december arrives...by Amanda

I promised an update mid-November, well, it's December now, other projects pushed their way to the fore and Forum work is waiting for attention. I have spent a month developing a character design for a pre-school children's book. This is almost complete now so will be sharing that on my own blog before Christmas.

Life is full, Stitching the Legend is still in process. Sometimes it takes months of waiting before an idea sparks the project off again - it's all part of the creative process. The Ulster Musuem has a small costume display which includes a beautiful Schiaperelli gown. I'm not sure what the fabric is because there is little detail and you can't touch it to find out! I'm guessing it's silk crepe de chine. The colour is a muted soft pink so that will have to be included somehow into my Schiaperelli piece for Stitching the Legend.

Here's a quote from the famous lady herself:

'Never fit a dress to a body but train the body to fit the dress'

Back onto the exercise bike for me then!

eager to stitch

Seeing the cartoon, Amanda, makes me eager to get back to this project. Until I get a 'thumbs up' from the surgeon, however, I continue to be limited to thinking and researching. See you all at the Bee Hive on Saturday. Frances

looking ahead by Amanda

Our Make it New work is still available for exhibition until next summer but meanwhile Forum members press on with our new theme 'Stitching the Legend'. We are planning for and looking forward to our next residential week in March 2011 when we will be focusing on the theme and working together to bring our ideas into reality. Meanwhile Autumn is here, the weather is cooler and the days are shorter, the perfect season for turning up the heating in the studio and spending time in creative mode. Each Forum member is busy with their own lives and work, slotting in Forum time whenever possible. For me, October is an important month for updating my own website and for working on the allotment, planting fruit canes etc -November /December are my forum months so, all being well, expect an update from me mid-November, maybe sooner if inspiration takes over and I start working through the night!

update from Amanda

The exhibition is in progress, so while we wait to hear the responses of visitors, work continues on our current projects. My Stitching the Legend pieces are in the 'thinking' process. Who knows how long this will take - while I meditate on the work so far and make decisions about the next step my fashion icon outlines stare at me from the wall of the room where I work waiting for inspiration to hit.

Until I have further news here are a couple of photos of the fabric collage that I made to accompany the dress in the current exhibition. Photographs of my model have been transfered onto composted cotton, applique has been added and the resulting quilted piece stretched around a frame. The colours are muted yet earthy, the message is gentle but potent - 'Respect the Planet' - Let's take care of this wonderful, unique place we call earth.

more Cavan exhibition photos from Jan

Finally back looking at the pictures I took on the current exhibition in the County Cavan Museum in Ballyjamesduff I thought I'd share the following from the exhibition. When we were in Ballyduggan, County Down in March of 2010 one exercise we all did was to do a self-portrait as a single line drawing which was quite entertaining and both Frances and Amanda managed to get their drawing moved to a composted fabric and included in the exhibition as seen here:

Here are two of Esters rock pieces; one with the rocks as separate pieces incorporated into the wall hanging and one that was one piece of fabric that with the use of just threads she created the same effect - most amazing when you sit and really enjoy the work done:

The final series of Will Tell pieces that I did were done with the original design (using only arrows - palms depending on how you see it) that incorporated fabrics from the Escheresque series and while not as striking as the red/yellow series has a unique quality with the different fabrics and threads used in the quilting of these A4 pieces:

Cavan county museum exhbition starts

Well finally we've gathered all our pieces and have hung the exhibition at the Cavan County Museum from the 1st of September 2010 through the 30th of September 2010! I'll be adding pictures over the next week or so of the pieces but thought I'd start tonight with a shot of each of our primary walls (except I forgot to take one of mine). Amanda had her pieces centre around the bull rushes that we see during our residence week in Ballyduggan. She used techniques like dress making using stamped fabric and fabric painting/stitching them as a wall piece; all of which have been done on composted fabric.




Ester has included a few larger quilts so we have one wall that contains all her rock wall hangings that each contain their own unique style. I hadn't realized that some of them were created from one piece of fabric and the stitching was what defined the rocks vs the ones that had individual stones (of various sizes and fabrics). In the next few days I'll add along some of the bigger quilts which include fabric from her son's early shirts along with detailed pictures of the rock series.




Frances has continued on with the Making it New theme to include a series of watercolour techniques for the 4 seasons of the year along with heartfelt depiction of the disasters that have hit the waters of the world with the Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska in 1989 and more recently the Gulf Oil spill caused by a catastrophic uncapped oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Finally my favorite project involved taking a quilt I had started in 1973 when I started a Grandmothers Garden pattern (long before I knew what quilting really involved) made of scraps of fabric my 4 sisters and I used to make clothing in our teens. I have since taken it apart and put it back together and loved the memories as I worked. For anyone actually attending the exhibition you'll see almost all my entries are hexagons (the framed piece includes hexagons that are only 5/8" big) and hopefully I've outgrown that phase at this point!

here comes the Exxon Valdez

At last! The piece is finished and titled 'Here Comes the Exxon Valdez.' It is a warning to us all of the havoc brought on by the greed of oil companies, by our own thoughtless use of petrol and by moronic statements such as those from Sarah Palin, "Drill, baby, drill." And, to my delight, the quilt placed second in the wall quilt category at the recent Tinahely Quilt Show.

