Hand Felted Portraits and Stitched Photographs go on show in Wolverhampton

The Threads of Our Lives: What Shaped Us.

What an exciting project this was!

I was asked by Wolverhampton Art Gallery if I’d like to be the artist working on one of their outreach projects. Like many art galleries Wolverhampton Art Gallery is keen to be involved with groups in the community.

St Chad’s Art and Craft Group were the perfect group for this project.

These ladies (about 18 members at present) have been meeting once a week for 8 years. They work on projects together, share ideas and encourage each other. Most of the members are retired and most of them had working careers where their artistic ambitions had to take second place; they had jobs and families to look after.

One of the things that is so interesting about the members of this group is their commitment and professionalism. Although they have lots of fun, these ladies are keen to learn and progress their skills so they have worked out ways of raising money to pay for room hire and tuition from Wolverhampton Adult Education Service.

One successful way that they have found to raise money is by designing and printing their own calendar..... featuring their own art of course!

This entrepreneurial sprit wasn’t the only thing that I fell in love with about these ladies. I especially loved their warmth, friendship and enthusiasm. Working with St Chad’s Arts and Crafts Group was one of my best experiences of 2010.

As a starting point for What Shaped Us the group visited the Jann Haworth retrospective exhibition at Wolverhampton Art Gallery. Using a group photo that was taken in the gallery and inspired by Jann Haworth’s soft sculpture they started to work with their tutor Bev Dedicoat. Here are a couple of their stitched portraits.

Iris's soft stitched portrait reminds me of Beryl Cook illustrations.

One of Molly's stitched pictures.

My brief was to introduce the ladies to some art techniques other than the more usual painting and drawing ones.

I was also able to have a session where I took in some of my own art and spoke about my own inspirations and how I have drawn on these. This was really helpful for me too as I took in some older work (going back 13 years) as well as more recent Frillip Moolog sculptures. It reminded me how far my own practice has come.

We got familiar with working with wool fibres by making some felted flowers.

Which I wasn’t at all surprised to see several of them wearing when they arrived at the next session!

There is a lot of talent in this group so from felted flowers we leapt straight into felted portraits!

Jean's interest in pop art showed in her approach to the felted portrait.

Even though we took two sessions to build up the portraits the pace was fast!

While I was demonstrating on my own portrait I could feel the adrenalin rushing round my body. There’s nothing like having to work in the spotlight to focus you.

Muriel's love of texture shows in her portrait.

It was lovely to show how we can paint with fibres, yarns and scraps of lace. There was so much energy in the room. It really was exciting!

Above: Molly's portrait in progress.

Below: Molly pictured with her finished portrait (second from right).

A hive of industry!

In the last two weeks of the project we took inspiration from Flore Gardner. I was very grateful to Rosie James who e mailed me the details of Flore’s exhibition at Derby Art Gallery and also thanks to Derby Art Gallery for putting together such a good resource pack.

I also showed the group Mauizio Anzeri’s stitched photograph work which was featured in the May/June 2010 Crafts Magazine. It was good to contrast these two artists’ different approaches to stitching into photographs.

Iris has very strong memories of her lovely long hair being cut off by her Nan.

Brenda getting stuck in with needle and gold lame thread.

Avril's very happy memories of this day show through.

The ladies personalities started to come out in the stitching. It wasn’t about tracing outlines with coloured threads. Rather, it was about choosing the picture, their memories associated with the picture and what story they wanted to tell.

Jan was smiling so much of the time that it is no surprise that the photo that she chose to stitch majored on a big grin and rosy cheeks.

It was a different way of working, less spontaneous than mixing wool fibres to make a portrait but this exercise really got them thinking about what they wanted to say.

Bev was delighted not only because it it was obviously going to have an impact in their approach to sketchbooks in the future but also because of her love of text in images too.

Gillian combined a school photo of herself with a photo of her as a mother taking her own son to school. She made her stitched image tell stories on several levels. Literally drawing together threads of memories from different times in her life.

I was just so delighted that the ladies had been so ‘up for it’. They were happy to have an adventure with me.

The absolute icing on the cake was when Wolverhampton Art Gallery exhibited the work that the group made during the Threads of our Lives; what shaped us project in the Art Gallery itself.

They have every right to be proud

The show has now moved to its second venue:

Wolverhampton Adult Education Service

City Learning Quarter

Old Hall Street

Wolverhampton

WV1 3AU

Tel: 01902 558164

The exhibition is open to the public and continues here until 2nd Jan 2011.

To contact the group and to buy a calendar (only £5.99 each) e mail arts-at-stchads@hotmail.co.uk

Take inspiration from these talented ladies . Try a new medium today.... Felting is always a good place to start.

Surrounded by Felted Flowers and Mixed Media Sculptures at the Erasmus Darwin House, Lichfield

How exciting; a chance for me to wear both of my artistic hats (Frillip Moolog and AllSensesArt) at once.
This summer I exhibited six of my Frillip Moolog sculptures in the beautiful and unique setting of the Erasmus Darwin House.

