Twin needle Coptic stitch, Origata and a Stub binding

Some of you will know that I’m pretty focussed when it comes to how I use my time. If I’m not teaching or doing (the absolute bare minimum) ‘family / house’ stuff then I am in my studio making art. I read, do jigsaws, watch zombies on prime / netflix to wind down before bed but nearly all of my ‘free’ time is spent in the studio making art. I call this being focussed. Husband uses the word driven. I do get knackered sometimes and hubby will suggest I take a day off. Day off clearly means something different to him. To me it means wake up, skip having a shower, put on yesterdays t-shirt, kick aside the pile of laundry as I leave the bedroom, ignore the dirty dishes, grab a big packet of chocolate biscuits and head straight out to the studio. Remembering to lock the studio door so that I can’t be interrupted by my well meaning husband.

I do however make time for making books. I guess you could call it my ‘hobby’ now that textile art is my career / vocation.

And this last week I’ve been delighted to have friend, textile artist and book binder Ruth Brown teaching in the studio. I couldn’t sit in every day but I did make three of the five books that she taught during the week. My first ever twin needle Coptic stitch bound book which I love! Much firmer than the single needle version books I’ve made in the past and so many design possibilities. An Origata bound book which features a folded paper wrapper that holds the front and back covers. And a little stub bound book. The students also got to make a hard backed notebook and a travel journal.

Ruth is an excellent teacher and has a brand new studio in Otringham, nr Hull. Do have a look at her website here for details of her workshops. She will be demonstrating in The Creative Textile Studio at this summers Festival of Quilts as well as helping me on my stand. Do stop by and have a chat with her if you’re interested in book binding. (And don’t tell anyone but she is currently writing a book on hand bound books with stitched spines and will be teaching here at Urban Studio North in 2023 …. details to follow!).

Simply Screen Printing is a two day introduction to screen printing that usually sells out but I have just had a cancelation for the workshop on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th September so a place is now available. The workshop is aimed at beginners, those who have never done any screen printing before and maybe never used dyes before, but is also great for those who just fancy some time in a studio with like minded people printing fabric!

My goal for the weekend is to get students to the point where they are comfortable using a screen and confident enough to give it a go at home. And, of course, that the students love the 6 - 8 pieces of fabric they will print during the workshop.

We use simple things things like shredded paper, string and masking tape to create pattern and, of course, we do a little breakdown printing. I provide really detailed notes and instructions on how you can get set up cheaply and easily at home. You can find out more and book here.

Here is some delicious eye candy from the Simply Screen Printing workshop that ran in March ….. thanks to Alison, Carole, David, Mary and Sylvia.

Artist Louise Baldwin will be teaching her Accidently on Purpose workshop in my studio in July (Sunday 24th to Wednesday 27th July) and I spoke with her recently about her current work and what she aims to achieve during the workshop. She also shared some new images.

Talking about the images Louise told me -

‘This is some of the work that was on show recently where I’ve pushed together all sorts of bits and pieces from guitar necks to pegs, book covers and cake tin bases. Entangled with stitch and gestural marks in gold thread or wire and beads. The theme was Found and most of the materials were found in my studio as I tried to sift through the years of collecting in preparation to move house. I love working in a non hierarchical way with materials, where a bit of old worn paper is as important as a pearl; a staple as important as couched gold thread. I will often work on larger pieces and break them down into smaller works or layer them up to create depth and unexpected collisions of materials.’

Louise is a member of The 62 Group of Textile Artists and has exhibited internationally. Its fascinating to see how her work has developed in recent years away from 2D pieces into these fabulous 3D collections of found objects.

Talking about the workshop Louise said ‘I hope that, in our workshop, we will get to knock lots of ideas and materials around, make lots of mistakes and accidents and select out the most exciting and parts to develop.’

With a requirements list that includes ‘A little collection of odd stuff like wooden skewers, thin metal, feathers, buttons, metal zip, fake flowers, clips, broken jewellery, plastic lids …..   -  the kind of odd stuff that kicks around in drawers for some reason’ I can’t wait to see what happens!

