk 15 The 15th edition of COLLECT,
the Crafts Council’s event for
collectors opens 28 February-3
March at the Saatchi Gallery.
The Adoration of the
Magi tapestry, 1894
craftscouncil.org.uk
24
The Textile East Fair takes place
for the third consecutive year
at Swavesey Village College in
Cambridgeshire on 22-23 February. 22
Traders include Art Van Go,
Mulberry Silks, The African Fabric Pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones
Shop and many others, as well as brought imaginary worlds to life
28
two textile exhibitions, including in awe-inspiring paintings, stained
work from the East Anglian based glass and tapestries – all on show at
textile group Tin Hut Textiles. Tate Britain until 24 February. Katharine Swales Glyphs &
tate.org.uk Loops. Hand woven tapestry
textileseastfair.wordpress.com
DIARY: ANNI ALBERS ©2018 THE JOSEF & ANNI ALBERS FOUNDATION AND
KNOLL TEXTILE. DIOR ©VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON. EDWARD
BURNE-JONES MMU SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
february
January February 2019 EMBROIDERY 9
subscribe today
EMBROIDERY MAGAZINE
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to the artists, stitchers and designers who matter
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Graduate Showcase
A touch
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CAREN
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Pioneer:
alternative
Drawing
Jean
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SCHOOL OF
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THOUGHT
JANE Stitch-School is bringing
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McKEATING 05 04
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Volume 69
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Making a world
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of his own
JANUARY FEBRUARY 2018
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ANNE KELLY
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KATE WELLS
ANNE MORRELL Sensory memory
Modern Myths
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CAITLIN HINSHELWOOD
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Bonnie Peterson,
On the Nature of Fire (detail)
hole hearted
Discover the delights of emotional repair
I
’m in a flap. I’ve signed up for traditional techniques, what we are perfect technique but mending as
one of Celia Pym’s mending looking at is expressive mending as a means of expression and personal
workshops at Hope & Elvis, only a way of preserving ‘precious cloth – creative choice.
I’ve joined the knit day instead of cloth that holds some memory’. She then demonstrates the patching,
the sewing day. Help. I can’t knit… ‘Wear is such a drawn-out process,’ reinforcing and darning techniques
A quick phone call to Louise Asher at she explains. ‘Time is visible in a she’d like us to try, using running
H&E and I’m back on the right track. person’s clothing, and repairing it stitch throughout. Materials are
Let’s hope I fair better with darning – is essentially about preserving a provided so we begin by creating a
not something I’ve tried before. relationship.’ sampler. It soon becomes evident that
Maybe it’s the resurgence of make- The idea is that your stitches become patching and reinforcing are fairly
do-and mend, or perhaps the ever- an addition to the cloth and aren’t quick mends but woven darning is
quickening pace of fast fashion, hidden as in traditional mending much slower as you must lay the
whatever the tipping point, darning where you want the repair to be warp threads across the damaged
has made a comeback in the last invisible. Celia holds up a checked area and weave between them.
decade. And not just as a practical shirt3 that has a long vivid blue repair In the afternoon, Celia offers another
antidote to moth-eaten sweaters but down its back – the beautiful woven demonstration, looking at the
as art. The artist Celia Pym1 was one stitches underline her point: this old possibilities of working with denim.
of the few textile nominees for last shirt has a value beyond its material She begins unpicking a pair of Levis,
year’s Woman’s Hour Craft Prize and worth. explaining how the worn fabric has
the LOEWE Craft Prize 2017. I first saw She continues: ‘Repair is less about a a softness that’s perfect for patching.
her work in Cloth and Memory{2} in shortage of material or poverty: you By now we’re encouraged to start
20132. In contrast to the exhibition’s can replace things very cheaply these mending our own items and as we
monumental artworks, Celia’s small days on the high street.’ Instead we’re stitch, Celia gives a talk about her
woolly jumper caught my attention. here to ‘explore textile repair, how work, outlining some of the themes
Its shape was contorted by hand you do it and why you do it’. We’ve and projects she’s worked on.
darning, and not the invisible kind our been asked to bring along damaged By the end of the day I have a good
grandmothers were taught. The mend items to work with, so we begin grasp of the darning techniques, as
was obvious, messy and every bit by introducing ourselves and our well as lots of inspiration to think
visible. Its power lay in the questions treasures, which range from a much- about, from Boro textiles to the quilts
it provoked. What was the story loved childhood fox with a worn ear of Gees Bend. But more than this,
behind this almost-obsessive repair? to all manner of clothing, each one it’s been fascinating to think about
On the morning of the workshop, accompanied by a story or anecdote. what might motivate an act of visible
15 of us gather around a long table Celia listens carefully, making mending. As Celia says: ‘Clothing is
peering eagerly at examples of Celia’s suggestions and using examples of so personal and the act of repairing
work. She’s been exploring textile her own work to demonstrate how is the smallest gesture loaded with
repair since 2007 but this is darning a repair might look. She emphasises such love.’ e
with a difference. Although she uses that the course is not about learning Jo Hall
MENDING WITH
CELIA PYM
WHEN 16 September 2018
WHERE Hope & Elvis, Harley
Foundation Studios, Welbeck, Notts
COST £75 inc lunch & materials
BRING An item for repair
TOOLS Fiscars embroidery scissors.