The show Inventions of the Mind was a wonderful opportunity for me to exhibit my sculptures here in my home town of Lichfield. It was also a fantastic opportunity to run lots of outreach
projects.

The project was organised by 52 Weeks of Art and was made possible thanks to funding from Tesco PLC. Inventions of the Mind ran from 31st Jul – 23rd Aug but the highpoint was the Celebration Day on Saturday 21st Aug.

Peter Walker from 52weeks of art organised Life the Universe and Darwin to show off all the work that had been made throughout several 52 Weeks of Art projects.

So here I am surrounded by felted flowers all made by participants in my AllSensesArt workshops at Erasmus Darwin House.

There are 60 flowers here and absolutely no two are the same.
During my sessions I worked with people of all ages and from all walks of life. This was so exciting!

No one had made felt before and many had never been to the Erasmus Darwin House either. So this was their chance to learn about this colourful character from the 18th century and also the magic of feltmaking.

Erasmus Darwin was interested in so many things and is often described as the 18th century’s most famous polymath. Amongst other things he was a doctor, an inventor, a scientist and a poet. He did ground breaking research on plants, recognising the importance of photosynthesis.

He also wrote a hugely long poem Loves of the Plants. It was very popular in its time and is said to have had a significant influence on the Romantic Poets: Shelley, Coleridge and Wordsworth. So it seemed perfect that I should run some felted flower workshops.

So one basic method and what different results.
Here we can see Sylvia and Avril’s flowers. These ladies from the beacon Park Retirement Village were so much fun.

Sylvia proudly shows off her freshly felted flower.

Avril plans to wear her felted flower on a special hat and Sylvia seemed a natural at felting. I wouldn’t be surprised if she isn’t teaching classes of her own soon!
It’s never too late to learn a new skill and felting is one that can be taught to all ages.
One of the ladies in that session piped up that she was the oldest in the class. She was ninety… and had just learnt how to felt!

I also worked with some young ladies from Lichfield Young Embroiders Group. As the sessions progressed (there were 10 people in each session) flowers styles also developed.

This one made by Jo, one of the school teachers who came for a fun afternoon of felting, proved to be quite inspirational.
She decided not to cut the petals, and instead left lovely organic wavy edges. You can see the halo effect of using pre-felt made from two colours here.

In her busy career she doesn’t have much time for relaxing craft sessions. This was a perfect school holiday de-stressor for her!

Jo's flower with halo effect, leaf and stamens.

Some of the flowers were made by some adults from the Nuffield Centre a centre which supports people with mental health difficulties and also physical disabilities. I was so proud of their flowers and yes, Christine and Kerry left the session with some wool fibres to make more at home. That’s a success!

Erasmus Darwin was a prolific inventor inventing, a steering axle for carriages, a horizontal windmill, a copying machine and a speaking machine amongst other things. Back in the 18th century there wasn’t the same division between natural sciences and engineering.

Anneka French’s essay about Inventions of the Mind talks about the similarities between Erasmus Darwin and me; like him I take inspiration from all aspects of life and enjoy using unusual combinations of materials when making my sculptures.

'Stan' in particular incorporates a downpipe from a bus station and also a bulbous nuno felted vessel “body”.

'Stan'. A conversation piece between these waxwork figures of Erasmus Darwin and Matthew Bolton.

I also ran some Children’s Sculpture Workshops. (Several parents made their own sculptures too!)
This workshop was in two parts: First learning how to make a magic felted ball (which we then cut it in half to reveal the swirly pattern inside).

Then I loaded up the table with a lovely array of materials. Some with interesting sculptural shapes like kitchen funnels, sieves and latex muffin cases and others with gorgeous tactile qualities like, sponges, pan scourers and feathers.

'Batty' made by Charlie (aged 6).

I told the children that I actually call my sculptures ‘beings’ rather than sculptures and that I sometimes make up stories about them. Suddenly we had even more creativity in the room!

'Samankah'
By Maddy Sadler

Origin: South America
Favourite Music: Blues and Reggae
Favourite Hobby: Dancing and carnivals
Plays: Bongos and Guitar
Dream Holiday: Amazon rainforest or the Himalayas (with her friend Kevin)
Likes: Cowboys, parrots, pandas, sequins, cream soda and candy floss
Dislikes: Ribbons, jellied eels, rotten coconuts and dentists
Profession: Philosopher (florist on the weekends)
Enjoys watching: wrestling and nature documentaries

Here's Maddy while making 'Samanka'. See what she wrote about him above.

The display on the celebration day on 21st Aug was really fantastic and it was so exciting for all the participants and their families to come and see their own creations exhibited in Life the Universe and Darwin. For me this was a perfect opportunity to show off my own sculptures, to talk about the Frillip Moolog beings (sculptures) and to encourage people not only to think more about art but to actually make some of their own.

It was a lovely combination to be able to exhibit my work, teach skills and empower creativity and to then also exhibit the outreach work in a way that emphasises that everyone’s creation was worthy.

We were winners all round!

