It’s finally here! The return of Europe’s largest quilt show The Festival of Quilts 2021. I was there, press pass in hand, filming all the events and interviewing as many artists as I could fit into the four days. A brilliant show – as you can see from the amazing textile art shared in the video below.
What a wonderful show and just what I needed to start filming again. Family commitments over the past year made it difficult to plan ‘Meet the Artist’ interviews, so you’ll be pleased to know that things have settled down and I’m back filming again. Watch this space for some amazing ‘Meet the Artist’ interviews in the coming months. ‘Subscribe + 🔔’ in YouTube and be the first to see them.
The event was spacious and airy with sanitiser stations everywhere. We were all checked before entry. Each exhibitor and visitor needed proof of a double vaccination or a negative test before they were allowed into the building.
Thank you to all the artists, exhibitors and staff of the NEC and Upper Street Events for making this long awaited show such a safe and amazing success.
Note: The artwork on the Festival of Quilts poster is by artist Sarah Hibbert.
I’m pleased to announce that “Moors of Home ” has been selected by Shannon Skye Robinson curator at Curating Futures, for the Arcadia Exhibition. This virtual exhibition will be available to view from 1st August 2021 via this link.
Arcadia Exhibition Poster
Moors of Home
Size 21 x 27 cm. Hand embroidered and hand stitched with vintage Sylko thread onto cotton cloth Eco printed with leaves and petals from my lockdown garden in Summer 2020.
Screenshot – Inside the gallery
Screenshot – Inside the gallery
Inside the gallery – Moors of Home on the virtual wall
A snapshot of the Exhibiting Artists
“Curating Futures is the brainchild of Shannon Skye Robinson- a curator, designer, and project coordinator.
The project was planned to bring together artists, create a supportive network of like-minded individuals, and generate an inspirational environment for creatives- and their practices- to grow.
The Curating Futures community are a multi-disciplinary group of creative individuals from around the world. We are passionate about art, creativity, culture, and sustainability; together, we work to learn new skills, gain new experiences, and seek new inspiration.
Within our community we collaborate, share ideas, and support one another to produce blogs, workshops, exhibitions and online events.”
One of the many things I have rediscovered in the past year is my love of books and in particular reading Lancashire dialect poetry. This new piece of work titled Worker Bees was designed after reading one of these poems.
A little about ‘Worker Bees’.
The growth of cotton manufacturing during the industrial revolution changed the landscape of Northern towns forever. Workers lived in rows of terraced homes within earshot of the Mill they worked in, each long day of work starting with the call of the factory bell. By 1860 there were 2650 cotton mills in Lancashire, employing more than 440 000 people and producing half of the World’s cotton.
The outer border of the piece features an excerpt from a poem by Lancashire Dialect poet W. M. Billington – first published in The Blackburn Times in July 1864. The poem tells the tale of a chap who overslept and was abruptly awoken by the sound of the factory bells. The central panel of worker bees has been symbolic of Manchester’s historic textile industry since 1842.
In the 1800’s Manchester was full of cotton mills and hundreds of hard-working people went to work in these buildings. The mills came to be described as ‘hives of activity’ because they were so busy, and the employees were likened to worker bees as they put so much effort into their jobs.
Reverse of the workWorker BeesHand embroidered words from a poem written in 1864
This piece is a nod to James and Jane Nixon, my ancestors who worked as weavers in the Mills in Blackburn at the time this poem was written.
Worker Bees is part of a body of work about my Lancashire roots.
Size 11.75 x 11.75 cm. Hand embroidered and hand stitched using vintage Sylko threads onto cotton cloth which has been eco rust printed.
Update
Worker Bees are off on exhibition with Swiss Fibre Art in Germany and Switzerland.
Update
Worker Bees have been invited to take part in ‘A Tall Order’ at Touchstones Rochdale.
Update
Worker Bees have been accepted for exhibition in Brazil!
‘In Natura‘ is a captivatinggroup art show that delves into the profound beauty and fragile interconnection between humanity and the natural world. As a celebration of the World Environment Day (5 June 2023), the exhibition serves as a powerful platform to raise awareness about pressing environmental issues and promote positive action.
By bringing together 23 artists from 13 different countries, ‘In Natura’ presents a diverse range of perspectives and artistic expressions that transcend borders and cultures. Established and emerging artists are showcased side by side, fostering a vibrant dialogue that illuminates the urgent need for global collaboration in addressing environmental challenges and envisions a future where humans and nature exist in harmonious balance.
