The opening of DIS/rupt on Friday evening at the Tweeddale Museum and Art Gallery was lovely and the large group of people who came to see the work in its new temporary home were fulsome in their praise of the venue and, of course, the work. It never ceases to amaze how different a body of work can look when set up in a different gallery. The galleries in the Tweeddale Art Gallery are lovely – the main gallery has wonderful ceiling windows which create a sympathetic light atmosphere and the work has space to ‘breathe’. The lower gallery is also well lit and shows the work to great effect so the group is very pleased with this finale to the DIS/rupt Tour.
Entry to the Museum and Gallery is through an archway off Peebles High Street into a lovely historic courtyard where visitors will see one of Ruth Issett’s colourful pieces on the wall of the Gallery.
Whirl, Wind & Weather, Ruth Issett
There is parking nearby as well as on-street parking if available and Peebles itself is a lovely town set within the Scottish Border countryside with many independent shops and local attractions so well worth a visit. The team from Textile Study Group and the Gallery staff have done a wonderful job hanging the work and visitors will be met with a very interesting “thought-provoking” exhibition.
Tweeddale Museum & Art Gallery
Visitors at the opening
Visitors at the opening
Visitors at the opening
Textile Study Group members at the PV
Full details for opening and access can be found at the gallery website and remember there is a series of workshops programmed for the period the exhibition is open run by Textile Study Group members.
Already two weeks since DIS/rupt opened at the Minerva Arts Centre, Llanidloes in Wales and we have had good feedback from visitors who have been. It is always exciting to see how the work changes as it is set up in different surroundings and becomes part of the new gallery for the duration of its stay. The lighting variations, as well as the physical space alter how visitors view the pieces which means that each new gallery keeps the experience of visiting fresh. Here are a few photographs.
Minerva Arts Centre April – May 2018
Minerva Arts Centre, April – May 2018
Minerva Arts Centre, April – May 2018
Minerva Arts Centre, April – May 2018
Of course, it will not be long before the work is packed up again and shipped to Peebles. More information about that very soon but in the meantime if you are in the Minerva Arts Centre area, you will be made very welcome if you visit. Check their website for opening times. Minerva Arts Centre
One of the main tenets of the Textile Study Group is continuing to develop our individual professional practice and therefore the twice yearly weekends when we meet up to work together, are opportunities to explore the professional practice of other practicing artists as well talk amongst ourselves. Recently the group members met and enjoyed an inspiring workshop with textile artist Debbie Lyddon. Many of you will know of Debbie and maybe follow her blog or have seen her work in exhibitions, so during a very busy few days I took the chance to speak with her and ask about her practice and inspirations.
Q Debbie, have you always been a textile artist?
A No! I started life as a musician, playing and teaching the flute and I trained for four years at the Royal Academy of Music.
Q2 So how did you get started in textiles – what was it that clicked?
A It was always a question of ‘do I do music or art?’ The school I went to had a very active music department and so, at that stage, the music won. However, I have always drawn and painted and I come from a household where everyone knitted and sewed. I’ve always seen playing the flute as an activity that went alongside these ‘hand’ occupations. When I had my children and it became impossible to pursue a musical career it was a very short step to making art instead. I started with adult education classes, putting one child or other on the crèche, and the whole thing has snowballed from there.
Ground Cloth Object – Coil
Q What are your main influences?
A My main influences come from what interests me and the experience of those interests in my life. Music has obviously had a strong impact. When you are at music college one of the things you are trained to do is to listen. You can’t play in an orchestra without hearing and understanding what everyone else around you are doing. The concept of noticing and experiencing that is inherent in my practice stems from my learnt sensitivity to hearing everything that goes on around me.
Q The landscape is obviously a huge influence on your work. Can you give us a flavour of what it is about the Norfolk landscape that inspires you?
A The Norfolk landscape has a huge bearing on almost everything I do. It’s an environment where I have spent a lot of time and the place has got into my bones. I think the contours, the light and the atmosphere of the landscape would come out in my work even if I didn’t try. It’s primarily a place of change. The enormous open skies, the muddy creeks and waterways of the marshes and the sand and dunes on the beaches are forever in flux. They move almost day by day and if I’ve been away for a period of time the differences are immediately noticeable. It is this variation that brings me back again and again as there is always something new to see or to hear or to touch.
Ground Cloth – Chalk
Q What are your materials of choice?
A Cloth is at the centre of almost everything I do and I take inspiration from the way it is used in this coastal environment. Sails, tarpaulins and other protective cloths are my primary inspiration. I use mostly canvas or linen, the traditional material for sails, and the sewing techniques use reference sail-making techniques. I have researched how these ‘coastal’ cloths would have been preserved and waterproofed and use the relevant materials: wax, linseed oil, bitumen and paint. Recently I have been using materials gathered from the environment to colour cloth and to make paint: chalk from Hunstanton and West Runton, red clay from Cley beach, yellow ochre from West Runton and seacoal from Wells beach. I love the fact that I am using materials from the landscape to evoke the landscape itself.
Q Your sketchbooks are wonderful, are they your primary source of ‘note-taking’?
A Yes and no! I often take my sketchbook and very basic drawing materials out with me. I like to sit and to look and to listen, and drawing or writing down my observations are an occupation that makes me be still and to actively notice. However, I don’t always have a sketchbook with me and I often use the memory of experiences that I acquire whilst out walking in my practice. I find that on a walk there are some memories that are stronger and more intense than others. These stick in my mind and often can become the germ of an idea.