Clover Sashico needles (long type)
or John James long darners.
DMC embroidery threads.
INSPIRATION The Quilts of Gees
Bend, Boro textiles, Kantha quilts
hopeandelvis.com
celiapym.com
Sewing
Stories
When little Margaret Eiston finished her
sampler in March 1810, it would have been a
valuable document of the Scottish lassie’s ability
with a needle but regarded as little else.
To its current owner, the American collector Leslie
B Durst, whose collection of 18th and 19th century
Scottish samplers is on show in Edinburgh, it
reveals much more: ‘This exhibition isn’t just about
needlework, it is about the fabric of life in 18th and
early 19th century Scotland. Made by girls often
from fairly modest backgrounds, samplers give
us an alternative view of Scottish history, one that
does not appear in the history books. They are
therefore an invaluable and fascinating slice of
Scottish social history.’
Made by hand during their formative years,
samplers record the things most dear to their
young makers, and often these are the only
records of lives that would otherwise be forgotten.
The now-ruined Dalquharran Castle in South
Ayrshire appears centre stage in Margaret’s
sampler and Leslie’s detective work into Church
and census records reveals that Margaret’s father
was a mason in Ayr and may well have worked for
the castle’s designer, Robert Adam.
The 70 samplers in the exhibition hail from all
over Scotland, with examples on show from the
main cities but also from the Western Highlands
to the Orkney Islands, and even an émigré Scots
family in upstate New York. The exhibition is also Above: Sampler by Margaret Eiston, 1810
accompanied by a book and a programme of L-R: The arms of the Flesher’s company appear in
talks and events. e the sampler of Mary Hay, 1813, a daughter of an
Edinburgh flesher (butcher)
A sampler begun by Jane Hannah of Garlieston has
Embroidered Stories: Scottish Samplers is on show this touching addition by her friend: ‘Finished by Jane
at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh Murray... The above. Lies sleeping in the tomb’, 1811
until 21 April 2019 Anne Raffan’s sampler of 1789 shows her siblings’
baptism dates. In 1792, aged 23, she added the date
nms.ac.uk/samplers of her own marriage
OSCAR WILDE DESCRIBED LIBERTY as the store opened he began importing raw silk, which L-R: Cocktail dress by the
‘chosen resort of the artistic shopper’ an adage he had blockprinted in the style of oriental fabrics. American designer Arnold Scaasi
(1961) in Eustacia Liberty fabric
that remains true to this day. He marked these fabrics ‘Made in England’ and a
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ©ERNESTINE CARTER ARCHIVE, FASHION MUSEUM, BATH AND NORTH EAST SOMERSET COUNCIL; ©LIBERTY LONDON COURTESY
embroidery
Lasenby Liberty (1843-1917) whose plan for an In 1904 the company took over a print works
Liberty silk kimonos and capes
eastern bazaar, packed with exotic wonders from not far from William Morris’ works in Merton that 1860s-1930s
across the world, would not only transform the specialised in block-printed silks. He also worked Below: The Liberty & Co
look of homewares but fashion too. with Thomas Wardle, a dyer and printer in Leek, department store in Regent Street,
Arthur opened his first store at 218a Regent who also worked for William Morris. Between London c1925
Street in May 1875 with just three dedicated staff them, Liberty and Wardle introduced dyes in Eustacia print produced at Liberty
& Co Ltd Merton print works, 1960
and bags of ambition (the current store on Great delicate pastel shades, which had previously been
Marlborough Street followed in 1924). Within a closely guarded secret of the East. These were
two years, the venture was a success, allowing named ‘Art Colours’, and they subsequently
him to buy up neighbouring properties and became known all over the world as ‘Liberty
expand his ambitions. colours’. Later on, the 1920s saw the introduction
From the beginning Arthur imported antiques, of Liberty’s Tana Lawn, which soon became the
rugs, jewellery, ceramics and embroideries from store’s bestselling fabric.
the near and far east, which proved popular Today Liberty maintains a large and historic textile
among a clientele intoxicated by all things oriental. archive comprising more than 45,000 original
This in turn influenced fashion, and Liberty designs. The in-house design studio remains at the
became a key player in fashion movements from core of all that Liberty does, with designers hand
Orientalism in the 19th century, through Art painting and creating its prints. They draw upon
Nouveau and Art Deco in the early 20th century, the archive’s original designs and still produce new
and the revival of these styles since the 1950s. collections each year, which sell around the world.