Ester: stitching the legend

When faced with the challenge of creating new work based on the theme of 'Stitching the Legend' I begin by looking at what is on my doorstep.

I moved to Co. Galway in 2005 and by coincidence our new family home is not far from Tuam where my mother grew up. The front of my house looks towards a hill called Knockma, of which I knew very little.

Local folklore says it is a fairy hill, and that Finvarra, king of the Connacht Fairies and Queen Maeve of Connacht are buried there.

Archaeologists believe it was a significant ceremonial area dating from Neolithic times. There are four stone cairns at the summit and there may be passage tombs. Several new tombs and the remains of a hill fort were also found on a nearby ridge.

One of Galway's 'tribes', the Kirwan family, built its base at Castlehacket, at the foot of Knockma in the 18th century. It seems that the monuments at Knockma were 'remodelled' around that time and that other field monuments nearby were destroyed, without excavation, by farming. Today, local quarrying poses a further threat to this landscape.

I often walk on Knockma, where there is now a signposted 'Golden Mile' walk. This photo shows the view from the summit looking back towards my home. There is something magical about this landscape where the surrounding plains stretch towards Loch Corrib and the Maam Turk mountains in Connemara.

june update from Amanda

It's the start of another creative season for The Textile Art Forum. Our new theme is Stitching the Legend. As usual, each of us will interpret the theme in our individual way, exploring concepts that catch our imaginations and spark creativity.

For myself the theme keeps me in my beginnings as a clothing designer and I plan to explore images from the work of three legendary fashion design icons: Schiaparelli, Dior and Quant. Their distinctive design silhouttes are the starting point for my work this season.

Each of the Forum members has a piece of matching tea-dyed cotton, a reel of metallic thread and an 18" canvas to make a signature piece which describes the flavour of this year's theme. These are my first pictures - my idea in the raw - paper-doll like figures dance across the cloth, capturing the essence of their era with a connecting timeline linking them together. There isn't any stitch on this yet, but there will be soon...

update from Frances

During the residential retreat in February at Ballydugan I played around with this wall quilt, using my hand-dyed fabrics and a sort of cathedral windows and bargello combination. Then it sat on the shelf. When the April oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, I knew that I needed to finish this piece and dedicate it to the lost sea creatures, to the birds of the air, to those who lost their lives on the oil rigs and to those whose lives will be forever altered due to this rape of the environment. I also wanted to raise awareness of the greed that propels companies such as Shell, BP, Exxon, etc. The quilt's body is almost finished with the quilting process (lots of lumps and rumples to sort out), and I am now experimenting with black and white organza to use as symbols for the oil gushing without stop, killing without end. Titles: "Drill, Baby, Drill" as a reminder of the moronic Sarah Palin and her disregard for the environment; "Here Comes the Exxon Valdez" as a memory of the attack on the ice columns of Alaska; "Coming your way from BP" as a statement that what the oil companies have wrought can never replace the nature they have shredded. Sadly, there are too many titles.

time for an update from Amanda

It's been a while since I posted...I'm wrapping up my work for the 'Make it New' theme, printing out photos of the Bullrush dress and tranferring them onto fabric, tying up other loose ends and framing. My Black and Blue series of prints have been finally finished. After some months of considering their purpose they clicked into place as a message bearer regarding the oil spill in the Mexican Gulf... eco-friendly prints using water based inks on natural cotton, framed with petrol blue silk, they seemed appropriate for adding text and saying how I feel about events. 'Respect the Planet'

An update from Jan

It's hard to believe it's been almost a month since we left Ballyduggan but finally I'm feeling like some of my projects are really wrapping up. I've complete the wall hanging of the 4 small William Tell series and it needs to be quilted but after getting some backing material that will be accomplished this week as I'm home nursing my dog who got her pacemaker last week. I've also almost finished the grandmothers garden quilt after deciding to add some half-blocks where I thought I was only going to use calico. My goal is to also have this on the machine for quilting within the next couple days. Time will tell. Here is an "in-progress" view of the William Tell series.

Amanda's update

What a great week at Ballydugan! Friendship, inspiration and time to work uninterrupted were appreciated by us all. The bullrushes at Ballydugan lake remain my inspiration for current pieces of work, including a landscape painted with inks and fabric paints and a set of 12 mini sample pieces, printed and stitched then set in black boxes.

update from Frances

Such luxury! Another residential week at the Ballydugan Cottages (Downpatrick) and plenty of time for support, sharing of ideas and stitching of projects for this year's theme, "Make it New" (Ezra Pound). I finished the second in my series of colourwash wall pieces on the four seasons and then tried my hand again at the single needle drawing pieces that have intrigued me for a few years. Using composted fabric (well-aged!) and dark thread I used a mirror to create and then stitch a self-portrait which is my tribute to old age. Weathered but determined.

update from Jan

Well I can only add that it was a wonderful week away and the time flew and I also didn't miss the outside world at all. I've continued to work on my Grandmothers Garden effort made from old fabric used by my 4 sisters and I to make dresses inthe 1970's. I've attached a photo as it was at the residence week but has progressed since then some. I've also added my favorite photo of our special work space around the open fire with the look from my seat of France, Amanda and Ester. Hope to have all my pieces done by the end of March to start thinking on the next area we're going to focus on.

