This one of several new pieces of work I have done for a special pop up exhibition, curated by Emma Moore (previously of the Left bank Gallery, Kirkcudbright) to be held at the Harbour Cottage Gallery in Kirkcudbright from March 13th until March 25th. This new picture is also available as a print in 2 sizes from my online shop for £25 (unlimted edition) and £75 (limited edition) with free postage and packing. Greetings cards with this design to follow soon. Kirkcubright (pictured above) is a beautiful small town on the banks of the river Dee in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Kirkcudbright is known as an artist’s town due to its long association with the Glasgow art movement, which started when several artists, including the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish Colourists, based themselves in the area over a 30-year period from 1880 to 1910 and established the Kirkcudbright Artists' Colony. The town also hosts a fantastic arts and crafts trail each summer in August. Visit www.artandcraftstrail.com to find out more. The Harbour Cottage Gallery (pictured above) is the oldest gallery in Kirkcudbright, and is managed by the Kirkcudbright Harbour Cottage Gallery Trust, which was founded in 1955. The gallery aims to 'further the Arts in the widest meaning of the term' by providing an exhibition space for local professional and amateur artists and by showing the work of artists from further afield. Each year between Easter and December the Gallery hosts a wide range of exhibitions, including an 'Open' Exhibition in early summer, aimed at encouraging and supporting new and developing artists.
0 Comments
Tracy Jamar is an American textile artist based in New York. Back in the summer of 2015 she approached me, after seeing some of my posts of my rag rugged work on my facebook page, and asked if she could feature some of my work in her forthcoming book. The book has just been published. My copy still hasn't arrived yet, so I don't know which pictures of my work have made the cut, but it's all very exciting!
As ever, my rag rugged work is made out of Harris Tweed. The work Tracy wanted to include involved shirring (where strips of fabric are sewn onto the base fabric) and wrapping (where strips of fabric are wrapped around a base rope/cord) and coiling (where strips of fabric are rolled up and then sewn onto the base fabric). If you want to find out more, you'll either have to come on one of my rag rugging workshops or buy Tracy's book. I've included some example pictures below that are likely to be similar to the images appearing in Tracy's book. You can see more of my rag rugged work on my gallery page at www.rebelragruggers.co.uk. To find out more about Tracy visit her website www.tracyjamar.com or her facebook page Tracy Jamar FiberWorks This is my latest needle felted Harris Tweed painting of a Barn Owl out hunting across snowy fields on a very moonlit night. We are very lucky in that where we live we often see Barn Owls at night and I have even once seen one hunting during the day when the ground was covered in deep snow.
I loved using a pale grey and white Harris Tweed to suggest the feathers on the birds wings. The white Harris Tweed I have used for the face is a very rare tweed that I bought a few years ago. I am led to believe that it was specially made to make a wedding dress for the finale of a Harris Tweed fashion show held on the island. I've certainly never seen it for sale anywhere since. I had hoped that this picture might be ready as a card for this Christmas, but unfortunately I didn't get it finished in time. However it is is available now as a print in two sizes - 12 inch square - £75 and 7.5 inches square - £25 with free postage and packing. The original itself is 15 inches square (without frame) and costs £500. It is framed in a plain, flat contemporary wooden box frame approx. 1. 5 inches wide and deep, with a white lime wash finish. Postage and packing with full insurance is an additional £25. Exhibitors include:
Laura's Loom Beautiful yarns and woven items, all from the fleeces of local sheep The Knitting Gift Shop Natural locally sourced yarns, locally made tools, equipment and goodies for the woolly-minded Liz Reed Designer Maker Quirky driftwood folk, clothed in locally sourced wool The Woolly Pedlar Vibrant up-cycled knitwear and household items Dales Looms and Lakshmi Designs A vast array of peg and pin looms, together with knitted and woven items made using the looms Sheepfold British wool kits, yarns, fibres and more! Bright Seed Textiles Harris Tweed art, prints and cards by Northumbrian artist Jane Jackson Natural Born Dyers Natural and naturally dyed local yarns and fibre, plus spinning tools Ewenique Crafts Yarns, wools and knitted goods made from locally sourced Cumbrian yarns Chris Gibb Knits North Pennines Wool Group: Ellie Langley - Fleece with Altitude Hill House Farm Wensleydales Deneburn Meadows Demonstrations, prize draw, competitions, spinning and knitting circle and refreshments provided by The Hearth Cafe. Plus, next door, in The Queen's Hall, Hexham you can also visit the Designer Makers Market, unique, handmade crafts, direct from the maker. A long time ago when I was a doing my foundation course at Northampton Art College I'm ashamed to say that I never dared to venture into the printing department. At the time I was only 16 - 17 years old and I regret that I was just too intimidated by the seemingly very gruff, loud, large black bearded Scottish tutor in charge. As a consequence I never learnt about printing and yet I really love prints and I very much regret that I didn't tough it out.
