'The Infinite Contained'

 The fabric collages hanging in the space of Westgate Chapel

 'Portal'

 'For No-One'

 'Lucy'

 'My Family'

 'The Other Half of the Sky'

 'Holding (for PSM)'

 'My Garden'

Visitors to the exhibition

 

It was quite a scarey evening. The work is far more 'autobiographical' than any other I've ever made, so I felt very exposed, and 'on view'. The feedback was entirely positive though. Friends who knew the background to the work, came and expressed their delight. And even complete strangers came up to me and told me how much they liked it.

I have been taken aback by the comments.

And now; I'm spending the holidays having a proper break! No work (re; job) and not thinking about creating ANYTHING! I've decided I'm going to 'absorb' for a while. Spend time looking; at things around me, and at other artists.

Ideas are ghosts in my mind; I want to use the mangle for printing with, so that's one thing I'll experiment with....later. And I want to do some more weaving...that I can then print onto. For now; rest. It's been a very intense few years; and now is the time for consolidation, and resting.



studio wall

Some of the collage samples I'm currently working on, pinned up on my studio wall. I'm using lots of the plant-dyed fabric I've made over the last 12 months or so. And I'm going through the fabrics I dyed on the City & Guilds course, and various fabrics I've collected, and been given.
These are all going towards an exhibition in November. It seems a long way away, but it will soon come round.

rend again

The fabric above is not quite that livid pink! It's cotton dyed using walnuts; the blue is the 'sig vat', cotton dyed with woad.
Both have been printed using a collagraphy plate.

Close-up; and the colour is more faded in this photo; and more 'real' to the actual fabric. Am still on with seed stitching. It's what I'm working on currently, along with another 'sampler', maybe I should call them? All these pieces are quite small. Manageable to handle. Pieced together.

heart stitched

 On such a dreach day as today, all it's fit for is to stay home and stitch!

This rain; rain; rain. Flooding in the south of England; dreary wet here in Yorkshire.

broken; mended

 close up

 away

further along



sky & stich

The winter sky, reflected in the lagoon near to where I live. Strange how the sky didn't seem quite that shade of blue when I took the photo? Cerulean.

Seed stitch on different fabrics; at the bottom is the walnut dyed silk; top left is onion dyed cotton; 2 re-cycled slices of red silk stitched onto a cotton/linen fabric dyed in a black bean dye-pot. The black on the right is gifted silk.

sewing box

 Closed

 Open

Innards



sample #5...again

The completed sample. A mix of cotton/linen blend fabric,with marbled colour, and recycled dyed silk. A stitched labyrinth, and some weaving.
I'm working on another sample; which has a lino-print, and stitching. Feeling that I'm cracking on with these samples for the course.

sample #1

For my City & Guilds course I have to make 7 samples, of A3 size, and a completed piece. This is Sample #1.
It involves pole-wrapping/tie-dyeing; transfer dyeing; stitched embellishments. And at the bottom is a piece of rust-dyed silk, stitched on.
I used the collography plate I made at home, as a surface for transfer printing. 
I also made another collography plate using lace and netting, especially for this process. I've been ironing the transfers onto fabric, ready for use. It feels that the work I'm making for this section of the C&G is showing a development of my skills.  

collography and stirch #2

Above is one of the collography prints on paper; in Textiles yesterday I used the sewing machine, and stitched into it. I used a 'foot' that creates loops of stitches. Gives a gorgeous textured surface to the paper!
Below is the plate I printed from; nylon rope pieces, and some lace/net.

the front of the back.....

This is the 'front' of the sample piece I've done for one part of my City & Guilds textiles course.
The 'back' is an earlier post in the blog; titled 'reverse'.
It's all hand stitching; bondaweb (painted); layers of fabric.
We're doing felting at the moment on the course. I'm trying to make some flat felt pieces that I can then use to print on, and embellish.
Lynne, who's on the course with me, has said she has some pieces of silk that she'll pass onto me. I decided I could use second-hand silk, or silk that was given to me. 
I've been stitching on the fabric collagraphy print. It looks a bit 'busy'; and I'm not completely satisfied with it. But it's all experimental at this point, so that's part of the process.
Tomorrow I'm into the studio, and gonna varnish the second collagraphy plate I've made with nylon rope strands, and a bit of lace. Cutting back; linear; simplifying; contours.

reverse

This is the back of one of my stitched sample pieces for my City & Guilds course. What struck me was the lines; how they look like paths, or rivers, or lines in the landscape that can be seen from aerial photography. It's like a map. Funny how things emerge from something else. The front bears no relation to landscape, or maps, or any of my usual concerns. And yet, and yet, almost as if the underside bears witness to my psychological pre-occupations. It's glued down now, in my portfolio, and no longer visible. A hidden landscape. 

snowy studio #4

The view to the studio, from the house. 