There are still two places available on her workshop. You can find out more here.

I am very excited to tell you that I hope to be teaching at the Fibre Arts Australia event in Ballarat from the 13th to the 19th April 2023. There is an amazing line up of international and national tutors taking part in this annual residential event and the range of workshops really pushes the boundaries of what is textile art. I have put together a new workshop for the event called Colour Play: Low Tech Screen Printing with Temporary Resists which combines a deep dive into colour and how to control colour when working with Procion dyes alongside using simple screen printing techniques with the aim of creating a cohesive collection of fabrics printed in colours from each students source of inspiration. The workshop will, of course, include my all time favourite technique, breakdown printing.

Teaching on the other side of the world is going to be ‘interesting’. I can’t just decant my studio into my suitcase and bring everything I need with me. I’ll be working with the organiser to source dyes etc from Australian suppliers. I won’t know the exact layout of the class room until I get there. And I don’t know yet how we will dry breakdown screens. But I love a challenge and an adventure!

Fingers crossed that enough people sign up!

It is so nice to share lots of good news. Spring is in the air and there is a definite spring in my step!

First of all a very big thank you to everyone who has brought an Inspiration Pack or booked a workshop this month. So far we raised £225 for The Trussell Trust who support food banks in the UK. I have just 1 inspirations pack left (£5 donation for each pack sold) and I will be donating £10 for every workshop sold during April.

Secondly I am absolutely thrilled that Artefact 2 (above) has been juried into this years Quilt Visions at Visions Art Museum in Seattle. I am always a bit anxious as I start a new series because I might think I have created something beautiful but the rest of the world might disagree. Having a piece accepted in a juried exhibition is a massive confidence boost. Now I just need to ‘find’ more time to make more quilts! I’m also going to be shipping Cadence 7 to the US at the beginning of May. It is being exhibited as part of Excellence in Fibers VII at the Schweinfurth Art Center. So lots of good news on the Art front.

And good news in the studio. After a two year delay, because of you know what, I was absolutely delighted to welcome Alice Fox into my studio this weekend. Alice is an amazing artist and brilliant teacher. Many thanks to Angela, Lynn, Mandy, Anita, Judy and Sam for their amazing work…. there is some eye candy for you below!

This weekend marks the beginning of my ‘peak’ teaching period with workshops coming thick and fast. Quite a few workshops are full but there are still places available on some. It is short notice but I do have two places left of a workshop by Debbie Lyddon called Decorative Surfaces for 3D Textiles. It is a 4 day workshop (3rd to 6th May) and costs £360. If you are interested please contact me here.

In my last post I told you about the things that I’m doing to raise some money for The Trussell Trust, a charity that supports food banks in the UK and campaigns to end food poverty. Having recovered from The Creative Craft Show at ExCel last weekend I’ve spent some time updating my online shop. So …..

• I have now added the Charity Inspiration Packs that I have left to my online shop. Each pack contains a mix of silk, linen, cotton and viscose fabrics and threads. Each pack costs £12.50 and I will donate £5 from each sale to The Trussell Trust. You can find them here. I’ve also added some more Wonky Print Inspiration Packs.

• I have added new dates for a Breakdown Your Palette workshop (12th to 16th September) and a Simply Screen Printing workshop (16th and 17th July) as the other workshops had sold out. You can find out more about all my workshops here. And, as a reminder, I am donating £10 from every workshop place I sell between now and the end of April to The Trussell Trust.

• I have reduced the cost of my online Breakdown Your Palette workshop by 25% from £240 to £180 until the end of April in recognition of the fact that not everyone is free to travel yet. And in recognition that attending a workshop in my studio is not cheap and not accessible to all.