Partly this was due to Arthur’s collaboration with Arthur’s eminent store also remains a destination
influencers such as the architect and designer with discerning shoppers for its artistic and eclectic
Edward William Godwin (1833-1886) with whom range of homewares, fashion and famous fabrics.
he created the costume department complete An exhibition highlighting the unique history of
with in-house fashions to rival those of Paris. As Liberty fabrics and their impact on fashion since
a royal warrant holder, Liberty also forged strong 1875 is currently on show in Edinburgh, telling the
relationships with many British designers. story of how Liberty brought art to life through its
From the beginning Arthur also produced textiles unique textiles. e
under the Liberty name. Almost as soon as his Jo Hall
Liberty Art Fabrics & Fashion is on show at Dovecot Studios until 12 January
dovecotstudios.com
things that wouldn’t have been spotted by And in a pulling together of the elements
the naked eye. ‘Through my photographs I of art, craft, technology, performance and paulinenijenhuis.com
see new things, beautiful things that I didn’t science that have appeared in her work
see before. Fleeting images – when I look so far, she wants to investigate the space
back at them I see things I didn’t spot before where woman (and man) meets machine,
and I like to translate that into my work.’ particularly in relation to embroidery. ‘I want
She often includes ‘unseen’ details in her to explore the difference between human
work, such as a car, birds flying. As she says, and machine embroidery. I want to find a
we have so much information coming at us robot who can be challenged to do what
via our mobiles, computers and television humans do when they embroiderer. Me, and
that we miss details and often don’t pause other embroiderers, against the robot.’ e
to take in everything. The fact that Pauline is Jane Audas
DRAWN TOTHREAD
When a family tragedy struck, Julie Heaton took to the
sewing machine, discovering strength and beauty in stitching
challenging realist works on dissolvable fabric
J
ulie Heaton is reluctant to call herself an embroiderer. Not because
she considers the term beneath her but rather the opposite: ‘I don’t
think I deserve the title of embroiderer as I’m not highly trained but
self-taught. And I feel that embroidery should be perfect but mine is full
of flaws,’ she says modestly. She also struggles to call herself an artist
but, in spite of this lack of confidence, Julie had a very successful year in
2018, with her piece The Bristol 2 Litre Engine (2014) selected for the Royal
Academy’s Summer Exhibition.
The creative journey that took Julie to the RA show has been tortuous,
both emotionally and artistically. A midwife and mother of two, it was
only in 2008 that she decided to take up art, signing up to a foundation
course before doing a Creative Arts degree at Bath University. Tragically
during this period her husband Carl took his own life and the resulting
emotional turmoil made finding her creative way extremely difficult.
Initially Julie wasn’t drawn to textiles and tried various media. She
experimented with drawing and when she came across a box of Carl’s
possessions decided to make some pencil sketches. She showed the
results to a tutor who bluntly suggested she tried another medium. ‘It
was like a red rag to a bull,’ says Julie, ‘so I decided to try and draw with
my sewing machine and make something that couldn’t be corrected.
I love my sewing machine, it’s like my comfort blanket’. She chose to 2
stitch Carl’s camera (We Should Smile More, 2012), an item of huge ‘I decided to try and
emotional significance, in black stitch on calico and it was much draw with my sewing
more successful than the drawings on paper.
She showed the results to her tutors again and their now positive
machine and make
reactions encouraged her to continue. Following her instinct, Julie something that couldn’t
embroidered the whole camera in stitch but, instead of sewing be corrected. I love my
it onto calico, she worked on a dissolvable fabric: ‘It was a bid to sewing machine, it’s like
push the idea about not being able to make corrections further.’ my comfort blanket’
When the embroidery was complete, she washed the ground
away and was left with an image of the camera entirely made
from stitch. ‘The threads moved around when the ground was
dissolved and it had a wonderful organic feel to it. I had tried
so hard to make the drawing accurate but now something else
had happened to the work and I just loved it’, she recalls.
The finished piece won the Bristol Scholarship Award for
Students and this gave Julie the boost required to continue
working with this combination of stitch and dissolvable fabric.
It was a technique that seemed a perfect metaphor for her life.
‘I would obsess with getting the drawing right and then wash it,
and all the stitches would move and all the flaws would show. It
was like all the things I was trying to control and get right in my
life made me see that I have to accept that things can’t be perfect
even though we might strive for it.’
After the camera, Julie worked on more of Carl’s tools. ‘I did them
because they were his and I had now learnt how to use them’, she
explains. The Bristol 2 Litre Engine followed on from these, the piece
representing another skill she had to learn as a widow. It also
refers back to her childhood – her father drove buses with Bristol
engines and the Bristol logo was a strong childhood memory.
Julie admits that engines are not traditionally associated with
embroidery, but it this combination of unexpected subject matter
and highly detailed stitching that makes her work so intriguing.
Julie won an Outstanding Student Award for The Bristol 2 Litre
Engine at her degree show, a prize which kickstarted her textiles
career. She was invited to join the textile collective Seam and her
work was exhibited at New Designers, Art in Action and at the
National Trust House Newark Park.
