100 Hearts and Congratulations!

It's been a busy day... Congratulations go to one of our members, Elizabeth, who has been a Guild member for 25 years! That's a lot of stitching.

Here's the branch entries for the 100 Hearts Project. Just chatting to those who have made them, there are some really interesting back stories; it should be a fascinating exhibition.

(Images are the property of Skipton Branch of The Embroiderers' Guild)

Alice Fox 'Findings'

Today we had the lovely Alice Fox come and speak to us about her work. Alice is a collector and always has been; she started with all things natural and has expanded to plastics and all sorts of oddments she finds, which are incorporated into her pieces. As artist in residence at the nature reserve at Spurn Point she created two huge pieces and numerous smaller prints and concertina books based on the area. She was particularly interested in the ripples in sand, the reflections on the water and the constantly changing weather, light and water. Rusting nails in the groins on the beaches lead to her wrapping fabric round them and other rusty objects and leaving them open to the elements; she later returned to uncover fabulously 'tie-dyed' pieces. Collected rubbish formed the basis for printing plates.

(Photos taken and reproduced with the permission of Alice Fox. Images are the property of Skipton Branch of The Embroiderers' Guild)

She has a book 'Textures of Spurn' to accompany the exhibition which was originally housed in the Spurn Point lighthouse.

Other projects - The Sketchbook project, Gifts from the Pavement, for the Saltaire Arts trail and The Tide Marks Project, have seen further experimentation with natural dyeing and rusting.

'Findings' is a body of work that has developed from her collection of found objects, that have some meaning to her, though not necessarily to the viewer; they are a personal record of time and place for Alice. She has stitched into shells, acorns and leaves; wrapped pebbles and then coated them in clays. Alice now has an allotment and is slowly working her way through the plot and the shed for inspiration - can't wait to see what appears next!