Sample made for my new Artefact series

My art goals for 2022 are simple. Make more. Submit more. The need to earn a living and to care for my family are what they are and mean that making art has to fit around them. One of the reasons I left industry and started teaching in my studio was to get a much better balance between these three parts of my life and it was, despite the disruption caused by the pandemic, the best decision I’ve ever made. I now have periods of time, mostly in the winter, when I can work on my art full time and without interruption. This is great for developing new ideas and starting on new series. But if I am going to make more art this year I need to figure out how to always have a piece or pieces part made that I can work on when I only have a few hours or a few days free.

I love making big art but the composition / construction stage really needs space (my big print bench and my design wall as a minimum, yes I’m spoilt) and time because I really don’t want to be unpinning hundreds of bits of fabric from my design wall each time I need it for a workshop. Whereas the quilting stage just needs room to get my sewing machine out. And a bit of clean space to fold / roll the quilt so that I can get it through the tiny throat on my machine. So, before my teaching schedule really kicks in in March I need to prepare several ‘backgrounds’ to use in Artefact and Cadence pieces. I can then spend the spring and summer quilting these backgrounds and adding the foreground details. Unfortunately I don’t completely ‘design’ my pieces early on in the process. My ideas evolve as I stitch. I don’t 100% decide on foreground details until I have finished the construction, and sometimes the quilting of the background. Inevitably some of the backgrounds that I prepare over the coming weeks will need to be cropped as I add those foreground details. Which feels wasteful but I’m hoping allows me to make more art this year.

My other goal is to submit more. I used to be good at keeping a list of upcoming calls for entry to curated shows and submitting proposals for gallery space but got out of the habit in 2020 when I lost touch with my art practise. I started submitting pieces again last year and have had some success with Cadence pieces but I need to build on this. I need a steady flow of new work to make this possible. And I need to become OK with rejection again. Because rejection is part of making art and cannot be a reason to hit the gin bottle and avoid the studio!

So my art goals are simple. Make more. Submit more.

Self Portrait by Pippa Wardman

I love seeing the fabrics that my students print and dye during workshops - their work is so varied and inspirational. But I don’t often get to see what happens next - how they use their fabrics. I suspect that many pieces are put away in cupboards, but I hope that, at the very least, they get pulled out every so often and stroked lovingly. However earlier this autumn I asked my students to send me photos of work made using fabrics created here at Urban Studio North. And wow! The variety of work is amazing and I’m grateful for their help. I have put together a gallery of their work which can be accessed via the workshop page on my website. Have a look!

(And, whilst I’m here, a quick reminder that the last date you can place orders for delivery in the UK before Christmas is this Wednesday, the 15th.)

Stitched sample by Hilary Kimber using the selvedges from breakdown printed fabrics.

The weather in the UK has been awful for the last few days so I thought you might appreciate some eye candy! Last week I had the very great pleasure of welcoming Christine Chester to my studio. She taught her 5 day Poetry of Decay class and it was fabulous. It is a mixed media workshop in which students add layers and layers of texture and colour to paper and cloth. Christine worked the students hard but the results were worth it. My thanks to Christine and especially to the students - Inge, Pippa, Chris, Gill, Ruth, Judy and Lesley.

I am delighted to announce that bookbinder and textile artist Ruth Brown will be giving two workshops in my studio next year. I sat in on the workshop she gave this year and it was brilliant. Ruth provides all the materials along with detailed notes. No prior knowledge is assumed and her demonstrations are well thought out and inspiring. You can find out more about Ruth here.

Ruth will be teaching a repeat of Books for Textile Artists from 30th August to 2nd September 2022. You can find more details and book here. In this workshop you will make -

·         A blizzard book - a folded book to contain business cards.

·         A crown book - a variation on the blizzard book with removable pages

·         The Secret Belgian Binding - this gives a book which opens completely flat and has a cover which will turn back on itself. The cover pieces and the spine piece are woven together with a crisscross effect. The signatures (pages) are then sewn on to the weaving.

·         A long stitch binding where there is a wraparound cover and the signatures are sewn through the cover.

·         A Drum Leaf binding - this is a binding where each pair of pages is a spread with no stitching in the centre, making it a lovely way to display art work or photographs. The version we make will have a case binding (a hard back).

She will be teaching More Books for Textile Artists from 21st to 24th June 2022. You don’t have to have done the previous workshop to do this one as no previous knowledge is required. You can find out more about the workshop and book here. In this workshop you will make -

·         A single section, stub binding.

·         An A6 hard back notebook covered with hand-dyed fabric book cloth.

·         An elegant Origata binding.

·         An A5 twin needle Coptic stitch sketchbook with cloth covered hard covers. This intriguing stitch formation gives a more stable book than the more common single needle version.

·         A travel journal with laminated book cloth covers, an elastic closure and a storage pocket at the back.

In the meantime, if you’d like to spend time in the studio before winter sets in then I have a few places left on my workshops this autumn. Including one space on my two day Simply Screen Printing workshop that has become available because of a cancellation. Have a look at my Workshops page for more details.

Bye for now, Leah

A very big thank you to Rosie James for teaching in my studio this week! I love her work and it was great to see her processes. The students loved it!

