Author: Katie

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Ilkley Arts Open Exhibition 2025

I’m pleased to share that Lancashire Rich Jam Cake has been jury selected for the Ilkley Arts Open Exhibition 2025. The exhibition is part of the 2025 programme to support Bradford’s 2025 UK City of Culture event.

The exhibition on the theme of ‘Connections’, takes place at Ilkley Manor House, Castle Yard, Ilkley, West Yorkshire LS29 9DT, 6th September – 12th October 2025, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm.

“From human connectedness, kinship and alliances, to physical bonds …. ‘connection’ as a concept is worthy of our consideration. In this spirit, The Manor House Ilkley and Ilkley Arts are working together to produce an Open Exhibition in2025 exploring this very theme and building on the success of the Ilkley Arts Open Exhibition 2023.” ~ Ilkley Arts Open.

Please follow this link to view the complete list of exhibiting artists.

Lancashire Rich Jam Cake - part of the Ilkley Arts Open Exhibition 2025
Lancashire Rich Jam Cake – part of the Ilkley Arts Open Exhibition 2025

“Food and memories are closely interwoven connecting the present with the past. This cake recipe evokes warm memories from my early childhood. Lancashire Rich Jam Cake were a firm favourite at every school or church event I went to as a kid. Folk would make it to sell or cut it up and share it with a hot brew. This crowd pleaser were perfect to cut into little squares; or as my aunt used to do – cut it into pie slice wedges and arrange it on a big flowery China plate for an afternoon treat.” ~ Catherine Hill.

The hand embroidered panel measures 23.5 x 11.5cm. 

Lancashire Rich Jam Cake - part of the Ilkley Arts Open Exhibition 2025
Lancashire Rich Jam Cake – detail

Thank you to the selection panel – made up of a number of experienced exhibiting artists, gallery owners, curators, art critics and collectors – for selecting my work for exhibition.

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Calderdale Open 2025

Calderdale Open 2025

I’m pleased to announce that Summer 2022 Part 1 has been selected for the Calderdale Open 2025.

The exhibition’s theme is ‘Nature’ and takes place at the Smith Art Gallery, Halifax Road, Brighouse, Yorkshire, from the 5th July – 6th December 2025.

Calderdale Open 2025

Summer 2022 Part 1

In September 2022 I was invited to an art event at Touchstones Rochdale and took the opportunity to record the thoughts and memories of the people of Rochdale about how they had been affected by the summers’s heatwave.

When I returned home I realised I had enough information to create two artworks – ‘Summer 2022 Part 1 & 2’. These pieces document how everyday lives were afected by the extreme heat, lack of water and the war in Ukraine.

The artworks cover a timeframe from mid-summer through to the 10th September 2022 with the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II.

Summer 2022 Part 1 - part of the Calderdale Open 2025
Summer 2022 Part 1
Summer 2022 Part 1 detail - part of the Calderdale Open 2025
Summer 2022 Part 1 detail

Calderdale Open Judges

Kate Lycett – “My textile design background is always present in the way that I paint, and interpret what is around me. I see patterns in everything; the hills adorned with houses and washing lines, rows of flower pots and stripes of brightly painted drain pipes. Lines of gold thread trace lines through the landscape, and gold leaf changes the surface of my pictures with the changing light of day. I want to paint beautiful pictures of the places that I love. There are never people in my pictures but they’re full of life and warmth.”

Associate Professor Dr Marianna Tsionki – University Curator at Leeds Arts University heading up the Curation and Library department. She is responsible for strategic and operational planning of libraries and curatorial programmes, collections management and research development……Marianna is a curator, researcher and educator working at the intersection of contemporary art, ecology and technology. She is concerned with the role of curatorial and institutional practice in a time of ecological crisis, with particular focus on methodologies of alter-institutionality and critical pedagogy.

Mike Baggs AC Art & Framing – “AC Gallery began life as an art shop in the 1950’s and is now in the 3rd generation of the same family. The business has evolved over the decades, from its early days as an arts and crafts supply shop, to the AC Gallery we have today selling framed prints and originals alongside our expert picture framing service… Now with seven galleries across the north, it’s a long way from the art shop of the 1950’s but the core values have never changed. We are a family business where every customer and every job matters.”

Thank you to curator Eli Dawson and the judges for selecting my work for the exhibition.

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Textile Protest

I’m pleased to share some very exciting news about Textile Protest by Julia Triston – it’s one of the best books I’ve read in a very long time – and you can get your own copy here.

Textile Protest
Textile Protest

Batsford Books reached out to me in late 2024. They’d seen a blogpost I’d written on ‘The Grenfell Memorial Quilt‘ and wondered if I could assist them on a piece they were creating about the Quilt.

Grenfell Memorial Quilt in the Textile Protest book
Grenfell Memorial Quilt in the Textile Protest book

The blogpost centred on my video interview with the project’s founder and ‘artivist’ Tuesday Greenidge (whose daughter escaped from the tower fire) and by kind permission of Tuesday, included several close up photos of the Quilt .

Two photos included in the Textile Protest book
Two photos included in the Textile Protest book

Tuesday kindly gave Batsford and myself permission to share these images in the book.

“This book is ‘a landmark exploration of how textiles have been used for political protest in the 20th and 21st centuries’. It was an intense project to research and write, and I’m very proud of the final edition, which will be published in August this year by Batsford Books. This book is timely, and it wouldn’t have been possible to illustrate without all the creative and talented artists, activists, protesters, campaigners and curators who are part of it. … Keep on doing what you all do so brilliantly – our world needs your protest and artworks.”~ Juliia Triston.

Photo credit - line 4 & 5
Photo credit – line 4 & 5

Grenfell Tower Fire

The Grenfell Memorial Quilt honours the 72 lives lost in the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017.

The following is courtesy of the London Museum.

On 14 June 2017, a fire spread through Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, killing 72 people. It was one of modern London’s worst disasters, and highlighted the city’s severe housing inequalities.

The Grenfell fire was started by an electrical fault in a fridge-freezer in one of the fourth-floor flats. Cladding attached to the outside of the building set alight, spreading the fire between floors.

The fire was first reported by a 999 call just before 1am. The fire reached the roof half an hour later, and by 4am, covered the entire building.

The first firefighters reached the tower five minutes after the 999 call. They rescued 65 people, while over a hundred escaped themselves. The firefighters showed extreme bravery. The call handlers battled against severe pressure.

Until 2.47am, they advised residents to “stay put” in their flats. The Grenfell Tower inquiry found that this advice should have changed an hour earlier, when it was clear that the fire had spread.

The inquiry found that firefighters were not properly prepared by their bosses for the situation they faced. There was no specific plan for evacuating Grenfell Tower. Vulnerable and disabled residents weren’t given personalised guidance beforehand.

In the 2010s, aluminium and plastic panels had been attached to the 1970s tower block. This cladding helped the fire spread.