Installation Station

Last weekend I had a busy time installing for two local arts festivals. 'Glittering Fall' at The White Gallery in Bollington took 7 hours to install but hopefully the time spent 'tweaking' has paid off! The piece consists of hundreds of embroidered and embellished plastic bottle necks, cascading down the steps in the gallery's Secret Sculpture Garden. In this piece the reference to water became more central:

Water is the most precious commodity for human beings. The clay water vessel: a symbol of rural India is being replaced by the plastic bottle. As tourists we amass many bottles, lining them up in hotel rooms like toy soldiers, leaving them behind. Embellishing these empty shells as if they were fine silk, using traditional folk embroidery to make them glitter and shine, I hope to imbue them with a sense of preciousness.

I'm really pleased with how it looks in the natural surrounding, though acid bright in colour, the bottles somehow nestle in the space appearing like flowers: surprise bursts of colour. Elsewhere, my hanging bottle garlands dangle from the trees. On Sunday I took my Mirrorball Spheres to The Arison Gallery in Chorlton to create 'Shine': a window installation as part of the Chorlton Arts Festival. The process was extremely fiddly with lengths of pink monofilament stretched between the spheres. Hopefully they give them impression of shafts of light being refracted through the mirrored spheres. I feel a bit proud of myself now the pieces are installed after months of making! The Bollington Festival runs until 25th May and The Chorlton Festival until 23rd May. Come along to Chorlton Library next Sunday (17th May 1-5pm) to join in with my Plastic Fantastic workshop.

Bottle Flowers

Today I did a workshop with the lovely children at Dean Valley Primary School in Bollington. We made flowers from empty plastic bottles and windmills from laminated magazine paper. The Bollington Festival is fast approaching and we were making decorations for the village's gardens.

The Big Green Festival

Last weekend I went to Chorlton's Big Green Festival with fellow embroiderer Emily Hayes to sit and stitch. The event was a big success with a huge amount of people attending to see performances, shop ethically and find out about green living in Manchester. Emily and I met some brilliant creative people who were interested in what we do. I was so pleased to find that quite a few remembered me and my work from last summer's Embroidery degree show. The nice ladies from Rubbish Revamped; a great Chorlton venture offering workshops using recycled materials, have asked me to be a guest workshop leader for them. Watch this space for details!

Pussy Cats Washing Dishes?

I took some of the mirrored garlands I have been making outside today. As they caught the light and spun in the breeze they threw discs of light onto every surface. My Nana told me that as a child she used to call this reflective effect 'pussy cat washing dishes'! There certainly was something a bit magical about it.

I have increasingly become fascinated by the idea of festival garlands and the things that people string up to signify a celebration. French artist Sophie Cuvelier makes bunting- but uses it to create wonderful, joyful installations. It reminded me of my long held love of Tibetan prayer flags.

For the Bollington festival in May I want to create some kind of canopy from the bottle garlands- like a maypole or the canopies of flowers you see at religious festivals. I want people to be able to walk underneath and see sunlight streaming through the kaleidoscopic colours.

Hand Embroidery Workshops at Button & Skein

I have recently been invited to deliver some hand embroidery workshops at Button & Skein; a beautiful wool shop in Macclesfield.

On Thursday 18th June 7-9pm, I will lead a session on mirrorwork embroidery, using folk embroidery techniques to make corsages.

On Saturday 20th August 1-4pm, for 7-13 year olds, I'll be teaching simple hand stitch and 'fuzzy felt' applique to make hairslides and badges.

Visit the Button & Skein website for more information and to book a place.

Chorlton's Big Green Festival 2009

On Saturday 4th April, I'll be at Chorlton's Big Green Festival held at St. Clement's Church- a celebration of all things green. In the Cafe area, you will find me stitching and embellishing bottles, in preparation for my forthcoming window installation at the Arison Gallery as part of the Chorlton Arts Festival in May. Please bring along your empty plastic bottles and they may find themselves embroidered and sculpted into a piece of art!

Embroidery artist Emily Hayes will also be at the festival, transforming your unwanted t-shirts into works of art. Do come along and have a butchers!

www.greenchorlton.org.uk

Make Do And Mend - ArtLink

My work is currently being exhibited at ArtLink in Hull as part of 'Make Do and Mend', a group exhibition of nine female artists to coincide with International Women's Day on the 8th March.
The show runs from the 6th March to the 6th April have a look if you find yourself in Hull!

www.artlink.uk.net