Here are just a few images of students work. In order: Jan, Janet, Ali, Tracey (x2), Sam, Kate and Sarah

After a lovely time stitchin’ I’m now ankle deep in teaching. Autumn term is choke full of different workshops. I started last weekend with a wonderful new group of Creative Surface Design students. I always start this program with a focus on colour. It’s my favourite subject and I firmly believe that if you don’t love the colours you are working with you are very unlikely to love the printed or dyed fabrics you produce. We also used screens, mono-printing and mark making to create some ‘backgrounds’ for use during the next session. Not sure I like the colours I mixed …. but that’s the point! So back to the drawing board for me.

This week the very talented Rosie James will be teaching ‘Drawing with Your Sewing Machine’ in the studio. I love Rosie’s work and am looking forward to seeing the students samples and finished works.

Through October and November I’ll be teaching my colour course ‘Colour Your Palette’ as well as my screen printing based workshops ‘Simply Screen Printing’, ‘Print Your Palette’ and ‘Print, Stitch, Go’. As well as teaching my Creative Surface Design and my Introduction to Surface Design students. Phew!

At the end of November Christine Chester will be in the studio teaching her popular ‘Poetry of Decay’ workshop. This one has been delayed and delayed because of the pandemic so I have all my fingers and toes crossed that we have no further interruptions.

Most of the workshops are full but there are a few places left on Print Your Palette and Print, Stitch, Go if you fancy an indulgent five days in the studio.

I’m not going to have much free time for a while but that’s OK. Work on Flamin’ Nora will start again in December!

Those of you who follow me on social media may have spotted that I’ve been rather busy teaching my Breakdown Your Palette workshop. I’ve had three groups of students in three weeks. Exhausting but, at last, I’m just about caught up with my Breakdown students from all the cancelling and rescheduling caused by the pandemic. I love teaching this class because every student’s work is different and their appetite for learning is inspiring! And, of course, it is just wonderful to have actual human beings in the studio!

I plan on teaching Breakdown Your Palette three times in 2022. You can find the dates here.

But if you can’t wait or can’t make it to my studio then I also offer an online Breakdown Your Palette workshop. It is an on-demand workshop that you can start at any time. You get 12 months access to videos, notes and support from me so you can work at your own pace. You can find out more here.

I know that sometimes you leave a workshop with good intentions to keep going but then life gets in the way and, before you know it, months have gone by and you can’t quite remember what you did in class. So I am now offering those students who have done the five day Breakdown Your Palette workshop in my studio a £120 discount on the online version. Please contact me for a discount code.

And, if you’re enrolled on the online workshop and would like to come and do it in my studio then please contact me for a £120 discount on the price of the workshop.

And now I’m off for a few days holiday in a caravan on Anglesey, Wales. With fingers crossed for good weather but with a few good books in case it isn’t!

Sample from Poetry of Stitch with Christine Chester

After the excitement of Festival my feet are now firmly back on the ground! Time to look ahead. I have some wonderful guest tutors visiting my studio over the next year. Some of their workshops are fully booked however I do still have places on the following:

Poetry of Stitch with Christine Chester, Monday 20th to Friday 24th September 2021. In this five day workshop Christine will look at ways of stitching that will expand your language of marks. You will look at both hand and machine stitching thinking about the character and the weight of the stitching that you are using and how to apply that to printed work so that the stitch either enhances the printed layer; or creates focus within the print.

Poetry of Decay with Christine Chester, Monday 22nd to Friday 26th November 2021. Only two places left. This is one of Christine’s most popular workshops. This mixed media course will introduce you to some materials and processes that will help you to create rich and textured surfaces based on the inspiration found in your own photographs.

Accidently on Purpose with Louise Baldwin, Tuesday 26th to Friday 29th July 2022. Only two places left. In this four day workshop you will explore ways of constructing, breaking down and reconstructing a series of stitched mixed media works using a range of materials based around found packaging, fabric and ephemera, alongside any imagery that you might find particularly evocative.

And finally …. a change of dates means that there are now places available on Northern Landscapes with Helen Parrott, 8th to 10th April and 14th and 15th May 2022. This two part exploratory weekend workshop combines personal creative development with individual coaching time. You will explore mark making and hand stitch inspired by photographs of your own favourite northern landscapes, creating paperworks and samples as you go along.

I will also be hosting a couple of book binding workshops with Ruth Brown next year. More details to follow!

SAmple from Northern Landscapes with Helen Parrott

I’m busy packing boxes and printing signs ready for Festival of Quilts which opens on Thursday at the NEC, Birmingham. I’ll be on stand QIA - the Cadence quilt above will be on the stand along with Ruins 8:Kilns so I should be easy to spot.

As I said before I am limited in what products I can sell on my stand so am offering an order now, collect at the show option on orders over £20. Just type in the discount code FOQ2021 at checkout and no postage will be added to the order. The deadline for this service is Monday (tomorrow) at 10am so that I have time to get orders ready.

I will also be taking orders at the show for a selection of products from my online shop including dyes and screens for delivery to your home address free of charge after the show. Unfortunately this offer will only apply to UK addresses and again the minimum order will be £20. Postage outside the UK is just too expensive to extend this offer outside the UK.

On my stand I will have my books and my hand dyed and printed fabrics for sale. And, of course, you’ll be able to sign up for workshops in my studio in 2021 and 2022. I’m also giving a Quick & Easy workshop at 1pm on the Saturday called Hand Printed by Me! And I’ll be demonstrating breakdown printing on my stand. I am really looking forward to connecting to people again. Hope to see some of you there!