I’d like to thank everyone who stopped by my stand at the show last weekend, it was a real pleasure to be able to exhibit Ruins 7 and I’m humbled by the response it received. Ruins 7 was made in response to the Russian devastation of Aleppo in Syria. Let’s hope the world learns some lessons this time round.

Thank you for your continued support, Leah x

Ruins 7

Although I did a few days teaching in the studio earlier in the year my teaching ‘season’ started properly from last weekend with a wonderful couple of days with my Creative Surface Design students and will continue with my two day Simply Screen Printing workshop this coming weekend. From then on I’m teaching regularly until the end of October by which time I might need to take a day off!

In between teaching I’ll also be giving talks to different groups up and down the country and attending two shows - The Creative Craft Show at ExCel in London in a couple of weeks and Festival at the NEC in August.

It is going to be SO GOOD to be face-to-face with so many like minded textile lovers this year. A big thank you to the ladies at Art Through Textiles who I gave a talk to on Monday - your enthusiasm is infectious!

This year still feels like a ‘catch-up’ year though. I’ve had some cancellations recently as people catch up on much delayed holidays, family celebrations and hospital treatment. So I now have places on some workshops that were previously sold out. I have places on Helen Parrotts’ Northern Landscapes with Hand Stitch, Debbie Lyddons Decorative Surfaces for 3D Textiles and Louise Baldwins Accidently on Purpose.

Please follow the links to have a look at these workshops - all three artists are excellent teachers and time in a dedicated studio is such a joy.

I also have spaces on my 5 day Print Your Palette workshop (25th to 29th April) - this is a deep dive into lots and lots of ways of using a screen to print beautiful fabric. No previous experience is required though as we start with the basics on using a screen and on using dyes!

Bye for now, Leah

I am delighted that textile artist Helen Parrott will be teaching in my studio this spring but wanted to know a little bit more about her work and the course she will be teaching ‘Northern Landscapes and Hand Stitch’. So I asked Helen a few questions and hope that you enjoy reading her answers. She also sent some lovely images of her recent work and inspirations - eye candy on a somewhat bleak, cold winters day here in Northern England.

Q. What is it about the landscape surrounding your home in northern England that inspires your work?

Helen: There is great beauty and interest in so much of what is around me on several levels:

I moved north over 40 years ago and still find the landscape fascinating and so different to where I grew up in Cambridge. Initially it was the urban landscapes of mills, factories, terraced houses and grand Victorian buildings in places like Leeds and Manchester that excited my curiosity. I spent years walking the cities of the north seeking to understand what I was seeing and how it came to be and look that way. I moved uphill to the edge of Sheffield in the 2000s and that is when more rural landscapes became part of my daily life. I still love to walk to town along the Porter Valley will its long unused millponds and traces of previous industry.

At this altitude the landscape is constantly changing, sometimes from moment to moment, sometimes boldly, at other times the changes are very subtle. The light is often unstable, fleeting and beautiful. (Taking daylight photos of my work can be a real challenge at some times of year because the light is so unstable.)

The landscape around here has a deep history of human occupation over millennia. The traces of these peoples and their lives are still visible in the landscape in the present day. I find that sense of continuity and connection with people over time a powerful one. These feelings of connection and continuity have been helpful to me as we live through the pandemic and the changes it has brought to our lives.

I love the wide valley vistas, the stone walls and the tiny details of the plants and trees. They all feed into my visual and creative life and work.

Q. How might running the course in a more urban setting influence the students experience?

Helen: I hope that the urban location will be thought provoking for all of us and that we can explore the idea of ’north’ as part of the course. We will each have our own experiences and ideas to share so I look forward to a lively conversation. I’d like students to go home with a clearer sense of what ‘north’ or ’northern landscape' means to them personally and why. For those that wish to take an exploration of north further my aim is to support that direction, including by recommending artists, images and writings to research.

Q. How will you combine the creative work that forms part of the course with providing one-to-one coaching/mentoring for the participants?

