I’m pleased to announce that “Resilience” has been selected by Shannon Skye Robinson and Lois Emma Harkin, curators at Curating Futures, for the IMMaterial Exhibition. This virtual exhibition is available to view via this link.
(IM)Material Exhibition Poster
ResilienceScreenshot – Inside the gallery
Screenshot – Inside the inside the IMMaterial Exhibition virtual gallery
Screenshot – Inside the gallery
“Curating Futures is the brainchild of Shannon Skye Robinson- a curator, designer, and project coordinator. The project brings together artists, in a supportive network of like-minded individuals, to generate an inspirational environment for creatives….
….. passionate about art, creativity, culture, and sustainability; together, we work to learn new skills, gain new experiences, and seek new inspiration. Within our community we collaborate, share ideas, and support one another to produce blogs, workshops, exhibitions and online events.” Shannon Skye Robinson.
I’m pleased to announce that Resilience will be exhibiting in the One Red Thread 2021 Exhibition in Australia. The exhibition takes place at Jervis Bay Maritime Museum & Gallery in New South Wales, 4th December 2021 – 13th February 2022.
One Red Thread 2021 Exhibition Poster
The piece shows a Lancastrian weaving shuttle in a Cotton Weavers hand.
Size 24 x 24 cm. Central panel 21 x 21 cm, hand embroidered and hand stitched with vintage Sylko thread. Hand and Shuttle: Eco-leaf printed vintage Lancashire cotton cloth. Vintage Sylko thread. Outer border: Linen, surface designed with bleach and discharge paste. Vintage Sylko thread. Designed and hand stitched in three weeks.
Resilience
Hand embroidered words around the artwork
Elizabeth Dubbelde of Berry Quilting set the challenge for embroiderers and textile artists to create a work under the theme EmpoweRED. ‘What can I do to make a stand about injustices, to raise my voice in protest? Hence “Empowered” gives us an opportunity through art textiles to raise our voices to show solidarity & support to victims of sexual assault. I urge you to raise your voice by creating a piece of work that relates to the theme of Empowered.’ Elizabeth Dubbeld, One Red Thread 2021.
Update February 2022: The exhibition is on the next stage of its tour in Australia and I’ll add further dates venues as the One Red Thread Exhibition tour progresses.
Size 24 x 24 cm. Central panel 21 x 21 cm. The piece is hand embroidered and hand stitched with vintage Sylko thread. Hand and Shuttle: Eco-leaf printed vintage Lancashire cotton cloth. Vintage Sylko thread. Outer border: Linen, surface designed with bleach and discharge paste. Vintage Sylko thread. Designed and hand stitched in three weeks.
The piece shows a Lancastrian weaving shuttle in a Cotton Weavers hand. Cotton Weavers were predominantly women and were paid for each piece of cloth produced, so speed and accuracy were important. This made them heavily reliant upon the Tacklers – who were all men – to repair the looms the women worked on as quickly as possible. The Tacklers often abused this position including incidents of sexual abuse and harassment.
Resilience
The words around the border of the piece are from a poem submitted by a Weaver to the ‘The Factory Times’ – a newspaper which championed workers’ rights and unionization in order to prevent such abuse and improve working conditions.
Women Cotton Weavers were actually some of the most highly paid and unionized female manual workers in Victorian Britain and some took part in the early women’s suffrage movement in Manchester during the latter part of the 19th Century.
Hand embroidered words around the artwork
The final stitch
Elizabeth Dubbelde of Berry Quilting set the challenge for embroiderers and textile artists to create a work under the theme EmpoweRED. ‘What can I do to make a stand about injustices, to raise my voice in protest? Hence “Empowered” gives us an opportunity through art textiles to raise our voices to show solidarity & support to victims of sexual assault. I urge you to raise your voice by creating a piece of work that relates to the theme of Empowered.’ Elizabeth Dubbeld.
Creating ‘Resilience’ has been a real learning curve for me. It was designed and constructed in a completely different way to any of my previous art. With each new piece I find myself pushing the boundaries of my abilities to see what I can possibly achieve.