‘I couldn’t quite believe that it had all happened and was worried
that I wasn’t creative enough but just had an interesting process,’
says Julie. However her confidence grew as she came to terms 2
Just my
type
Former newspaper
journalist Sara Impey
found a unique
outlet for her love
of the written word
in her machine
stitched art quilts,
which often reveal
a compelling
narrative
TEXTILE ARTIST SARA IMPEY makes she was 17. ‘It was the first quilt I made and
intriguing quilts densely embroidered with was just made out of hexagons.’ After Oxford
lettering, which beg the question: which Sara worked as a journalist for
came first, the text or the textile? Like The Times, ending up on its parliamentary staff
the age-old problem with the chicken and in the 1980s. This was a stressful job involving
the egg, this apprears to be a conundrum covering debates in the House of Commons
that’s impossible to solve but it’s a question often late into the night and to compensate,
worth asking as these two elements are Sara turned to quilting in her free mornings. ‘I
equally significant in Sara’s work. Each of remembered that I had enjoyed making that
her artworks contains some form of text, quilt when I was 17 and it seemed an ideal way
ranging from the political platitudes of Blue of relaxing,’ she says.
Sky Thinking (2013), to the poetry of Absorption After she started a family Sara continued to
(2014), and all are quilts, with stitch marrying make quilts, almost as a form of therapy to
the two components to form a harmonious, counteract the challenges of parenthood, but
thought-provoking and often witty whole. always making fairly simple pieces for the
Setting out to solve the mystery I start home. She eventually joined a quilt group and
by asking Sara about her background. attended several quilting workshops, including
She was clearly an academic child and after one at Snape Maltings where she met the
school studied Modern Languages renowned quilter Lynne Edwards, and it was
at Oxford University but, significantly, these experiences that showed her how much
she remembers making a quilt when further she could take her quilting. 2
her work. ‘It was the first time I felt that realised she could use her own words
I had found my creative voice,’ she says. rather than quoting other people’s.
So where did the idea come from? Sara ‘I quickly realised the potential
text in my head and estimating how circling a dark pupil. They spell out
much space I have got to fill with it as information such as passport and
I go along – it’s all done by trial and credit card numbers, as well as more
error.’ She also relishes the intrinsic quirky personal details such as zodiac
contrariness of composing long, signs, voting patterns and alcohol
discursive texts in thread. consumption, begging the question of Above: Sara Impey
The texts themselves reflect this as whether you can assess an individual’s Right: Deconstructing the Quilt, 2016.
Sara has a great sense of the ridiculous character merely from a scan of their 164 x 102cm (each tape 2.75cm
and enjoys poking gentle fun at the eyes, as well as raising issues regarding high). Cottons, some hand-dyed,
some dyed by Heide Stoll-Weber.
world. ‘I like the idea of using the labour privacy and identity.
Felt and pelmet vilene wadding.
intensive method of free-machine No Exit (2013), a quilt exploring Free-motion machine stitched text,
stitched lettering, which is an absurd dementia, uses an equally subtle machine piecing and quilting.
thing in its own right, to point out combination of design and text to add ‘While I enjoy and admire
other absurdities.’ Her targets are often an extra layer of meaning. The text academic writing about textiles,
the world of ideas and abstraction
users of flabby, pompous language is arranged in a series of concentric can seem very remote from the
such as the politicians lampooned in circles and repeats the phrases ‘I keep experience of day-by-day creative
Blue Sky Thinking (2013), a quilt worked on going round in circles’ and ‘I keep practice at the coalface. Here
with an entire political speech, full of on losing the thread’, the recurring the commentator is invited to
‘deconstruct’ a quilt via a series of
soundbites and no content. Marketing circles underlining the sad sense of
increasingly absurd and laborious
material is satirised in her quilt Spoilt bewilderment expressed in the text. instructions. What is left is literally
for Choice (2012), which reproduces a This relationship, between medium a ‘deconstructed’ quilt –
colour chart where the different colours and message, is key to Sara’s work. functionally useless and with the
have names such as ‘Cheap as Chips’ The two aspects of her work – the areas that normally carry the
aesthetic content missing.’
or ‘Pants on Fire’, while administrative text and the textile design – seem PHOTO: DOUGLAS ATFIELD
speak is highlighted in the quilt Tickbox so inextricably linked that, like the
Culture (2009) with its grid of squares chicken and the egg, it’s impossible to Below: Following the Thread, 2014.
spelling out a spew of corporate say which comes first. However, one Wooden spool 34 x 22cm. Quilted
tape approx 850 x 2cm. Calico,
gobbledygook. thing is clear: the way Sara seamlessly
free-motion machine stitched text,
The designs of each quilt are equally combines the two is what makes her machine piecing and quilting.
considered: ‘Ideally the content of work so very satisfying, both visually ‘An essay on the nature of thread,
the piece goes hand in hand with and intellectually. e rendered in thread and wound, like
the design.’ For example, the quilt Diana Woolf thread, around a spool. An attempt
to make the physical object echo
Iris Recognition (2016) is composed of the meaning of the words.’