I especially love the relationship between flat blocks of colour and patterned/textured areas that you often find in prints. For years I have loved the work of printmaker John Brunsdon and my landscapes are heavily influenced by his work. He simplifies landscapes down to lines and blocks of colour, a design approach that lends itself well to building collages out of Harris Tweed. I use plain tweeds for the flat blocks of colour, patterned tweeds for textured areas and wool yarns for the lines. More recently I came across the work of Mark Hearld, in a wonderful exhibition that he has curated at York Art Gallery called The Lumber Room: Unimagined Treasures. Mark is a painter/printmaker who makes fabulous paper collages of landscapes on a much more domestic scale than John Brunsdon's. I love the way that Mark's work is very humorous, lively and almost cartoon-like, but still very much grounded in the careful study of wildlife and landscape. Because my work is built using needle felting, even drawing a line with yarn is a slow and methodical process. So it's just not possible to dash off a quick slash of colour or scribbled line and a result my work is quite calm. Seeing Mark 's work make me wish there was something I could do to liven my work up. But don't know what or how just yet. We shall see. Sometimes I get asked to create bespoke slightly tweaked versions of work that has already sold and the above is an example of this. The picture below is of the original picture called Sycamore Gap, which sold in this year's summer exhibition at the Biscuit Gallery - a lovely gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne.
The lady commissioning this new version said that she wanted a very similar picture to the original version, with a herring bone Harris Tweed sky, but she wanted it to be more of a sunny day. So I used a warm blue and very pale, creamy yellow herringbone tweed for the sky, which gives an overall turquoise colour and a range of vibrant green tweeds for the grass. The foxgloves in the sunny day version are also depicted in slightly more vibrant coloured tweeds and yarns. Commissioning a piece of original art work is not as expensive as you think it might be and you can work with the artist to create your own personalised, unique piece of art. To find out more about commissioning work from me click here. The St Abbs Wool Festival has moved to a new and more spacious venue in Eyemouth, which means that there is room for a few new faces in the sales halls, as well as the regulars such as ourselves. There will also be a new room especially for demonstrations and exhibitions..
Jennie Howes who organises the festival with her husband Steve says "All of our stall holders live and work either in the Scottish Borders, Northumberland or the Lothians - a distinct geographical region. Since picking up the baton for organising the festival in 2013 I’ve become aware of the number of outstanding professional craft workers in this region and feel that St Abbs Wool Festival should be about promoting their talents and helping to stimulate long term relationships between craft workers and craft enthusiasts. Some of the stall holders, including myself, are also part of the Sheep Tales project and as such we get involved in lots of different wool events in the region. We know that working as a group helps to raise the profile of all the individual members as well as the general awareness of the importance of the woollen industry to our rural areas, particularly in the north of England and Southern Scotland. In light of this, for this autumn’s St Abbs Wool Festival in November, we have invited the Wool Clip from Cumbria to come across the Pennines, from west to east, as a wool craft cultural exchange. This group of wool crafters are the longstanding co-operative who organise the well renowned Wool Fest in Cockermouth and, like the Sheep Tales crafters, are absolutely invested in the importance of wool to their region. I will be posting photos and more information over the next couple of weeks on the St Abbs Wool Festival face book page." Here is the exhibitor list for November 5th 2016 Gill Curwen from Bapple and JoJo. Gill is a rag rug maker working as she says, in “the unusual art of the Standing Wool or Quilly Rug”. She is one of a very small number of crafters specialising in this technique in the UK, indeed in the world! She uses only sustainable and ethically sourced materials and transforms them into unique, contemporary items for the home. Su Boyd from Big Knitting North is making a welcome re-appearance. Big Knitting North has, over the last year, established itself in Northumberland selling supplies at local wool festivals, running “pop up” shops in local craft shops, hosting “have a go” sessions for community groups and doing kids (and big kids!!) parties. So if you would like to run something in your home, community centre, the local pub your craft shop/cafe ...