A new exhibition at the House of Smalls called ‘The Ascent of Man’ prompted me to create a new piece of work called ‘Stand Your Ground’ for the Dollhouse gallery.
The exhibition takes place at The House of Smalls, 103 Henderson Row, Stockbridge, Edinburgh EH3 5BB from the 23rd May – 21st June 2025.
“Oppression, repression and suppression as we lose our rights, our choices, our spaces, this is a call for art from Women who have something to say, to shout, to scream.” ~ The House of Smalls.
Artists taking part on the Dollhouse exhibition
Stand Your Ground
The exhibition theme made me think of the women in my own family and the good advice I’ve received from them over the years. This is one little nugget – good advice from the strong women in my life.
When it comes to domineering men – “Stand your ground and give as good as you get”.
Stand Your Ground
Stand Your Ground – detail
Size 11.5 x 11.5cm. Hand embroidered with vintage Sylko thread.
This piece forms part of a series of small works created for the House of Smalls.
I’m delighted to announce that ‘Flowers, Leaves and Berries’ has been awarded ‘The Artists Director’s Award for Innovation’ in the Embroiderers’ Guild 2025 Members Challenge ‘Colour Rhythms’.
Flowers Leaves and Berries awarded ‘The Artists Director’s Award for Innovation’
Screenshot from the Embroiderers’ Guild winners announcement
A ‘Colour Rhythms’ E-Book is available on the Guild website, featuring all the pieces in the challenge. Below are a few extracts from the book.
Embroiderers Guild E-Book
Extract from the Embroiderers Guild E-Book – Colour Rhythms Members’ Challenge
Extract from the Embroiderers Guild E-Book – Colour Rhythms Members’ Challenge
Thank you to the Embroiderers’ Guild from producing such a brilliant and inspiring challnge. Congratulations to the all winners and participants.
Flowers, Leaves and Berries is a new artwork designed for the Embroiderers’ Guild Members’ Challenge ‘ Colour Rhythms’.
On hearing the theme my first thought was the rhythms of the seasons. My challenge was translating that into cloth and stitch. Each year I spend time in my shed, hand dyeing and contact leaf printing cloth with leaves and flowers from my garden and chose to use some of these natural dyed fabrics in this artwork.
Hand dyed silks
Buckets of water, some old jars and pans, and a pair of Marigold gloves. This is my happy place. Messing about in the shed, preparing cloth for pots of simmering dye and a window bottom full of bejewelled solar dye jars. These natural dyed silks are the result of such a year of playing, and reflect the seasonal rhythm of nature. Each piece was hand dyed from foraged and dried botanicals. The poem around the outside border called ‘Flowers, Leaves and Berries’ are my own words.
Flowers Leaves and Berries
Size 30 x 30cm. Hand embroidered text onto cotton cloth using vintage Sylko thread. Hand appliqued silk circles using 100 weight Kimono silk thread.
Flowers Leaves and Berries
The central panel of naturally dyed silks formed the starting point for the artwork. I wanted a square panel full of coloured circles – a bit like a sampler – and experimented with different arrangements including spirals before settling on the 5 x 5 format.
Circles arranged in a 5 x 5 format
The outer border features a poem that I wrote specifically for this piece.
Collect old clothes and linens, and odd skeins of thread, Cut up, wash and rinse them, pile up in the shed, The fibres of cotton, wool, linen and silk, Which I’ll mordant with soda ash, alum, and milk. I sometimes use iron, tea, sumac and try, The tannins in mordants that help set the dye. Pick flowers, leaves and berries, roots, seeds and bark, And make stock pots of colour from light through to dark. Then modify the fabrics, and peg out on the line, As my rainbow of colour dries in the sunshine
Flowers, Leaves and Berries by Catherine Hill
Last year I created ‘Good Grub‘ which was awarded ‘Winner of the Beryl Dean Award for Hand Embroidery’ in the Embroiderers’ Guild 2024 Members’ Challenge ‘Opposites Attract’.