12 large eye-like circles with letters saraimpey.com PHOTO: PETER EVANS
You can see Sara’s work in the group exhibition, Quilt Art: Material Evidence
at the Menier Gallery, London from 18-29 June
soul
York City but draws upon the embroidery
traditions of his Palestinian ancestry to ask
bigger questions about life, love and conflict
SOFT, DEEP, LUMINESCENT COLOURS and abstract Palestine’s physical and cultural landscape into the textile.
compositions, which hint at gentle undulations of land – a Practising the stitches, Jordan instinctively felt in sync with
silhouette of graceful domes, an oasis in the desert, fields the strict grid of patterning in cross-stitch, its rules and the
ready for harvest or orchards of ripened fruit – draw the possibilities of inventively embroidering within those constraints.
eye to Jordan Nassar’s embroidery. ‘The real reason I started with landscapes was the technical
Jordan’s subjects are conjured from neat cross-stitch challenge of breaking the grid of cross-stitch embroidery and
embroidery in distinct and subtle bands of colour. Forms are being able to make shapes of colour within the pattern that
composed of a single motif that flows across these colours, weren’t composed of straight lines. Then I slowly realised,
as well as a single colour embracing different motifs. Slivers of thinking of an artist I admire, Etel Adnan, that the way she uses
unworked areas reveal the ground fabric, allowing the stitches landscapes in her painting is more of a vehicle for her to work
to stand out and the composition to sing. with colour. I think that in many ways that is the same for me.’
These finely stitched artworks, infused with the subtle beauty As he embroidered landscapes, Jordan found that the works –
of watercolour paintings, portray abstract landscapes of with their elements of the horizon, sun, hill and river – helped
Palestine, connecting the artist with his heritage. Born in New
York City to a Palestinian father and Polish mother, Jordan grew ‘The real reason I started with
up in Manhattan and often grappled with his identity as both landscapes was the technical
a Palestinian and an American. Much later, he met and married
challenge of breaking the grid
Israeli artist Amir Guberstein and, during this time, he found
himself contemplating how dating and marrying an Israeli man of cross-stitch embroidery’
sat with his Palestinian identity. In turn, this prompted a desire
to further connect with his heritage. viewers approach his work, locate themselves, stop worrying
Always drawn to craft – from origami to crochet but especially about what they were looking at, and appreciate the colour
textiles – Jordan found al-tatreez (a form of traditional work and composition. He explored the concept further and
embroidery ubiquitous in Palestine) an obvious expression to found himself conceptualising imagined idyllic Palestinian
explore in response to this quest. Traditionally the embroidery vistas based on the stories he’d heard from his elders.
is worked predominantly with cross-stitch and couching on With these images in mind he created embroideries using
garments, as well as functional and decorative textiles. his own motifs, feeling that as a Palestinian from New York
Jordan picked up a needle and thread and started to he shouldn’t use traditional motifs, symbolic of an identity
experiment, absorbing the stitches, motifs and patterns. He that implied he was from Ramallah or Jerusalem or Bethlehem.
discovered that through their form and colours, the motifs Yet as the work developed and he did a residency in Jaffa in
identify the native place and status of the wearer of the 2017, he let go of some of those restraints and drew from the
embroidered garment. Like a visual language, al-tatreez integrated rich vocabulary of traditional motifs and patterns. 2
S
ome distinctive colours will
always be associated with
certain artists, the supreme
example being Yves Klein Blue.
Others include the dreamy softness Indeed everywhere are lovingly
of mauve-pink and blue-green arranged still-lifes of household
of Monet; sharp swimming pool wares celebrating the colours that
turquoise for 1970s Hockney, Rothko’s she adores, but also other more
deep murky burgundy, and Mondrian’s subtle hues, like the sea-greens
clean primaries with black edges. of vintage travel posters above a
Textile artist and fashion designer cushion-strewn sofa. The effect is
Helen Banzhaf is another whose joyous but controlled, and eloquently
work and life is strongly imbued with demonstrates Helen’s immense
colour, plunging one into a bowl of pleasure in colour and form, and her
citrus fruit: lemon yellow, orange exploratory approach to living and
and lime green. making. She did admit though: ‘I’m
For this writer, having long thought really into yellow’. Above: Bending in the Wind. 30 x 18cm
‘Banzhaf = Yellow’ in a rather Helen Banzhaf describes herself as Below: Three Teapots in a Row. 19 x 38cm
reductive way, it was a joy to visit the a fine artist who happens to work in
Right: Untitled, (Tumbling Leaves Series).
artist at her south London home and textiles, fashion, and most recently 27 x 18cm
find the theory is both confirmed and jewellery. Fashion was her route into
Free machine embroidery worked on
exploded. The interior is quieter than stitch, but not straight from school, cotton calico with mercerised cotton
expected, being primarily white but, as which she detested and left as soon threads. Bending in The Wind is padded
Helen Banzhaf observes, ‘citrus runs as possible, becoming an au pair in with cotton wadding, adding a third
through everything’. Italy. On her UK return Helen studied dimension to the piece
fashion and textiles via City & Guilds,
then a foundation year at Brighton
Helen’s approach and thence to Central St Martins.