…wherever you want to knit..... just get in touch! Su says “This is knitting and crochet for the impatient!! It's fun, fast and definitely different…it’s knitting but not as you know it!!” Anna Turnbull from Biteabout Arts creates delicate and ephemeral hand felted wraps and scarves, hats, bags and vessels. She also works in willow and sometimes mixes the two media to create the most amazing sculptures! Anna will be leading a workshop at the festival too - more information in the workshop section below! Lindsay Roberts aka The Border Tart and Blue Moon Indigo, loves all things blue. She will be bringing a range of her dyed yarns, from lace weight to chunky, luxury silk and yak, to merino with sparkles. British wool fibre batts, packs of wool locks, dyed silk hankies and threads for embroidery and crewel work. Wood, mother of pearl and coconut shell buttons in abundance and bright coloured sari silk scraps and ribbons too. Bright Seed Textiles - we'll be there selling our needle felted Harris Tweed "paintings, prints and greetings cards. Jane will also be demonstrating rag rugging. Please come and say hello. Laura Brittain is a designer, feltmaker and teacher. She designs and makes bold and vibrantly coloured hand felted rugs, cushions, bags and baby bootees. Marlene Brown sock knitter extraordinaire will be on hand to answer al your questions about knitting on four needles! She will also have an enormous pile of hand knitted socks in all sizes from the teeniest tiny newborn baby to the biggest man foot you can imagine! Fingerless mittens in a myriad colours are also available. Marlene will commission knit for you too - in the yarn of your choice, don’t be shy - ask her for that special pair of socks! Sandra Nicol & Craig Finlayson from Chandlers, a recent start up woolly business in North Berwick, are also new to the St Abbs Wool Festival. Both Sandra and Craig have an eye for colour and have started dyeing luxury yarns in a stunning range of naturally inspired colours. The coast and landscape of East Lothian is evident in their beautiful palette. Cobweb Knitwear, Mavis Clark, Shetland lace and Gansey designer and knitter will be taking part. Mavis is part of the Sheep Tales group of crafters and regularly holds workshops to teach this intricate discipline. Mavis will be holding a workshop at the wool festival - an introduction to Shetland lace knitting. Eve Studd from Cornhill Crafts is a bit of a whirlwind crafter - she seems to be so good at making so many things! She will be selling: plant dyed wool, handmade paper, dye plants, eco printed silk scarves, hand woven bags, solar dye kits and peg loom mats. She will also have gift vouchers available for her workshops - the list is very long but includes: weaving on a Brinkley or peg loom, plant dyeing, eco printing onto paper or fabrics, shibori and rust printing… Sue Shaw from Ewetreecraft will be selling a wide and varied display of her original and humorous needle felted wool sculptures and framed pictures. Janis Embleton from Flight Weaving will be demonstrating at her table loom. Janis creates beautiful hand-woven items in luxurious fibres to suit all pockets, from sophisticated silk scarves and wraps for a special occasion, to tweedy wool notebooks and key-rings. All of Janis’ fabrics can be made to commission for that extra touch of individuality and exclusiveness. Janis also holds regular workshops at her studio in Swinton. Karen Burn from Hunting Hall will be coming back to St Abbs again. Hunting Hall’s Pure Northumbrian Organic wool is a knitting yarn from their award winning wildlife friendly farm. Spun by a small mill, to 4 ply, dk and aran weights, the yarns are certified by the Soil Association through GOTS, the Gobal Organic Textile Standard. Alongside the organic yarns, there are patterns and kits available. New this year is a rare-breed Teeswater undyed creamy white yarn from their flock of handsome Teeswater sheep. Eta Ingham Lawrie has been exhibiting her beautiful woven hangings internationally and leading workshops and classes for a very long time! They are always fresh, inspirational and you can’t help but want to touch them! Eta also makes beautiful “woolovers”, scarves, dolls etc. She always brings along a loom and weaves during the festival, so come and see her working. Natural Born Dyers are another regular face at St Abbs. Jon says he uses natural dyes to produce a range of