The Dreaming House - Art Textiles at Newstead Abbey

Etching of Newstead Abbey

Yesterday, I visited Newstead Abbey for the second time. Instead of collecting work from an exhibition I was going to see one.  It is a beautiful location and is famous for being the ancestral home of the poet Lord Byron.

Newstead Abbey, the perfect location for this absorbing collection of contemporary textiles.  The works displayed makes reference to Byron and his work connecting to themes of romanticism, memory, childhood, supernatural, ruin and decay.

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

Portrait of Lord Byron

I had my husband with me so the catalogue was most beneficial in helping him understand what the artist was trying to achieve.  

Vital Organ by Shelly Goldsmith

The work Vital Organ by Shelly Goldsmith was one I found difficult to connect with and very much needed the catalogue to help me understand.  I feel this was due to the fact you couldn't get close enough to examine the piece.

In Charles II dressing room there was situated Heather Belcher's work, The Sampler.  I very much enjoyed the use of felt and the photos that had been transferred onto the surface referencing a dressmaker's book of patterns and samplers.  These were well displayed and needed to be on a blank space to appreciate their form which to me were very much like pages removed from a book.  

The Sampler by Heather Belcher

Caroline Broadhead, Ready to Tear, was also displayed on a white background.  This gave the opportunity for shadowing to come into

Ready to Tear
Caroline Broadhead

play; one of which is painted directly onto the wall as in "troupe l'oeil" alongside a natural shadow that had occurred due to the lighting.

For colour and dalliance, I enjoyed the work of Kashif Nadim Chaudry.  I saw his work displayed in the Manchester Craft Centre last year and found it intriguing then, it was great to get up close to his work to explore the detail. It is a cacophony of colours and textiles.  I love the use of materials, collected items, mixed techniques, a coming together to form these decorative homages to his craftsmanship instilled in him at an early age.

One of my favourite rooms was the without doubt the library, where I browsed, without touching the many books.  In this room I found what looked like at first glance to be a row of three paper dresses, which in fact where printed cotton, displayed in one of the wooden glass cabinets. The three dresses from the piece, No Escape: Reclaimed dresses from the children's home Cincinnati.  These dresses had been donated to the home but were deemed too old fashioned. Goldsmith had been acquired them from her sister who had worked in the home. The artist had printed images of flash flooding onto them to emphasis their vulnerability.  I found this piece to be very thought provoking almost taking me back to my time at boarding school at such a tender age.

Detail of work by Kashif Nadim Chaudry

Other artists work on display included Debbie Lawson who shared her Persian Stag and Persian tiger, Claire's coming out dress by Grayson Perry, Lacy Days by Radford Care Group; where Annabel Elliott let residents handle and talk about the Nottingham lace industry. 

It was documented and a series of stereoscopic portraits were created to view using a stereoscopic camera. Emily Bates with her Falls of Peace, Lucy Brown - Squeeze and Petti- fur-coat, Michiko Kawarabayashi - Germination, Judy Liebert - Dreaming a House, Sally Morfill - Enough and Jeanette Appleton/Naoko Yoshimoto Souvenir Line: Nomadic Memory which I appeared to have missed.

Germination by Michiko Kawarabayashi

In Charles II room on display were Japanese prints which didn't seem to fit in the overall exhibition collection, but I felt it was supposed to connect with the styling in Henry VII lodgings. I very much enjoyed the prints as I enjoy the majority of japanese crafts; the colouring, the detail and patterning and the very shallow perspective. Moving into Henry  VII lodgings the work of Michiko Kawarabayashi was positioned on the floor, it appeared very sterile against the colours and textures of the surround Japanese panelling.  However, referring to the catalogue renounced my original thoughts as she connects to her sadness and reflection of the erosion of Japanese traditions.

Overall, I felt the exhibition was of great value as you were able to view both contemporary and historical items sitting side by side.  My favourite piece would have to be Anonymous, date unknown, which was a white on white tablecloth which was a tribute to all the unknown needlewomen who sewed and embroidered at Newstead Abbey and other great houses over the centuries.

Anonymous

Our third Creative Session at Boston Library for A Small Library of Big Ideas

So after a week off, The Eloquent Fold, aka artists Carole Miles and Phiona Richards return to Boston Library with what was to be our third creative session supported by volunteers and staff from Transported.

The first session involved making books and starting to create pages, the second creative session involved using a portable printing press to create fun and colourful pages with Carole expertise and making a second book with me for our Small Library of Big Ideas.



For our third session we decided to concentrate on using the pages that the group been started in previous weeks or printing at last week's session to start to illustrate their ideas.


The session started with an engaging and inspiring introduction by Carole about Big Ideas and how we can make them happen.


Carole brought along a lovely selection of vintage pens for people to hand write their ideas.  This was a lovely idea and was received with both curiosity and intrigue.  Not many people use a good old fashioned fountain pen these days.  I brought along a step by step hand-out to act as an aide for people to formulate their ideas.  I had noticed in the previous weeks that decorating the pages wasn't an issue and something that the group enjoyed doing, but coming up with ideas then breaking them into manageable bite sized parts was met with a little confusion.

Using this hand-out both Carole and myself were able to steer people in the right creative direction allowing them to move forward for the completion of their book.

To ensure the prints were the right size, Carole made template frames for people to place over their prints from last week.

As the workshop progressed, the group seemed to get quieter and quieter as they concentrated on the matter in hand, which ended up being some fantastically creative pages which presented their Big Ideas for the Small Library which will be left behind for the visitors to the library to explore and take up ideas or sit and be creative amongst the bookshelves.

Thank you for reading

Phiona

If you would like to continue following our adventures, The Eloquent Fold now have a Facebook page, just click the link!!

You can also read Carole's blog here

A Small Library of Big Ideas is part of Transported (Creative People and Places) project Open Book.

Transported is a strategic, community focused programme which aims to get more people in Boston Borough and South Holland enjoying and participating in arts activities.  It is overseen by a Management Group, a sub committee of Leisure in the Community, with arts NK as its lead organisation.  It is funded by the Creative People and Places fund from the Arts Council, England

The Eloquent Fold at Boston Library for the Small Library of Big Ideas - 2nd session

.....and so after a very successful and popular first session at Boston, Carole and I return to Boston Library.

In the second session Carole brought along her portable printing press to allow participants to the workshop to have a go at printing their own pages.  People really enjoyed the process of printing and many pages were created.

It was lovely to see a few returners from week one and some new people join us, both adults and children.

Due to the space needed for the printing press, we split into two areas of the library.  Carole having the main section of the library so people could see what was going on as soon as they entered the library.  I was in the reference library using an old wooded table.  I took people through the step by step process of how to make a folded book.

All morning long we were kept busy with turnabout, as people who had completed their books went out into the main area of the library to print pages and visa versa.

It was certainly a full on day and having the two areas to work in made all the difference.

Photographs by Carole Miles