I’m pleased to announce that Good Grub is part of the Embroiderers’ Guild 2024 Members Challenge ‘Opposites Attract’.
My first thought on hearing the challenge theme was ‘sweet and savoury’ and of course that meant hand embroidering a recipe or two.
Good Grub
Each design revolves around a memory growing up in Lancashire in the 1970’s.
My childhood was full of tasty, sweet and savoury, home cooked grub. A good food day was having one of my favourites for lunch, Manchester Tart – a batch-cooked school pudding, filled with bananas and jam – followed by Mum’s Lancashire Hotpot for tea.
The work was hand embroidered with vintage Sylko threads in backstitch, couching and seed stitch. The edges are turned under and topstitched.
I’m delighted with the response I’ve receive so far from fellow stitchers.
The work has prompted others to share their own warm memories of Manchester Tart and Lancashire Hotpot.
Update April 2024:
‘Good Grub’ has been awarded ‘Winner of the Beryl Dean Award for Hand Embroidery’ in the Embroiderers’ Guild 2024 Members’ Challenge ‘Opposites Attract’.
In August of 2023 I received an email from an Australia based sound artist called Rebecca Riggs-Bennett asking for assistance on a project she was working on with her mum Rachel Riggs for the Fremantle Biennale 2023.
Both Rebecca and Rachel are Lancashire born and bred and moved to Western Australia in 2010. Rachel had completed her masters in fine art at UCLan, predominantly focusing on research into Horrockses textile industry and cotton mills. Their new project together planned to look at another part of Lancashire’s history – the Lancashire Cotton Famine and the deportation of Lancashire women to Walyalup (Fremantle), Australia in 1863.
They’d seen a video I’d created about Helmshore cotton mill in Lancashire and asked if I could assist them with some original recordings of the sounds of the machines. It was an honour to assist them and these sounds are now layered into an audio visual artwork they created for the Fremantle Biennale 2023 called ‘So Once You Were Here They Had You’ .
Fremantle Biennale 2024
‘SO ONCE YOU WERE HERE THEY HAD YOU’
The beautifully produced project can be viewed here on YouTube.
Close to the submerged remnants of the Fremantle Long Jetty, an immersive re-telling of arrival and separation will unfold.
‘So once you were here they had you’ is an experiential audio-visual poem to the 50 young cotton-weaver women who arrived on the shores of Walyalup, journeying by ship from Lancashire over 110 days and nights in 1863. Created by electronic music composer Rebecca Riggs-Bennett and video artist Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson, this work takes place across Bathers Beach, re-tracing the steps of the women and the many others of the “Bride Ship” era.
So once you were here they had you is a reflective honouring of the time swept experiences of these women. Cross with us into an immersive, at times ghostly, real and imagined narrative of migration, loss and departure. – R. Riggs.
A promotional image for ‘So Once You Were Here They Had You’ // credit Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson
Original research, dramaturgy & collaboration: Rachel Riggs Animator: Jarrad Russell Dramaturgy & Co-Designer: Rachel Riggs Narration: Angeliki Georga & Phoebe Georga Featuring poetry of the Lancashire cotton famine (1861-1865) by University of Exeter and audio recordings by Catherine Hill and Helmshore Mill.
For further information on the project please visit Rebecca’s website.
I’m pleased to announce that the Giant Cauliflower Harvest has been jury selected for the Comme Ca Art x AWOL Studios 2024 Open exhibition. I’ll be one of 22 artists showing work in the exhibition.
The exhibition takes place Friday 17th May – Saturday 22nd June 2024 at AWOL Studios, 5th Floor, Hope Mill, Pollard Street, Manchester M4 7JA. During the exhibition people can view by appointment, Wednesday & Thursday 11am – 4pm and on Saturdays from 11am – 2pm.
Giant Cauliflower Harvest part of Comme Ca Art x AWOL Studios 2024 Open
Giant Cauliflower Harvest – detail
The judging panel included:
Short Supply: Acclaimed artist-led organisation based in the North West of England that creates opportunities for emerging artists
Sean Williams: Sheffield based Artist, Curator & member of the Contemporary British Painting group.
Ceri Morgan: Award winning interior & exterior designer based in the North West.
Comme Ca Art x AWOL Studios
Hope Mill , Manchester – home to AWOL Studios
“Our home is Hope Mill, a beautiful grade II listed building built in 1824 as a cotton spinning and fustian weaving mill for Joseph Clarke & Sons. Over the next 177 years it has had many other guises, from engineering works to dog bed factory, gradually and gracefully falling into decline and disrepair until it was rescued by Hope Mill Partnership in 2001. With AWOL being the first business to lay down its artistic roots in Hope Mill in 2007 it has become one of the most important centres for the arts in Manchester, allowing for a natural regeneration of this important historic building and attracting a myriad of other creative businesses.” AWOL Studios, located in the heart of Ancoats, Manchester.
The preview evening event took place on one of the most beautiful evenings we’ve had recently. I was thrilled to discover that over 200 artists applied and I was one 22 artists selected.
Comme Ca Art x AWOL Studios 2024 Open
The event was busy and the winning artists were announced – Overall winner Emma Lloyd and runner up (and fellow textile artist) Laura Nathan.
Congratulations to all the fabulous artists and to Comme Ca Art and AWOL Studios for curating a stunning exhibition.
