So the Fabric of Life exhibition has been on its travels today and is now residing at the Artistmeet Gallery in Rickmansworth until the end of June. The twelve textile artists have become thirteen

My piece celebrates Bushey Rose Gardens

Hung by our own fair hands and with the help of a man with a drill.

It looks fab and we can’t wait to show off to our visitors. (Helen O’Leary & Caroline Kirton)

Four workshops run along side and we have two meet the artist sessions.(Jo Bowes & Carole Nicholls) 

Linda Gifford

Jackie Hodgeson

Catherina Petit Van Hoey

Jackie Bennett

Marian Murphy

 June Faulkener

with ASCEND Charity

As part of my role at ASCEND Charity I tutor craft groups. I found this project in conjunction with the Hertfordshire Archive to respond as group to the Delme Radcliffe family documents. There were nine students who worked individually on their designed pieces that were displayed as a whole

 This was their piece Priorities of the Priory. We went on a field trip to the Hertfordshire Archives and afternoon tea at Hitchin Priory.

Janet chose to stitch Hitchin priory

Madeline chose to visually interpret ‘The Cluster of Grapes’ an Inn found in the travel journal

Rita was inspired by the Physics List

My beautiful niece Chantelle married Tom in Italy this year. How excited was I when Tom asked me to make a memory collage of their wedding as a surprise for Chantelle’s 30^th birthday. These are the photos Tom wished to include

As you can see Italy provided the perfect backdrop

This is the finished collage. I hope that I have captured the colours of the Italian wedding.

Tom and Chantelle chose not to have traditional hymns but Madness ‘It Must Be Love’ and

Sam Cooke’s  ‘What a Wonderful World’

I printed the text and then cut it into strips to make it look like a vintage telegram

Toms Uncle Simon read an Apache Wedding Prayer

Tom’s mum Anna read a quote from the book Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.

I used tiny snippets of ribbon, wedding cards and vintage keys, lace to represent Chantelle ‘s dress and some dried lavender and rosemary from the table decorations

It was a truly beautiful wedding and I hope that I have captured its beauty in this collage

It certainly was a beautifully sunny day when the Art Journal beginners gathered at my home studio for their workshop. We prepared our books before immersing ourselves in a glorious gooey mess decorating the pages using, paints, inks, stains, stencils and napkins

We decorated tags, used my Sizzix cutter to cut shapes, collaged and embellished

As you can see dogs were a popular theme

and so were birds

Lunch in the sun

Mother and daughter Nisha & Niva showing us their favourite completed pages

Susan being very studious using oil pastels

Kay and Pauline fellow artist learning new skills

The group enjoyed it so much that we are forming an Artful Book Club and will meet for mini workshops every couple of months to learn new techniques and share the homework pages

After many months of planning and making my piece is finished at last for the exhibition The Threads of Time 2. This exhibition has asked over 50 textile artist to respond to the Delme Radcliffe Family documents held at Hertfordshire Archives.

The Ship’s Articles of the Officers and Crew of the Delawar (1746) was my inspiration. I was intrigued by the visual impact of the regimented text and red wax seals. A chain was created with fabric, paper and sausage skins…yes sausage skins which were once used to repair and conserve the documents. Each chain was stitched with a designated name from the crew list and their job title and joined with a red wax seal. A stowaway sneaked into the chain….a little known artist by the name of Sian Fenwick!

The chain is draped over an anchor and the sari silks suggest seaweed but references the exotic Delawar cargoes of that time. The chain suggests fragility yet strength in numbers

Here is my finished work on display

We were encouraged to keep a sketch book to display, mine took the form of a ships journal

MDF, craft pelmet, felt, 3D paint, double sided tape, staple gun, heat gun, sealer, sausage casings, wadding, fabric printed with old documents, yoyos, was seals, and sari silks

Family seemed to be the popular theme this weekend and it was a real family affair as a grandmother, daughter and two granddaughters were some of my students. Not only did they make a memory collage but created another family memory along the way.

Nisha made great use of frames to make her small images stand out.

A celebration of love between mother and daughter.

 Gorgeous cake and naughty biscuits.

Jasmine brought her frame with her so went home with a totally finished piece of work.

Rita was pleased to find the unexpected picture of a cat in my stash, it reminded her of her own cat.

Niva drove straight from the workshop to Hobbycraft to get her frame and found the ‘sisters’ text and glue gunned to the top of her frame.

So as you can see it was definitely a day full of creativity and collage and a tiny bit of cake to keep up our strength!

1 day workshop

Much workshop fun this weekend.
Memories made.
Cake eaten.
Job well done… by all.

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Priyanka Collage