Blog - Page 2 of 155 - Arnolds Attic

7th August 202414th August 2024

Lynne Edwards – Meet the Artist

Quilter, author and tutor, Lynne Edwards is a world-renowned expert in patchwork and quilting techniques, both hand and machine. Her previous books include The Sampler Quilt Book, The New Sampler Quilt Book, Making Scrap Quilts to Use It Up, Stashbuster Quilts and Cathedral Window Quilts.

Lynne Edwards: https://www.instagram.com/lynneedwards_mbe03

Lynne Edwards

For over fifty years,  Lynne has been making quilts and consistently passing on ideas and techniques to others through classes, books and magazines. Lynne was awarded an MBE in 2008 for services to arts and crafts.

In 2000, Lynne was given honorary lifetime membership of the Quilter’s Guild of the British Isles, and in 2002 was awarded the Amy Emms Memorial Trophy for services to quilting.

Filmed at the Festival of Quilts 2024.

For a more inspiration, please browse the ‘Meet the Artist’ collection on my YouTube Channel.

Books by Lynne

Lynne is a prolific writer and has published numerous books over the years. Here are just a small sample of the books that are available to read at your local library or purchase online.

A selection of the many books published by Lynne

New Sampler Quilt Book: https://amzn.to/4dsPI4H

The Essential Sampler Quilt Book: A Celebration of 40 Traditional Blocks from the Sampler Quilt Expert: https://amzn.to/4fAtiAb

Making Scrap Quilts To Use It Up: 20 Complete Designs for Leftover Fabric:https://amzn.to/46x30uI

Cathedral Window Quilts: The Classic Folded Technique and a Wealth of Variations: https://amzn.to/46Aflyf

Stash-Buster Quilts: Time-Saving Designs for Fabric Leftovers: https://amzn.to/3WPqmIH

Batool Showghi – Meet the Artist

Mixed media artist Batool Showghi explores themes of cultural heritage, memory, identity, and loss. Her work is concerned with the experience of women and the way in which this experience relates to cultural and religious boundaries. Pieces reflect on the theme of turbulence, immigration, disintegration of the family and the experience of displacement.

In response to the recent uprising of Iranian women, Batool has created a series of textile works around the theme of Struggle and Rise of Women.

Join Batool as she shares the stories that inspired her work.

Batool Showghi: https://batoolshowghi.com/

Batool Showghi

Showghi uses family birth certificates, passports, old photographs and documents to create her pieces. Her work and writings in Farsi are a poetic reflection on her memories, the environment she grew up in, the family, and a city which was lost during the war. These visual autobiographical artworks are designed to narrate and show the beauty and sadness of this struggle which will always be there.

Her figures come to life on canvas. The sewing machine and its needle are her drawing tools. She creates these heads, bodies, and hands intuitively, as if they look at the audience and question their plight. There is a sense of solidarity and movement between them. They know that they will succeed and overcome their struggle.

Showghi was born in Iran and moved to England in 1985. She received a merit for her MA in Design & Media Arts from the University of Westminster in 1997. Batool’s mixed media work and artist’s books can be found at: The Tate Britain, British Library, The Royal Navy Museum in Portsmouth, The Museum of Art and Literature, Yerevan, Armenia, and in many public and private collections.

Filmed at the Knitting & Stitching Show, London 2023.

For a more inspiration, please browse the ‘Meet the Artist’ collection on my YouTube Channel.

27th July 20243rd September 2024

Peterloo

A new exhibition at the House of Smalls called ‘Moral Fibre’ prompted me to create a new piece of work called ‘Peterloo’ for the Dollhouse gallery.

The exhibition takes place at The House of Smalls, 103 Henderson Row, Stockbridge, Edinburgh EH3 5BB from 1st – 25th August 2024. Part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

‘A good life is like a weaving. Energy is created in the tension. The struggle, the pull and tug are everything’ ~ Joan Erikson

Artists in the Dollhouse 'Moral Fibre' exhibition — Artists in the Dollhouse ‘Moral Fibre’ exhibition

Peterloo

“If we don’t vote, we are ignoring history and giving away the future” Pat Mitchell.

Our vote matters.

With each election, I think of those who came before us. Those who fought to give us the Right to Vote. Emelia Pankhurst and the fight for Women’s Suffrage; and the peaceful protestors at Peterloo in 1819.

On 16 August 1819, 60,000 people congregated in St Peter’s Field in Manchester – the largest ever political gathering of working-class people. Folk from towns across Lancashire marched to the field carrying banners with slogans supporting political reform and the right to vote; included were workers from Middleton near Rochdale, carrying a banner of locally woven blue silk, with the words ‘Liberty, Fraternity, Unity, Strength’ in hand-painted gold lettering.

Their peaceful protest turned bloody when Manchester magistrates gave orders to disperse the crowd. The Yeomanry pulled out their sabres and charged the crowd on horseback. An estimated 18 people died and more than 650 were injured in the chaos.

The tragic incident is known as the Peterloo Massacre. A moment when ordinary people stepped up to protest in a way that has made its mark in history and with a legacy that lives on to today.

Size 11.5 x 11.5cm. Hand embroidered cotton cloth, DMC embroidery thread.

The Middleton banner is part of the Touchstones Rochdale archives.

Credit: Touchstones Rochdale, People’s History Museum.

This piece forms part of a series of small works created for the House of Smalls.