Fun, Felting and Flowers for Tamworth Library Adult Learners Week

Fun is always important to me. I say that my mission is to “Encourage and nurture creativity and imagination in a fun and enthusiastic way”.

Well my bookings with Tamworth library started with fun; actually when I was a participant at a Laughter Workshop at my own library in Lichfield. Luckily for me one of the staff at Tamworth library, was also on the laughter course. So after laughing ourselves healthy we exchanged cards …. And that was the beginning of more mind body and soul (ie felting) activities in her library.

I have had two fantastic experiences working at Tamworth library. Back in October I worked with 91 children during their Environment Day. Not surprisingly we made felted mini-beasts. One of my most popular workshops as it appeals to 3 year olds right through to teenagers!

15th May – 21st May is Adult Learners week so today it was time for adults to have their chance to learn the magic of feltmaking. Adult Learners' Week is the UK's largest and longest running festival of learning.

It was lovely that even this young adult was able to participate. It was the first day of her work experience placement at the library.

As so often happens people still don’t believe that they will actually be making the felt themselves. One lady had brought her pinking shears as she thought she would just be cutting shapes from industrially made felt.

And look at this beautiful flower that she made; so much more than something cut from premade felt fabric.

I feel really passionate about working with all types of people and I especially get a buzz out of hearing one of my workshop participants say, “Well I’m really impressed with myself... I never thought that I could make that!”

In the morning session at Glascote Library I had a group of ladies who meet each week. They usually make cards but today were thoroughly entranced with feltmaking. It wasn’t a surprise to hear it being described as addictive (in felting circles as referred to as “getting the felt bug”).

The lady who made this (sorry I am so bad at names!) is entering it into a local handicrafts competition. So…a winner? Yes I think it may very well be one!

Polly said that this would be on her sun hat straight away. I believe her.

Sue reminded me that I had made her a felted cushion cover 10 years ago! So it was great that she was finally getting involved with felting herself; this is a beauty!

"....think I may have found my "hidden" inner crafter"

In the afternoon I ran the same session at Tamworth library.
The laughter continued.
No time for coffee breaks but within 2 hours everyone had amazing results!

The flowers can be worn on jackets, hats, bags or in your hair. These two bags were decorated by the end of the session.

As I always say there will never be two flowers the same; each person’s is completely unique.

Felting is such a kinesthetic process. Books can be a great learning resource but it is such a good start to start your learning with a hands on activity.

Dianne Wheeler Team Lead: Books, Reading & Learning at Tamworth Library is ordering some new felting books for her stock as she expects these participants to want to move forward using the knowledge picked up during my AllSensesArt Feltmaking Taster session yesterday.

So Adult Learner’s week activities in libraries gets a big thumbs up from me!

Read about other Adult Learners Week activities at Tamworth Library here.

Make your own Hand-Felted Bunny Glove Puppet & Easter Chick to have even more fun this Easter!

Easter is a lovely time to celebrate and definitely a time to let out your creativity.
This cute hand-felted chick was made by my son Dominic.
We really enjoy rolling our Easter Eggs. I grew up in Scotland and so this is a tradition that I have always done. Last year we were visiting my sister in Edinburgh and so went up Arthur’s Seat to roll our eggs.

My sister Sandra got really excited when she realised that we had a little helper with us. Here she is giving Bunny (one of my hand-felted bunny glove puppets) a chance to roll the eggs.

One of the cool things about felting is that you can make a seamless item like a felted handbag, a felted jacket or a glove puppet with absolutely no sewing! Here you can see me laying out the fluffy Merino wool fibres. To make seamless felt you use a resist. This stops the front of the puppet felting to the back of the puppet. I like to use this grey builders’ plastic which I buy from my local builders merchants in Lichfield, Staffordshire.

Here’s Louise and her mum with the felted puppets that they made at one of my workshops at Bilston Craft Gallery last Easter.

There are so many colours of Merino wool fibres. I was pleased that the children didn’t feel that they had to stick to “bunny colours”.
This bright pink felted bunny will have fun hiding chocolate eggs this Easter!

You can see what cute faces the children at the workshop managed to give their hand-made puppets. All these details are made using the wet felting process. That means that by carefully laying out different wool coloured fibres you can "paint" the details; shading for nose and ears and other stripes and patterns.

You can make one of these puppets yourself.
I will be running an Easter Bunny Glove Puppet session

on Thursday 8th April 2010 10.30am-12.30pm
at Walsall Museum, Lichfield Street, Walsall, West Midlands, S1 1TR.
To book phone the museum on 01922 653116

Visit the What's On in Walsall website for more details.

If you can't make it over to Walsall on 8th April you could book your very own Children's Felting Craft Party. Invite some friends to your own house and could come and teach you how to make your own Hand-Felted Easter Bunny Glove Puppet.
£95 for a two hour session for 6 children aged 8 and up. Materials included.

For more information vsit my AllSensesArt Childrens Craft Parties page on my website.

Have fun this Easter. Make your own felted Bunny Glove puppet.
Even make a cute felted chick!