is meticulous After graduating in 1970 she worked 2
creating work that
is ‘handmade, on a
machine’. She takes
pains to make it clear
it is not digital stitch
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY HELEN BANZHAF
The compositions
are distinctive
and follow self-
prescribed rules –
‘off centre, curved
edges, irregular,
but with very
defined outlines’
62group.org.uk/artist/helen-banzhaf
BACKTOBLACK
There is a quiet sophistication to Diana Harrison’s work
that speaks of strength and simplicity, yet her practice
evolved out of learning and translating everything that
she sees and feels both physically and emotionally
A
t the time we speak, Diana Her standards are high, her influences
Harrison is preparing to show enduring: Sol LeWitt, Mark Rothko, Sean
work in The Most Real Thing: Scully, the quilts of Gees Bend, the Amish
contemporary textiles and sculpture at and the strippies of North East England
the New Art Centre, Roche Court. The and Wales.
piece she has been invited to exhibit Roads are another source of inspiration,
is Box 1 and 2, which was originally particularly those driven on her commute
commissioned by the V&A Museum from London to the University for the
as part of Quilts 1700-2010 (2010). Creative Arts in Farnham, Surrey. That
At Roche Court, Box will be displayed journey, from home to work and back
alongside work by eminent UK artists again, takes her along roads she has
and sculptors; including the big names come to know ‘like the back of my hand’,
of Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore and and which have inspired numerous ‘road
Barbara Hepworth. At the V&A, the same quilts’: artworks in which the colours,
piece sat amid a collection of wonderful markings and texture of the tarmacked
historic quilts. One artwork: two very surface have fed into her making.
different contexts. The affinity with her work is clear to
That juxtaposition says a great deal see in the muted tones, linear markings,
about the influence Diana’s work has curving structure and textured surfaces.
exerted since her graduation from the There they are in Turmoil and Change
RCA in 1973. It is a story traced through (2005), and there, again, in Beginning and
five decades of milestone projects, which Beyond (2005).
have challenged the parameters of art, That journey is significant: a connection
craft and textiles; projects in which Diana between her teaching, the impact of
Harrison has been – and continues to be – which ‘works both ways’, and her home
a quietly strong, individual presence. where she uses ‘every part of the house
Diana is a hugely skilful and visually and garden’ in the dyeing, stitching
creative maker. Her work has drawn and printing of her artworks. The time
attention since art school and is engaged in the journey is itself valued.
represented in public collections It is a personal space, an opportunity to
internationally. From the outset, she has reflect, to ‘look, see and translate’. There
steadfastly pursued her own way forward, is something almost metaphorical about
using only the materials, techniques, that commute that’s revealing of the
processes and references of her choice. artist: the commitment to self contained 2
PHOTOGRAPHY: THE ARTIST
creating large scale geometric designs Work flourished. Then, with parenthood,
Below: Traces in Cloth, 2017. A series of nine
and composition pieces.’ came a key decision to move to making each: 31 x 43cm. Cotton, polyester thread,
Straight from the RCA, Diana was offered one-off art pieces in a studio at home, starch. Single layer of cotton cloth, machine
space at 401½, a recently formed studio and with that came a major shift. ‘Up stitched, screen-printed dates, discharge and
that became a key player in the revival until then colour had been significant 2 pigment printed.
picking up, collecting tactile references. 2011) – a fragile and technically demanding
2. Composition, 2004-2007.
Surrounded by things and images that linear installation – traced six decades of 32.5 x 32.5cm. Silk, cotton wadding
provide a starting point for new work.’ life, moving from the lightness of childhood and backing, polyester thread.
Inclusion in a series of pivotal exhibitions to the darker complexities of adulthood. Continuous machine quilting
followed, each of which impacted her ‘Even if the idea isn’t personal, as a work distorting cloth, discharge and
overprinted
artwork. Approaches to Cloth and Metal takes so long to make it becomes infused PHOTOGRAPH: DAVID WESTWOOD
(1980) introduced the quilt form as she with my life.’ Such is Handkerchiefs (Cloth
began to work large. The International and Memory {2}, 2013) a floor-based 3&4. Beginning and Beyond, 2002.
