Unconventional & Unexpected Too Exhibition

A little textile inspiration from my YouTube ‘Meet the Artist’ Collection. Today it features the Unconventional & Unexpected Too Exhibition – stunning American Quilts from the Kiracofe Collection.

Improvisationally pieced, bursting with colour, and unruly in the best of ways, 14 quilts from the Kiracofe collection were selected to go on display at The Festival of Quilts 2022.

In this video Roderick Kiracofe shares these stunning quilts and explains the stories behind the artworks.

https://youtu.be/rJ–qXZXuoM

Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar Book
Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar Book

For over 30 years, collector and author Roderick Kiracofe has played a significant role in shaping the American quilt landscape. His second book, Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar, now in its second edition, celebrates dozens of utterly unique — and gloriously unexpected — quilts from his famed collection. 

Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar Book is available to purchase via this Amazon link.

Quilt from the Unconventional & Unexpected Too Exhibition
Quilt from the Unconventional & Unexpected Too Exhibition
Quilt from the Unconventional & Unexpected Too Exhibition
Quilt from the Unconventional & Unexpected Too Exhibition

The old things I found in our basement, the garage, or my grandmother’s home around the corner in a small town in Indiana, delighted me. When I was in high school I started going to auctions in the neighborhood and on farms surrounding my hometown. These objects represented the vestiges of an earlier time. They intrigued me, and I was hooked.

My curiosity about the “unexpected” quilts of the last half of the 20th century led me to eBay and other sources for seeking them out. The quilts that I am most passionate about are pieced, often crudely quilted or tied, and full of printed fabrics.  Most importantly, they are the quirky, funky, and soulful expressions from a quilt maker who broke the rules.

Roderick Kiracofe
Quilt from the Exhibition
Quilt from the Exhibition

Filmed at the Festival of Quilts 2022.

Collateral at the Crafts Council

In 2021 Brigid McLeer, Super Slow Way and the British Textile Biennial put out a call – ‘Stitchers needed’ to hand embroider a piece of organza for the Collateral project – You can see my stitched block in a previous post.

The assembled artwork – made entirely in white thread – was on exhibition in 2021 at Queen Street Mill in Burnley, and is now part of the ‘Cotton: Labour, Land and Body’ at the Crafts Council Gallery, London from 21 September 2022 – 4 March 2023.

I was thrilled to finally see my stitched contribution on a recent visit to London and took a few photos to share with you.

‘Cotton: Labour, Land and Body’ at the Crafts Council Gallery
‘Cotton: Labour, Land and Body’ at the Crafts Council Gallery
My piece of white embroidery
My piece of white embroidery
Detail - Collateral
Detail
Detail
Detail
Contributors to Collateral
Contributors to Collateral

“For British Textile Biennial 2021 artist Brigid McLeer creates a memorial to the hundreds of workers who die in factories and sweatshops across the world that supply the global garment industry. Made in collaboration with local embroiderers and inspired by a large scale lace panel from the Gawthorpe Textile Collection commemorating the Battle of Britain, the work will be a moving testament to the lives lost to feed the West’s seemingly bottomless appetite for fast fashion. The new embroidered panel will be 450 x 163 cm and around three of its four sides will be a 10cm wide border with a repeated motif. The motif re-draws the repeated pattern of wheat sheaves depicted on the Battle of Britain lace panel, as a repeated pattern of bodies, wrapped in fabric and laid out on the ground, drawn from a photograph of victims taken after the Kader Industrial factory fire in 1993.”

Collateral Project
Collateral
Collateral
Crafts Council Gallery
Crafts Council Gallery

Crafts Council, 44a Pentonville Road, London N1 9BY. The Gallery is open Wednesdays to Saturdays, 11am – 5pm. Entry is free.

Fragments & Sylko Addict

This year I’ve two pieces of work to share – Fragments & Sylko Addict will be on exhibition with the Embroiderers’ Guild at the Knitting & Stitching Shows 2022 in London and Harrogate.

Fragments is part of the EG ‘In & Out of Lockdown’ Members’ Challenge 2022. Hand pieced quarter inch hexagons. Eco printed cotton cloth. Size 21 x 21cm.

Fragments & Sylko Addict
Fragments – Members’ Challenge ‘In & Out of Lockdown’ Exhibition 2022

Sylko Addict is part of the EG ‘Collections’ exhibition. Words composed by Catherine Hill. Hand embroidered text, cotton cloth. Size 21 x 21cm.

Fragments & Sylko Addict - Collections Exhibition - hand embroidered art
Sylko Addict – part of the Collections Exhibition

I thoroughly enjoy exhibiting with the Guild. It’s a brilliant way to introduce my work to a wider audience and engage with new stitchers – in last year’s show I exhibited Matchbox Challenge and Headspace – Self Portrait.

If you’re visiting the exhibitions, I’d love to see your Show photos – Please tag me! https://www.instagram.com/catherine_hill_textile_artist/

Fragments & Sylko Addict will be part of the Harrogate show later on in 2022. Check the K & S Show website for show dates and opening times.