Helen: The way this usually works is that we spend the first day or so getting to grips with the theme, doing some collages and then working through some key hand stitch techniques. People love to get to the hand stitching! I then begin one to one conversations with students. Usually it works out that one or two people are very keen to talk early on, others prefer to wait a bit. I’d expect to have at least one coaching conversation of 20-30 minutes with each student on each of the two weekends. The actual length of each conversation varies, it depends a bit on the people, the size of the group and how the teaching and group discussion goes.

These are confidential conversations so we may sit in a quiet space or walk round the block, it depends on what people prefer (and the weather). I aim 'to meet people where they are' so conversations can be very broad, or very focussed, it depends. This is about supporting the student and their creative journey. Previous topics have included developing a portfolio of work to apply for a course, planning an exhibition or body of work, how to ‘make better work,' how to manage time, getting a studio and so on. I’ve been an artist, coach/mentor and arts manager/leader for over 20 years so have a wealth of experience to draw on.

Q. You have combined creative development with individual coaching time in workshops in the past, in your experience who might benefit most from this approach?

Helen: This is a good question - in my experience coaching can be really helpful when people can’t see the creative wood for the trees. It can help bring clarity and focus to art and creativity, support individuals to develop a plan and create ways forward for their creativity that suit their lives and circumstances.

Northern Landscape with Hand Stitch runs over two weekends to enable students to have time to work on their own and to reflect in between the two sessions. At the end of the first weekend students will go home with ideas to explore before the second weekend. The first session is Friday 8th to Sunday 10th April and the second session is Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th May. There are still places available on this course; you can find more information here.

Helen has a wealth of experience supporting artists. If you are worried about whether the course is right for you please contact me here and I’ll put you in touch with Helen. Spending time with like minded people, working and making art in a lovely space, can be a real boost to morale and confidence. I hope you’ll join myself and Helen in April and May.

I have a bumper crop of guest tutors teaching in my studio this year. Some are rescheduled workshops from 2020/21 and some are new for this year. The tutors are artists whose work I admire, who offer something different to the workshops I run and, most importantly, come highly recommended by friends and students.

We start the year with the fabulous Helen Parrott who will be teaching Northern Landscapes and Hand Stitch. In this five day workshop spread over two weekends you will explore mark making and hand stitch inspired by images of your favourite northern landscapes. The workshop combines creative personal development with individual coaching and is suitable for ‘intermediate’ embroiderers and textile artists. The dates are 8th to 10th April and 14th and 15th May and places are available.

I am delighted to tell you that Alice Fox will, after a 2 year delay, be teaching her Rust Marks workshop in the studio from the 22nd to 24th April. And Debbie Lyddon, again after a long delay, will be teaching her Decorative Surfaces for 3D Textiles workshop from the 3rd to the 6th May. Both these workshops are sold out but if you would like to go on a waiting list please contact me here.

I will be welcoming the lovely Ruth Brown into the studio twice this year. Many of you will know Ruth from her books on Cyanotype and on using Photoshop for textile art. More recently she has turned her talents to book binding and the workshop she ran here last summer was brilliant. The two workshops she will be teaching this year are both ‘stand alone’ workshops teaching different types of binding. Ruth will be teaching More Books for Textile Artists on 21st to 24th June and Books for Textile Artists on 30th August to 2nd September. There are 2 places available on the June workshop and 3 on the August workshop.

And finally, I am so looking forward to welcoming Louise Baldwin into the studio. Louise will be teaching her 4 day Accidentally on Purpose workshop from Sunday 24th July to Wednesday 27th July. In the 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. Because of a slight change of dates I now have 1 place available on this workshop.

I am feeling really positive about 2022 and looking forward to a year without cancellations / rescheduling. But I’m also cautious - I will be keeping the ‘Covid-safe’ measures in place in the studio for the foreseeable future including plastic screens between benches, mask wearing when moving around the studio and in shared work areas and lateral flow testing before and during the workshops.

If you have any questions you can contact me here or through the comments option. Thank you, Leah.