PRISM textiles and Geffrye Museum

A visit today to the annual PRISM textiles exhibition, where the theme was "Lines of Communication".  A new venue, at Hoxton Arches, was much more straightforward to get to than I had anticipated, to Clapham Junction, and then overground to Hoxton.  A very good facet of this new venue is that the exhibition is on for two weeks, until 31st May.  The standard of work on display is as always superb, and in some cases very moving.  It seemed very monotone this year, with bright colours in evidence in only a few pieces, but particularly in those of Gina Ferrari, who has been inspired by the graffiti in the garden of the venue and in the work of  Ruth Issett, whose overlaid and stitched organzas are marvellous.

Many familiar names this year.  It was wonderful to see the devoré pieces by Peta Jacobs whose work I had admired at the Cloth and Memory 2 exhibition at Saltaire.  A very moving piece of 64 hand knitted lace gloves in memory of visits to the artist's mother who was suffering from dementia, apologies, I did not get the name here.  Intriguing stitching on ventilator mesh from Niki chandler, giving excellent shadows which were integral to the work.  Crunchy, vibrant map of a river by Amanda Bloom.  Fabulous work as ever from Bea Sewell with stitched memorabilia in a series of boxes.  Fantastic to have Amanda Hislop's  sketchbook available to view alongside the finished piece of work, so much inspiration and understanding of her artistic process from viewing the two together.

Photography is allowed at the exhibition this year, but images are for personal use only, so not shown here.  It is a bold move of the PRISM group to move from the Mall Galleries and I'm not sure it has been completely successful.  The gallery was very well lit and laid out, but it was very cold due to the unseasonal weather ( and there was no obvious source of heating anyway).  There are minimal toilet facilities and no cafe - although there are many good eating places in less than 1 minute's walk.  The exhibition was not busy on a Bank Holiday Monday, which was not a great sign.  Something for the organisers to think about I fear.

I had not realised how close the Geffrye Museum was to the venue, so I managed to ft in a visit to a place hat has been on my list for several years.  Not enough  time to see everything, but enough to get a flavour  and persuade me to visit again soon.  The flowers in the garden were spectacular as another bonus.  Good cafe as well.

Lumen, lack of light and a hidden lion

In the end I did not miss the life drawing class.  The teacher rescheduled, and I realised when I arrived at the class last week, that the person in the T-shirt was not a new member of the class who had forgotten his trousers, but was Clive, the life model.  After the initial gulp of the throat, realising that this was it, I then spent a really exciting 3 hours getting to grips with charcoal, short poses, long poses and discovering the skeleton underneath.  We have another life drawing session at the end of the term, so I hope my skills have extended a bit by then.

I followed that with a look round the "Inspired By" exhibition, at the Morley College Gallery.  This is a competitions for adult learners to make a piece inspired by an object in the V and A.  This is a really lovely exhibition and the interpretations of some of the objects is remarkable.  Several pieces of jewellery are very covetable, particularly  a leaf brooch by Nina Gargala, and this dramatic piece by Gudny Hexter.

 Anyone who follows the blog of Margaret Cooter, will be pleased to knew that her recent work, Museum Mazes won the printmaking prize.

After that, a visit to the Lumen Church, a wonderful space in Bloomsbury, with a fascinating history, from its beginnings as a Gaelic-speaking church to its present multi-faith usage.  The interior has a remarkable "sacred space " that is wonderful to sit in

and the window at the top casts a marvellous light that reminded me of being in James Turrell's  "Deer Shelter Skyspace" at the  Yorkshire Sculpture Park. 

I have been stitching and drawing, but the light is so poor, I have not been able to photograph the products of either activity. Lots of quilting, completing my piece for Dislocation,; returning to one of the scrap quilts to practise free machine quilting; making some postcards for an online challenge.

Arriving early for the annual Prism exhibition at the Mall Galleries, ( on until 31st May) I discovered  this little memorial in the crypt of St Martin in the fields church, a tribute to the first Pearly King.  

Prism is as ever full of wonderful pieces, go if you can.  Free entry, well-lit, easily accessible, good coffee and lots of inspiration.

Finally at Waterloo, a hidden lion - how have i passed this every day for a year and not noticed it?

Angie Lewin - glorious design, and upcoming exhibition

I have just picked up a copy of "Plants and Places" by Angie Lewin from our local library. I am treating myself to an hour with it, after being soaked, and stabbed by rather large hailstones, on my bike.



It is glorious: excellent print design, beautiful photography and superb heavy paper.

Even better, there is an exhibition of her prints in London for the next two weeks, here, and should coincide with a planned visit to this year's Prism exhibition, "Hidden Places, Hidden Spaces".

So much to see, so little brain available to absorb it all.

London larks

Off to the Mall Gallery last week to see the Prism exhibition. This is so inspirational, and was even better this year as I met one of my Morley classmates there and so had someone to rhapsodise with.

There is a “no publication policy” of photos from the exhibition, so I’ve posted some links below to a few of the artists who had pieces on display.

Gina Ferrari lace book

Rachel Gornall

Anita Bruce

Fiona Rainford

I was also intrigued by the work of Bea Sewell, who had a tree draped with samples of textiles dyed with plant and mineral dyes. she had some charming miniature notebooks with scraps f dyeing experiments, accompanied by a tiny sketch on each page. She also had a basket of tiny samples inviting attendees to have a rummage and take a tied bundle away. A lovely touch.

This exhibition really stretches the boundaries of textile art: photos of flowers, cut in to circles and appliquéd on to calico in the shape of a DNA double helix; wooden wall-mounted boxes with only the smallest amount of textile in them; embroidered organza strips sandwiched between blocks of glass , giving a completely different look to the organza. Wonderful.

Then out in to the Mall for some very different textiles.

Statue with a mischievous addition in the eye socket

Colour and form inspiration

Finished off with a dash round Anthropologie, with some quirky textile inspiration as ever

Calico bag, painted to look like a jotter

and then off to Liberty to try on the Richard Weston scarves

and have a scarf tying lesson with the great assistants in the scarf hall ( thank goodness I was wearing my one and only large Liberty scarf already).

Great fun.

From A to B in felted textile

This is the beautiful piece I bought from Ali Brown last weekend. Still in its protective cellophane, hence the shine.

Approximately A4 size, I love the simplicity of this image, the thickness of the base felt and that the grey lines are felted wool collected from barbed wire on her walks.

London, through a Prism

A trip to London to visit the Prism exhibition at the Mall Galleries.

I love this exhibition, particularly as it coincides with rehearsals for Trooping of the Colour, so there are always lots of incongruous instances of busby and metal clad ceremonial soldiers on huge horses surrounded by people scantily clad in their summer clothes.

I also love the way the London Eye creeps unexpectedly into London scenes.

My favourite pieces again were by Ali Brown and Rachel Gornall, with Gina Ferrari, Heather Hunter, Bea Sewell, and Charlotte Sewell coming close seconds. I did buy a piece by Ali Brown, but no photos yet.

Then to Trafalgar Square to see the latest installation on the 4th plinth - a ship in a bottle by Yinka Shonibare. Very mixed feelings about this piece as my father used to make ships in bottles, but not to this scale thank goodness.

Then a wander round "Thailand in London" wondering at the juxtaposition of lanterns and London landmarks.