Original Textile Art
With just 23 days to go until our exhibition “Deepening the Mystery” opens at the Apex gallery in Bury St Edmunds we at Beyond Stitch are very busy making final arrangements and adding the last stitches to all the new work we have created over the past two years. You can read more about the … Continue reading The Final Countdown
Detail from “The Storm” by Tres Barnett. Inspired by the Benjamin Britten Opera “Peter Grimes.” All of us at Beyond Stitch (Ed, Sue, Sarah, Mandy, Marion, Trudie and Tres) would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year. So, 2018 has arrived which means that it is nearly 18 … Continue reading Happy New Year
A reminder about our new exhibition titled (Deepening the Mystery) which is taken from a quotation. Francis Bacon, “The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” The exhibition will be held at the Apex in Bury St. Edmunds from 08/05/18- 03/06/18 A recent trip to Puglia in Italy with lovely weather, food, wine and … Continue reading Italian Influence
I love using silk material in my embroidery pieces. It is such a diverse medium coming in all sorts of incarnations: smooth or rough textured, shiny or matt, woven material or loose fibres ready and willing to be manipulated. It dyes beautifully and easily – I use Australian Landscape dyes and my microwave – or … Continue reading Sudbury Silks
Every now and then I do some dyeing of fabrics and threads with flowers, leaves or fruits I have gathered. I love that you end up with a selection of similar shades as each fabric and thread takes the dye in a different way. All natural colours look happy together. Last autumn my … Continue reading The highs and lows of natural dyeing
A visit to Anglesey Abbey, near Cambridge, has filled my head with ideas for future textile work. As architecture and the natural world are the main inspiration for most of my pieces, the Abbey certainly gave me lots of varied ideas. What should I start with? Perhaps a view of part of the actual house. … Continue reading Inspiring Visit
The author Jack London once wrote, “You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.” This echoes advice given to me many years ago by a tutor at Art College, ” Don’t sit around waiting for inspiration, go out and search for it.” The same tutor also said … Continue reading Finding Inspiration
Now over the years each member of our group has developed her own particular method of working, or her own favourite techniques or subject matter. Sue loves her goldwork, Trudie her felt work, Marion likes experimenting with different dyeing techniques, Sarah loves her hills and trees and moons. For me I cannot start a new piece without … Continue reading Waste not Want not
On alternate Thursday mornings throughout the year six of the seven members of Beyond Stitch meet together, taking it in turns to act as host. Our seventh member, Sarah, is an army wife and must therefore go where her husband’s duty calls. She is currently a little too far away to attend our meetings regularly … Continue reading Coffee, Cake and Inspiration