156 x160cm. Silk, cotton wadding
Exhibition of Miniature Textiles (1978 & ‘patchwork’ of discharge printed cotton and backing. Continuous machine
1980) and Fabric and Form (1982) saw the handkerchiefs collected by Diana’s friends quilting, heavily stitched top and base,
emergence of a minimalist approach and family. ‘I dragged the work around masked out before overprinting with
as she experimented with cloth, starch, with me, stitching hankies together discharge and pigment. Winner of
the Silver Award for Contemporary
layering and folding. By the time of Colour wherever I was – visiting hospital, the
Quilt, The 7th Quilt Nihon Exhibition
into Cloth (1994), she was dyeing material care home. That’s the beauty of it, the 2002. Collected by the International
black, stitching, then discharge printing: memories.’ Quilt Study Center, Nebraska USA.
an approach she has pursued since. In current work, the material – always PHOTOGRAPH: DAVID WESTWOOD
‘I couldn’t really say why ‘black’ but critical to the artist – has itself been 5. Distance, 2000. 128 x 90cm.
it’s a pure starting point to strip away highly personal. Traces in Cloth (2017) Cotton/linen surface, cotton
with the discharge and has always left used pillowcases that were her parents: wadding and backing.
Handstitched, discharge printed
me with ‘colour’ – browns, ochres – domestic textiles that were variously PHOTOGRAPH: DAVID WESTWOOD
rarely returning to white. Although I unfolded, unstitched, dyed and bleached.
have enjoyed colour in the past, it was The idea of folding, first seen in Fabric
the composition, surface quality, and and Form, has continued to absorb and is
distortions that came from the mix of currently the subject of work emerging
stitch, quilt and screen that were more around archived family correspondence.
important. Using a very limited palette ‘It’s the physical quality of the letters and
has meant that these surface marks envelopes and the way they are bundled
dominate. Perhaps like indigo users, it’s together that interests me. I’m becoming
all about the results created through fascinated by whites and collections of
skilful process.’ paper – who knows what’s next?’
It’s also about the idea. In each work Whatever it is, we know from experience
there is some personal connection, a that it will be well worth the wait. e
thought mixed with a technical start June Hill
point; techniques that include not uca.ac.uk staff-pro les iana-harrison
only stitch and print but also dyeing,
overdyeing, layering, shrinking, stretching,
burning and bleaching. Each applied in More here about the making of Box for the V&A
accord. ‘What I know about is what is vimeo.com/10230704
3 4
in the possibilities of the medium. feeling, combining, starting with a colour mood.
I never use moodboards. It's about experience and
Katie Treggiden has interviewed over 20 contemporary what comes out of my head and fingers – it’s very
hard to describe. I collect my materials and they
SUFFRAGE
Llantarnham Grange, Cwmbrân, Wales 6 October—17 November 2018
FIVE OF THE SIX CONTEMPORARY There are echoes of Judy Chicago’s Suffragette banners. Her Pageant,
artists commissioned by Llantarnham Dinner Party, 1979 – an open like Sue Shields’ piece, is a series of
Grange in Cwmbrân to mark the triangular table with 39 place doll-like effigies, screen-printed
Centenary of Women’s Suffrage have settings commemorating women and with the faces of notable women,
wielded the needle as a political goddesses of Western History – in three of which appear to be bursting
instrument. And though sourcing both Caren Garfen’s Media Meddles, out of a large pannier-ed dress adorned
the familiar iconography of the early and Morwenna Catt’s Beware for I am with the slogan DEEDS NOT WORDS.
20th-century Suffragette movement Fearless and Therefore Powerful and A Shields’ Suffragette Dolls series, a row
– its colours of purple, green and Pageant of Great Women. Though all of six rag-doll figures each with leg-
white, ribbons and banners, and the three pieces are an acknowledgement of-mutton sleeves, fixed directly on to
perhaps less familiar aprons, violets of women’s accomplishments through the wall, also have printed faces and
and handkerchiefs – the female the ages, Garfen’s, a long strip of cloth bemusingly huge hands – perhaps a
contributors trawl equally from its screen-printed with 102 empty medal reference to the anti-suffrage depiction
later reincarnations courtesy of the shapes that she has filled with sewn of them as ‘large-handed’? One, a
First-Wave Feminist artists. text, as the punned title implies, has string of cord hanging from its mouth,
Beryl Weaver’s embroidered runners of a wry edge. One hundred female is being force-fed.
the late 70s featuring the stock Quality attainments for each of the last Though a succinct exposition, just
Street-esque, toilet-paper-cosy-style, hundred years – whether as presidents, ten pieces in all, Suffrage abounds
crinolined woman in wide-brimmed prime ministers, an astronaut, a with detail, both conceptual and
bonnet with speech bubbles coming out mountaineer or a police commissioner constructed. The craftsmanship, all
of her mouth expressing edgy defiance – Garfen inscribes each of the medals too often lacking in ideas-led work, is
are undoubtedly the spur for Eleanor with date, name, achievement and potently, and fastidiously, feminine:
Edwardes’ three hand-sewn, running- then marital status followed by some the embroidered violets on the doily
stitch, line-drawn squares. Here too are puncturing, fatuous Daily Mail-like beneath Catt’s pyrographed-inscribed
the same saccharine-d, 19th-century comment. As with the one celebrating hammer, the tiny red-beaded hair
hooped-skirted women but their Aretha Franklin’s first-woman’s of her Elizabeth I doll and Garfen’s
protests have become more physical inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall microscopic lettering.
and radical. In Women’s March, a group of Fame, that ends with: ‘Her weight Suffrage is a testament of empathy,
of them, cordoned-off behind railings, ballooned’. of sewn solidarity, encapsulated in
wave protest signs. In Arrest, another of Catt’s Beware… (its title borrowed from Ruth Singer’s Prison Apron, a found
them, handcuffed, her skirt flying out Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein), a heavily- garment hand-embroidered with
behind her, is being dragged off by a ornate, glitteringly appliquéd apron arrows, a-stitch-a-day for each day
policeman, while in the third, entitled with distinct Freemason undertones, of the Suffragettes’ incarceration.
