Shelley Rhodes, Behind the Stitches

Today I’m sharing more from the Knit & Stitch Show from Harrogate last year, and now I’ve shared all of the graduate showcase exhibits I’m going to move on and share some of the equally exquisite work on display in the gallery sections, starting with Shelley Rhodes.

I’d not seen any of Shelley’s work before but I was completely mesmerised by it - both when they were hung together, and individually. Shelley’s a mixed media artist who is drawn to the concept of fragmentation on repair, each the elements for her pieces are either weathered, worn or broken.

Her website says she is ‘drawn to the effects of time, the transience of nature, the things that go un-noticed and the ever-changing fragility of things around her.’

And together her pieces are quite a statement.

BEHIND THE STITCHES, SHELLEY RHODES

But I think are equally good alone.

She uses stitches to join pieces, and takes inspiration from Kantha making and combines layers of distressed, pre-used cloth piecing, matching and mending as she goes - and the results are stunning.

A SEGMENT OF BEHIND THE STITCHES, SHELLEY RHODES

I loved the detail on each of these elements, and it was great to be able to get so close to do that. I’m always amazed at how cohesive mixed media art is whilst using scraps - but then I guess if I were to colour code my scraps I’d be in with more of a chance of not creating a rainbow! Though obviously these are a level above anything I would create, but I’m sure there is still the satisfaction of putting something together well, whatever your skill level.

A SEGMENT OF BEHIND THE STITCHES, SHELLEY RHODES

I think though of all of the different type and shaped pieces, it is these oblongs that are my favourite, perhaps it’s the colours, perhaps the addition of nails/tacks - or maybe both.

A SEGMENT OF BEHIND THE STITCHES, SHELLEY RHODES

I’m glad to have seen them, and to share them here - and to wonder at their inception and beauty, and now you can too.

The Walled Garden at Flintham Hall

I was pleased to learn that nearby Flintham Hall was opening for charity as part of the National Garden Scheme, and that I’d get a chance to have a look at another part of the estate’s garden. We’d visited in April for the Bluebell walk and that was amazing, so my expectations were high.

I was not disappointed.

I mean, what an enticing entrance.

And after turning the corner and spending quite a bit of time admiring the flowering wisteria, as well as the alliums and tulips planted beneath it, and the plentiful hawthorn blossom we headed through the wrought iron gate into the walled garden.

My first view of the walled garden was pretty special too.

We followed the path that led to the glasshouse, past many bushes of peonies whose buds looked ready to pop. In the glasshouse - which was also to die for - was this pastel blush coloured flowering amaryllis.

What a glorious space.

I finally left the glasshouse, which had a swimming pool at one end, to discover a non-native animal eyeing up the waterlilies in the pond, or maybe something else?

Next we headed towards an area with fruit trees which were clearly old - and shaped into a fantastic goblet. It looks, like me, that the estate will be expecting a fair few apples later in the year too.

Though their roses (and peonies) are way ahead of mine, but like the peonies before I was happy to stop and admire the blooms.

This was our exit from the walled garden, and passing another gnarly and twisted wisteria which to me the trunk of it looks like the face of an animal (if you look closely enough!) and the exit was just as thought out as either of the gates I showed at the start of this post, but I wasn’t prepared for what came next.

How beautiful, dreamy and enticing is this mown path through the cow parsley? I think I want to move in…

The Head Gardener's Office at Scampston

Not only where we able to look around the Gardeners Yard at Scampston Hall, we also got to look ino the Head Gardener’s Office - and while it was set up more as an exhibit rather than a working office, it was still a delight to see.

We made our way in through the Conservatory which was built by Richardson of Darlington in 1894 and restored in 2015 with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund amongst others and now housing a series of exhibition rooms, displays and with a space for community engagement too.

The blue flowered plumbago clambering up the peach wall inside the conservatory definitely drew me in, but turning around the view was just as spectacular and I can see how important it was for the garden to restore the glasshouse to its former glory.

If only all conservatories had this view!

Turning further into the building we found the Head Gardener’s Office, and wouldn’t it just be a dream to manage and plan the garden from here - and I’d especially like that wooden drawer unit to organise my own garden plans.

And while this is a great place for drying onions, garlic and seed heads I think this would be hard to replicate in my own garden setup, and actually I never seem to have much luck with onions anyway, so that’s probably just as well.

But I did see some inspiration on how I could pot up some succulents, isn’t it darling?

Of course I left with some seeds of my own - and actually this post is a great reminder for me to look them out and actually do something with them. I saw some Agastache in the garden centre earlier this week, and I thought it sounded familiar but I couldn’t remember why. Here’s why!

And finally one connection in history that I learnt as we read the interesting information boards around the space. The glasshouse was originally made by Richardson of Darlington, which went on to become one of the glasshouse companies in the Victorian era. It was also the only company to last into this century, rebranding in the 1960s as Amdega. That company finally closed in 2011, but the liquidators sold the brand to Everest the double glazing company, and so the brand lives on with heritage at its heart. I love discovering things like that.

Now I’m off to look out those seeds…