Ester Kiely's update

Just back from my first time participating in the annual week-long residential with the Textile Art Forum. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was delighted with my week.

Before going I felt a full week away to just play with new ideas and techniques was proving difficult to arrange and to justify. But it was really worth it. I found I learned a lot from the others in the group and being away from my daily routine helped me remove all of the distractions that normally delay me from playing around with new ideas (and I didn't miss tv, radio or email at all!).

I tried out some new inks, fabric paints, and ways of reworking my 'stone-wall' series of wall-hangings. The photo shows my new piece created on translucent organza using soluble fabric as a stabilizer to create stitched lace between the stones and capture the bare tree silhouettes. It also gives a flavour of the little workspace I had next to a window beside the fireplace in the cottage. My new home-studio from home! More photos to follow shortly.

day 4 (thursday) of 2010 residential at ballydugan cottages

Ester's stitched stones using 'Colour-catcher' swatches that are normally thrown away. They are lovely to stitch into when layered up with cotton wadding and a backing!

A walk through the Sally Gardens at the back of the cottages.

A view from the top of the Old Town Trail down to the Lake. There's a great 360 degree view from the viewing post.

Day 3 (Wednesday) of the 2010 Residential

Buttermilk cottage has so many little red doors and windows through which to photograph the week's activities!

Here's Amanda working away at her sewing machine just inside a window.Jan is also totally absorbed in the work inside another little window.

Jan's colourful 'Grandmother's Flower Garden' quilt with scraps of '70s fabrics looks nice inside another red little window.

And Ester's work area is just visible inside yet another little red window.

Day 2 (Tuesday) of 2010 Residential

The living room at the cottage became a hive of activity for the week with enough space for 4 of us to each create workspace. Being together in one room helped us to share ideas, information and supplies. The fire kept the room cosy, sunshine through the windows provided plenty of light and the peaceful location provided us with a place to work free of distractions.

Ester experimented with fabric paints, silk paints, light-reactive paints, inks and printing onto fabrics using a variety of media to prepare the surface.

Frances was busy stitching her Autumn 'watercolour' patchwork combined with free-machine quilting and embroidery on soluble fabric.

Amanda stitched into her hand-printed designs on composted fabrics, adding flashes of colour. These pieces are based on the bull-rushes by the lakeside.

Jan worked on her hand-pieced hexagons creating a 'Grandmother's Flower Garden' patchwork of fabrics that hold memories of her family.

Day 1 (Monday) of 2010 Residential

Ester's workspace with some organza in water-soluble fabric ready for stitching.

Some very quiet neighbours!

And some curious ones too!

Jan's wall-hangings hang to dry.

Amanda's update

Just in time for the Forum week which starts this coming Sunday I have the dress together at last! This project has been in the making over a long period of time. The theme this year has been Deconstruct/Reconstruct and I discovered that the deconstruct part of the work took quite a while. Preparing the composted cotton took a number of weeks, the initial composting period was about 6 weeks, then I had to wash and soak the fabric a number of times to get rid of the mould and the smell! After that came weeks of repair to the weak and badly deconstructed areas before the fabric was finally ready for printing. Then followed stitching of free-motion design onto parts of the skirt, the making of the pattern, making a mock-up and constructing the garment. Removing the silk for the bodice from the inside of the wardbobe was a careful job and it also had to be washed a couple of times before it was ready to be made into the bodice and embroidered. I may add some beading yet...

This years line-up

This year the four members contributing to the forum will be:

Frances Sawaya, Co Cavan
Ester Kiely, Co Galway
Jan Blair, Co Meath
Amanda Northey-Damms, Co Antrim

February Forum 2010

Post from Amanda ...Members of the Textile Art Forum are off to Ballydugan Cottages near Downpatrick for 6 days from 28th February. With just four of us contributing this year we have an interesting challenge ahead to discuss and co-ordinate our work for the coming season. We are all stll working on the Deconstruct/Reconstruct theme putting together an exhibition for later this year. Will keep you posted here.
My own work on the dress seem in earlier posts is shaping up. The printed fabric for the skirts has been stitched, layered with net and gathered to fit to the bodice which is under construction. I had a fitting with my model, Tessa a couple of days ago so with a bit more work I will have something that looks more like the finished article to show you, meanwhile, here is a photo of the detail of the stitching on the skirt. The fabric is very fragile as it has been well composted which makes it challenging to work with.

I will be using a similar technique, printing onto composted cotton then stitching over it to create a wall piece that takes it's construction idea from the traditional patchwork block pattern.