I've been popping in and out, looking for fabric to use on my boro shirt; and also investigating materials I could use on a collagraphy plate. I've cut up an aluminium beer can, to create the basic 'plate'. Now, to create the marks, using the materials I've collected, that will constitute the printing plate.

The snow brings me the perfect opportunity to stay indoors, keeping warm & stitching! I'm drawn to adding patches to the shirt I've been working on; my 'boro' project. Perhaps it's the colours in my hand I crave, when outside all is monochrome? 

I'm using running stitch; all done by hand. Gives a lovely rippled effect to the fabric; 3-dimensional textures. 

Went out for a walk in the snow yesterday, and took some photos of Alverthorpe Beck, including the lagoons. Work is still being done on the flood defences up there. I don't envy the security man having to sit in his portacabin in this weather. He must get cold.

'boro'; stitching and patching

Inspired by Saskia, Grace, and other women following Jude Hill's stitching web-classes, I've bought a man's shirt, and am in the process of using running stitch (sashiko stitches in Japan) to attach patches of cloth to it. This has the benefit of layering the cloth, to both strengthen it, and give it more insulating properties. I believe this is in the spirit of 'Boro'...if not exactly the technique!
'Boro' is another Japanese term, which refers to the mending, and re-using of cloth. It fits well into my ideas about re-cycling and mending.
This shirt is being made with the cold of winter in mind; to keep me warm. However, I'm a very slow hand stitcher, so it may very well be next winter, before I get the benefit from it! In the meantime, I can stitch away, with no pressure. It is a pick up, and put down project.

Woolgathering

The Exhibition 

'Woolgathering', 

                        1) to engage in fanciful daydreaming; the idle or absent-minded indulgence in fantasy.

                        2) gathering tufts of wool shed by sheep & caught on bushes.

After spending some time dreaming of, and counting sheep, Jan & Jill have gathered wool from various sources and created a series of art works using wool, and incorporating fabric.

They have made 2D & 3D works, reflecting their different interests and influences. 

Jill has been making felt for a number of years, recently completing a City & Guilds course. Jan became interested in wool and felt-making, and began to explore textiles as a medium. Through experiments with dye-ing using plants, stitching and mark-making, Jan is extending her artistic practise into the material world.

The artists; Jan Millington & Jill Halsall

The media; Felt and Textiles

The venue; Project Space, Westgate Studios, Wakefield

The date; Wednesday 28th November 2012 as part of Wakefield Artwalk

               (to view by arrangement with Westgate Studios after 28th)

Dyed, Printed, Stitched & Spun #2

Am still working on this piece. It includes print on fabric, spun and dyed wool, machine and hand stitching.
It's taking quite a while, but I'm hoping I can get it completed and to the framers in time for the 'Woolgathering' exhibition next month at Westgate Studios.

Palimpsest

 Three photos; not quite matching up......overlaps.

The stitched and layered 'jigsaw' piece; using sashiko stitches; organzie overlay; map lines; aerial photography earth lines.

'woolgathering'

Sections of fabric, hand sewn with 'sashiko' stitches; organzie, machine sewed, layered over it. 
Some of the fabric is hand-dyed; others are scraps from my textile 'grab-bag'. Pinned on the wall of my studio, trying to get enough light on it, to photograph.
I now have to put some small stitches in, to attach the organzie to the fabric behind. I'm hoping it will go into the 'woolgathering' exhibition I'm having with Jill Hallsall at Westgate Studios Project Space, in November, for the Wakefield Artwalk. 
You can see another photo of this piece at 'stitching & dye-ing'#2 dated 17/06/12.

Stitching & Dye-ing 2

A 'work in progress' of the organzie overlay of stitched collaged fabric/s. This is the 'top' of the length of organzie. Approximately one third of the length of the whole piece. It's quite a small piece, 28cm wide, and 91cm long. It has an almost three dimensional quality, too, as the organzie puckers and crinkles under the machine stitching.
I like that.

Stitching & Dye-ing

Using the fabric that I've dyed during the textile course I've been attending, I decided to sew rows of stitches....sashiko-style.....The blue/pink fabric is dyed using procion dye; the stitches are sewn using sashiko thread; and overlayed this, is a length of organzie I'd embellished with machine stitch, more than 12 months ago.

I'm making a collage of fabrics onto which I'm stitching rows, and overlaying these, with the embellished organzie.

The top photo shows the layers; the bottom photo shows the fabric in the process of being stitched.

The starting point of all this was seeing photos taken from the air, of features in landscapes which are invisible from the ground. Air photography has changed the way that archaeologists have looked at the landscape. They show us hidden forms.