saying goodbye

It has taken me all week to recover from last weekend - I've been in a bit of a daze.  The exhibition weekend went so well and exceeded expectations on various levels.  We had 700 visitors over the three days, which was fantastic.  Many had traveled quite a distance to see the work.  Family and friends came from London, Cheshire, Bolton, Grimsby, Bradford, Leeds and elsewhere.  People I don't know came from Peterborough, Boston, Buxton... and many from south of the Humber and from York.  It was really quite overwelming to find so many people had made such an effort to get there.  There were also many who were just visiting Spurn anyway and came in to see the lighthouse.  Hopefully some of these were pleasantly surprised at what they found inside.

The space worked really well and I'm so glad that I used each level in different ways.  It made for a journey of discovery as you climbed up all those steps.  It is only when people actually start to come into the space do you find whether it has been successful and whether people will react how you've imagined they might.

There were many lovely comments about my work and it confirmed for me that I'd managed to capture something of the place in what I produced.  The book was a big hit.  This is available directly from me at £10 (+ £3 p&p).  Just send me an email to request one. 

Of course this isn't the end.  Although I've handed back the key to the lighthouse and my residency is over the project continues for another year with the work traveling to various galleries in the region.  The first of these is South Square next week (link on the right).

So as well as recovering and unpacking and generally adjusting to the real world again I've been preparing for the next exhibition.  Each venue will be different and will show a different selection of the work.  The lighthouse is unique and was such a special (as well as challenging) space to show it in.  It belongs there.  However, I am looking forward to seeing it elsewhere.  There isn't space for the two big Spurn Cloths at South Square so in order to represent these large textile works in the smaller venue I have made three small Spurn Cloths.  I'll show images of these later.

So this blog will continue as the work travels and develops. Don't go away...   

open studio

Alongside the exhibition on 21st-23rd at the lighthouse Ruth Brown of Stone Creek Silks will be opening her studio to visitors.  Therefore there is a chance to take in more than one event in the area at the same time.

Ruth teaches a range of taster sessions plus one, two and five day workshops on a variety of textile subjects as well as exciting, new, City & Guilds courses in Textile Decoration (Art cloth) and Creative Computing. 

She will be opening her studio, Stone Creek Barn, to coincide with my exhibition, so you can have a look at the Studio and see her demonstrating some of the techniques you can learn. The Barn will be open from 10am to 4pm on the 21-23 September. You will also be able to meet her friend Jane White, who is a brilliant couture dressmaking and pattern cutting tutor. 

Ruth is multi-talented and has helped me publish the book I've put together to document my residency. 

printing

Time marches on and deadlines are getting tighter.  The little book I'm publishing to document my residency is almost ready for the printers thanks to the wonderful Ruth.  In between entertaining holidaying children I've managed to get a batch of rust prints over-printed with collagraphs that will hopefully dry in time to get to the framers...

 

Meanwhile, I'm waiting to hear when the BBC Look North feature will be aired (in the eastern part of the region I understand) and when the article in the Journal Magazine (a publication in Hull) will be out...