Ground Cloth Fragment – Chalk
Q Your enthusiasm has been evident this weekend, do you enjoy teaching?
A I do enjoy teaching. I like to meet people and to share my interests and it is very rewarding when everyone is enthusiastic back.
Q Who have been the main inspirations or influences in your textile career?
A Surprisingly enough, not that many textile artists: all the St. Ives artists for their connection to place. Gillian Lowndes for her innovative use of materials and Joan Livingstone for her large, abstract forms and use of utilitarian stitch.
Q What do the next few months have in store for you and your textiles?
A I have several exhibitions coming up later in 2018. I am delighted to have been selected to take part in the 62 Group exhibition CTRL/Shift at the MAC Birmingham from 21 July – 9 Sept, where I’ll be showing three large cloths that have been coloured with materials gathered from the landscape. https://macbirmingham.co.uk/exhibition/ctrl-shift I also have a long watercolour drawing/book in CLEY18, http://www.cleycontemporaryart.organ exhibition of new work by Norfolk artists. Also locally, I am in the process of making a large piece of work for the Wells Maltings Trust Art Trail, People of the Sea and Shore. It is a 3m x 1.20 pulled thread work coated in bitumen that will be placed outside on the site of a past shipwright’s and will make a connection between the former shipbuilding industry in Wells and the landscape. http://www.wellsmaltings.org.uk/heritage-trail-artistic-flair-people-shore-sea/
Q What one piece of advice would you give someone starting to develop their own textile practice?
A Make work that is personal and is about you and your interests.
Thank you very much Debbie, for an inspiring weekend but also for giving of your time to talk with me. What you say will be of enormous interest to our readers and we can but wish you well with the projects you have lined up for 2018.
If you would like to see more of Debbie’s work then find her website here Debbie Lyddon. Her blog can be found here Debbie’s blog and have a look at the links Debbie has added for information about the exhibitions and visit if able.
DIS/rupt is now in its final few weeks at Gallery Oldham – it closes on 24th February – and you will have to travel to the Minerva Art Centre, Llanidloes in lovely mid Wales to see the work. More information about that in a future post.
However before it leaves Gallery Oldham I thought it would be interesting to hear what it has been like to have the TSG exhibition in the gallery from the people in whose care it has been since before it opened at the beginning of December and I have received this from the Gallery’s point of view.
There are nearly 2 weeks left to see the DIS/rupt exhibition at Gallery Oldham. It’s been on display for nearly 3 months and will be touring the UK, its next stop will be Minerva Arts Centre, Wales. Here Visitor Experience Assistant Rachel Ford gives us an insight in to what’s been involved from Gallery Oldham’s side of the project.
After months of planning, the gallery team had 1 week to prepare the gallery for the DIS/rupt exhibition. This included moving walls and painting them. Rebecca the Exhibitions and Collections Coordinator (Art) worked with Sarah Burgess from the Textile Study Group on the challenging tasks of laying out all 23 artists’ artwork, giving thought to the design layout and allowing each piece of artwork to have its own identity. The collection of artworks although fragile were quite easy to hang and the natural light from Gallery 2 complemented the artists chosen colours.
Just before the grand opening on 2nd December 2017 the artist Sarah Burgess gave the front of house team a prep talk on each piece of artwork. This talk with Sarah gave us the opportunity ask questions and explore the exhibition. I was very interested in the research involved to obtain statistics relating to rising sea levels across the world for Sarah Burgess Artwork Drowning By Numbers: 2 Degrees and 4 Degrees. Sarah explained that various studies had taken place by university groups and the studies showed that if the temperatures rise globally by 2 or 4 degrees it is likely to have a devastating impact on at least ten cities worldwide, this would then have a knock-on effect destroying crops, homes and industry. The Textile Study Group are a group of nationally and internationally recognised textile artists and tutors based throughout the UK. The group are well known for innovative and challenging approaches to art practice and contemporary teaching.
The exhibition explores the concept of disruption in its widest sense. Through extensive research the group decided to explore several themes, including global conflict, concomitant problems of migration and the refugee crisis; climate change and ecological disruption; conflict within domestic relationships; and disruption within traditional fabric making processes.
My favourite piece in the exhibition has been Sian Martin’s, Dispatched With A Kiss. I found the story and the beautiful array of colours very moving. Inspired by a true story, the piece of artwork represents a timeline about a boy named Ahmed. Ahmed lived in Afghanistan when aged 15, ISIS came to his village and stole his two sisters and killed his father. His mother told him to run away and gave him a kiss on his cheek.
Fragments, detail Sian Martin
The piece itself is about 4 meters long. It begins with bright colours that represents Ahmed peaceful life. The colours then fade and bright orange fabric is threaded onto the steel, this represents Ahmed’s journey as he travels to France and Britain. Towards the end the fabric becomes much less. A pair of lost shoes represent the journey that many other refugees will continue to take.
The exhibition has been very popular, with visitors travelling from all over. The workshop with Artist Sarah Burgess sold out within the first few weeks upon opening and The Textile Study Group catalogue has been selling like hot cakes.
But before it leaves Gallery Oldham on Saturday 24th February, come and take a look at this amazing talent.
Catalogues for sale at £10 each
Thank you Rachel. It is always good to hear other view points of artists’ work and having your account from the perspective of the Gallery will be of enormous interest to readers.
Remember, the exhibition ends 24th February and our next post will give more information about its move to the Minerva Arts Centre. Catalogues can also be purchased through a link on the group’s website.