Hacker, another sits at a computer in is an amalgam of Chicago’s careful, Ellen Bell
her bedroom appearing to break into and apposite, referencing of traditional
the CIA’s secret files. embroidery techniques and the lgac.org.uk
Anni Albers
Tate Modern, London 11 October 2018—27 January 2019
VISITORS TO THE ANNI ALBERS materials can be seen in her diploma and bedspreads she designed for
(1899-1994) retrospective at Tate piece, a wall covering for a windowless the (male) Harvard student rooms
Modern are greeted by a spotlit auditorium, which incorporated are also on show, as are the transparent
handloom, a proud statement of intent transparent cellophane to reflect the draperies run through with metal
as this is an exhibition unequivocally artificial light. Albers continued to play threads that she made for the
about weaving. Through 350-plus objects with light effects, often incorporating Rockefeller Guest House in Manhattan.
it showcases the work of perhaps the metallic threads and foils to add extra As well as her work for architecture and
most famous 20th-century weaver, visual interest. It’s something that is mass production, Albers also produced
spanning her student days in Germany difficult to reproduce in photographs ‘Pictorial Weavings’. Further examples of
to her life as a highly respected artist, and one of the pleasures of this her skill in geometric patternings, these
author and teacher working in the USA. exhibition is being able to see how the smaller pieces often have titles, which
In 1922 Anni Albers enrolled at the metal threads transform her often rather suggest a representational subject matter.
Bauhaus School of Art. In spite of the austere designs into pieces full of light For example, Pasture (1958) is a grass
school’s progressive ethos, weaving and movement. I particularly enjoyed green panel, flecked with oranges and
not painting was considered a suitable seeing how Haiku (1961), a Braille- creams suggestive of a wild flower
discipline for women and Albers was like composition in blacks and greys meadow. These pieces show Albers
reluctantly encouraged to study textiles. positively sparkles in the flesh. boldly claiming weaving as an artform
Perhaps her greatest achievement is The exhibition features an interesting rather than a craft, creating textiles
that we now find this view of textiles section on Albers’ designs for ‘not to be sat on, walked on, only to
as women’s work – by inference architecture and includes room dividers be looked at’. Tate Modern has to be
inferior to the more ‘manly’ fine arts – made for her 1949 exhibition at the thanked for allowing us a chance to
incomprehensible. Museum of Modern Art. These are look at them in such an interesting,
Her powerful weavings have proved almost Japanese in feel and are woven and often revelatory, show.
that textiles can more than hold their in a combination of natural fibres and Diana Woolf
own against any other artform and in Lurex to both reflect and diffuse the
the process have helped break down light. The ‘gentlemanly’ room dividers tate.org.uk
the unhelpful fine art/craft divide, a feat
underlined by the fact that the Tate, and
not the V&A, is hosting this excellent
exhibition.
From the start Anni Albers’ designs
exploited the inherent grid structure
of the woven textile to create strong
geometric patterns built up using just
two or three colours. An early example
is Black White Yellow, a wall hanging dating
from 1926, which, with its muscular
ladder of black stripes interspersed
with glowing yellow vertical bands,
seems extraordinarily modern.
This interest in geometry was to
characterize Albers’ work for the next
60 years, but what stops the patterning
becoming repetitive is her constant
experimentation with different materials
including paper, cotton, jute, nylon,
cellulose, synthetic fibers and horsehair.
Albers’ willingness to engage with new
Anni Albers
Open Letter, 1958
57.8 x 60cm. Cotton
©2018 THE JOSEF AND ANNI ALBERS FOUNDATION
PHOTO: TIM NIGHSWANDER/IMAGING4ART
35 teaching hours per week - contact Elisabeth directly for full details.
Accommodation available on request. Attendance limited to 6 students.
Studio Préniac
Activity Holidays in SW France
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and Wine Tour Holidays
Join our fully inclusive Creative Textiles and Painting holidays set
amongst breathtaking scenery in the beautiful rolling countryside of SW
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A personal account
CONSTANCE HOWARD
Our new series delves into the Embroidery archive
and begins with an extract from a conversation with
Constance Howard published in 1973
Landscape Mask (detail) by Laura Marriott, Guild Scholar 2017/18 Chirk Castle (detail) by Joanne Frankel, Guild Member
www.embroiderersguild.com
Memory Craft 9450 QCP