The Knitting and Stitching Show

To everyone who came and  saw me at the Knitting & Stitching Show this week and to my friends and colleagues who supported me. Thankyou.. To the team at Immediate Live and to Jo Hall curator and the hanging team whose professionalism tempered with simple pragmatic decency and kindness enabled me to be here. It was lovely to be able to talk, share and engage with  visitors and the amazing artists represented in the textile galleries. I was both exhilarated and exhausted by the experience inequal measure but oh so glad to be with my tribe. Equally thankyou to all who came and supported the incredible work of the RNLI by either purchasing a copy of my catalogue or directly.

I was able to take a few short breaks and to take in some of  the wonderful work on display including the work of my stitching neighbours in the Textile Galleries section, some will also be exhibiting at Harrogate: 

  Geeta Khandelwal

Rachna Garodia

Caitlin Hinshellwood

Harriet Riddell

House of Quinn

Jessie Chorley

Holly Searle

Richard Box

The first day of the show also marked the publication day for ‘Soulful Stitch: Finding creativity in crisis’ published by Batsford Books co--authored with artist and author Deena Beverley. I literally was so busy I forget to get a picture of us signing copies of this book at the Batsford stand to celebrate the launch.

I always delight in the Graduate Showcase supported by the Embroiderers Guild. Here are a few of the graduates works that caught my eye:

Alice Alphra

Bonne Magee

   Imogen Campbell

Lola Triunvic

A few more images from my gallery:

Deena Beverley Slaves to the Wind (left) and Cas Holmes Shipping Forecast

Empty Vessels

Edgelands

Garden Tools

The image above is an ongoing project ‘Unidentified Meaningful Object.’ initiated by artist Liesbeth Werts, in partnership with myself We invite people to create their own interpretations and to contribute to a growing installation first exhibited at the Halpern Gallery in Chatham. We will be exhibiting more of these works next year. You can find out more about the project here

New Booklet about recent work:

Finally for those unable to attend my show I have produced a little booklet of my more recent work including this installation. A donation of  £1 is made to the RNLI for every copy sold. Further details are on my website shop. I will be updating my shop with some of the works on show in my gallery soon.

Finally, I never tire of this view from Alexandra Palace, the ancestral home of the BBC. This year also marks the 100th year of the first broadcast of the Shipping Forecast and the 200th since the founding of the RNLI