Exploring colours and rhythms in embroidery

One of my favourite parts of the show in Harrogate was the Embroiderers Guild section which we only discovered by chance, and late in the day. This year I know I’ll be looking for it much earlier and as we have more time at the show this time round I think I’ll be able to make that work, and still see everything there is to see.

But anyway, this gallery was the Embroiderers Guild Challenge for its members, asking them to dig deep and explore ‘colour’ and ‘rhythm’ and it made for a bright and interesting gallery. I’m sharing my favourites which I keenly snapped in this post - but in my keenness and awe I don’t appear to have snapped the creators for any of these, so this post also comes with apologies to those creators. I will pay better attention at the show this year!

EMBROIDERERS GUILD MEMBER CHALLENGE - COLOUR AND RHYTHM

EMBROIDERERS GUILD MEMBER CHALLENGE - COLOUR AND RHYTHM

EMBROIDERERS GUILD MEMBER CHALLENGE - COLOUR AND RHYTHM

EMBROIDERERS GUILD MEMBER CHALLENGE - COLOUR AND RHYTHM

EMBROIDERERS GUILD MEMBER CHALLENGE - COLOUR AND RHYTHM

EMBROIDERERS GUILD MEMBER CHALLENGE - COLOUR AND RHYTHM

EMBROIDERERS GUILD MEMBER CHALLENGE - COLOUR AND RHYTHM

EMBROIDERERS GUILD MEMBER CHALLENGE - COLOUR AND RHYTHM

They’re all amazing, and I’d be hard pressed to choose just one as my favourite piece - but I’m keen to know which one(s) caught your eye?

Many cups of tea, and other rugs

One of the first exhibitions I bumped into at the Knit & Stitch show in Harrogate was that of the Ebor Ruggers, a group of passionate people who enjoy keeping the traditional craft of rug making alive, but doing so while being sustainable. They make so much more than rugs though, think baskets, wallhangings, bags and cushions - and many were on display at the show.

I’m sharing those which caught my eye, including the one below that really wasn’t happy about being on the wall and kept escaping to the floor, and each time show attendees rushing to help the ruggers to get it back in place.

The rug tells the story of a daughter leaving home, potentially for university, leaving with hopes, dreams and the best wishes for her family, though the poignant part is the ‘come home’ plea, which is no doubt that of the rug maker to her daughter, and I’m sure is come home occasionally and don’t bring your washing!

I loved the simplicity of the rag rugged heart, which fully deserved its place at the show, but the storytelling piece below is the one that really made me smile, as it reminded me of MOH and his many, many great cups of tea!

The text in the rug is ‘a better man there could not be to make me many cups of tea’ and it took me right back to the early days of lockdown as we started working at our dining table in the kitchen and so he was making many more cups of tea, which I was happy to receive - and I’m still very happy that he makes me many cups of tea.

One day in lockdown though he asked me if I had a butler at work to make my tea, as while I’m always happy to receive and drink tea, I rarely made a cup for us myself. Oops - though in my defence, the tea was coming thick and fast so I had no need to make my own, and I don’t think I drank so much tea as back then - even when we moved our desks into a spare room each and there was further to bring it the tea kept coming, and so it does today too, which I’m very glad about.

I think I need to get him this rug on a t-shirt at the very least, or perhaps a mug - yes that would be more appropriate wouldn’t it?!

But anyway, back to the show - what amazed me about the rugs on display was the wide variety of approaches. I’m not sure why it did, but it did - and these three pieces (above and below) sum that up - and until then I didn’t realise that perhaps rag rugged bunting was what I needed, but maybe I do.

There’s some clever people out there excelling in their crafts, and I’m thankful for the glimpse they gave us into the ruggers world.

Jane Walkley's sculptural woven tapestries

Jane’s gallery at the Harrogate Knit & Stitch show was titled ‘Material Traces of Our Industrial North’ and it was totally fascinating; both the items, the history and the textures of the pieces, which is something that always seems to draw me in.

The pieces on show in Harrogate ‘reflects the regeneration of textile mills in the North of England - sites that hold layers of memory, loss and transformation.’ The blurb goes on to say that Jane ‘questions whether site-specific interactions can help bridge the gap between memory, attachment and place in the absence of the workplace activities that once took place in these repurposed buildings.’

Work is centred in Sunny Bank Mills in West Yorkshire which ceased textile production in 2008 and the industrial pumps, looms, hardware and tools were left in place. Jane takes clay impressions from the mill artefacts creating moulds to cast an eco-resin to replicate the intricate details, which she then weaves to produce these sculptural pieces and highlight the emotional and physical connections that bind communities to their past.

There’s so much more on this subject and the best place to explore this further is on Jane’s own website. The pieces I’m sharing here, had me fascinated - their link to the past, their tactile-ness (though I promise I didn’t touch), and the process of how they’re made and came about.

JANE WALKLEY

JANE WALKLEY

Each piece has I’m sure it’s own story, and I was torn between those with colour and those which were monochrome. I loved the free flowing pieces, but this framed piece showed how easily these artworks could be included in a more conventional framing.

JANE WALKLEY

JANE WALKLEY

I loved the bobbins and the cogs, and they had an almost jewellery-like feel to them. This blue piece caught my eye across the gallery, and these were the pieces I most wanted to touch (but resisted).

JANE WALKLEY

JANE WALKLEY

But it was the one above that had I to choose one, I’d choose. It’s simply just gorgeous, isn’t it?