colours and shades on high quality yarns and fibres, with the emphasis on using British wool in the core range. He is also a wood turner and makes wooden tools for spinners and knitters, having designed the “Spurtzleur” which he describes as the easiest spinning tool to use! Another newcomer to the St Abbs Wool Festival is Jane Hall from Pinkminis. Jane is an amazing designer/maker tailoress, making ladies clothing and accessories in wonderful wool using, amongst others fabrics by Lovat Mill and Andrew Elliot - from right here in the Scottish Borders and Harris Tweed. The items she makes are highly wearable and practical with a wee edge to make you stand out. They really are gorgeous! Skybluepink Designs - Jennie Howes sells an eclectic range of woolly goodies and notions for knitting and crocheting. Jennie will also be promoting her new workshop schedule, so if you fancy getting up to some woolly fun, just pick up a brochure! Alice Elsworth from Whistlebare will be selling luxury knitting and crochet yarns from her flock of Angora Goats and Wensleydale Sheep, which are kept at the family farm in North Northumberland. The yarn is worsted spun in Yorkshire and then dyed by hand on the farm. Whistlebare also produces original, contemporary knitting and crochet patterns. Heather Waldron from Whistletop is a designer and maker of machine knit Fairisle-patterned sweaters. She began making them professionally over 30 years ago when living on the Isle of Skye. She says that after moving to the Borders, raising her family took priority, but she began to miss the smell of wool, the sound of the machine and the feeling of creating garments which people would enjoy wearing. She began selling sweaters again two years ago. Her garments are made from pure Shetland wool, hand framed on a knitting machine and sewn together by hand. She makes to order too! The Wool Clip is an award-winning co-operative, formed shortly after the foot and mouth epidemic in 2001 – to promote and add value to local wool. There are currently 14 members, all based in Cumbria. They say, "Between us, we grow it, sew it, spin, weave and dye it, knit, crochet and felt it, hook with it, tuft with it and stuff with it. Our work focuses on colour and creativity and our aim is to share our enthusiasm for all things woollen. Our products are wide ranging from the smallest little brooches and key rings to larger garments and rugs. We have a wide selection of wonderful wool too - either coming from Cumbrian sheep (often our own flocks!) and/or beautifully dyed by members." Gilleoin Finlay Coull from Woolrush Yarns describes herself as a craftsman in wool, who is inspired by fibre and the colours and shapes of the natural world. Gill will be bringing her hand spun yarns, patterns, shawls, accessories, hand made Dorset buttons and Fibre Gems jewellery. George and Louise from Yarn Garden create hand dyed yarns in solid, semi-solid and variegated colourways focusing on fine yarns - cobweb, lace weight and 4 ply. The dyeing process at Yarn Garden is focused on minimal impact on the environment, using non-toxic dyes and mordants. Yarn Garden also sell kits for knitting, crochet and weaving, plus a great selection of hand picked wool craft books. We're frantically getting prints and greetings cards ready and deciding which Harris Tweed paintings to take with us to our first Yarndale this weekend., We're going to be on stand 164 so please come and say hello. To find out more about the event visit www.yarndale.co.uk
As you can see from the above poster, the very popular, twice a year St Abbs Wool Festival is moving to Eyemouth on Saturday November the 5th. We will be taking part, but I know Jennie is still finalising the final line up of makers and woolly artisans. As I understand it there is going to be a lot more room, so Jennie is also hoping to organise some half day workshops. You can get a taste of what the event is ;likely to be like by having a read about the exhibitors who took part in this year's April event. at www.skybluepink-designs.com You can also follow the event on facebook St Abbs is a really lovely place and of I very, very fond of it. But Eyemouth has a brilliant Italian fish & chip shop called Giacopazzis which also sells homemade ice cream. So although I am a bit sad that the event is leaving St Abbs I shall endeavour to make the best of it, if I can decide what flavour to have. This is a picture of Mitch a Border Terrier, which I did as a commission for a lady who came to my stand at Woolfest this summer. Mitch is made from a needle felted Harris Tweed collage and if you'd like to find out more about commissioning your very own picture click HERE.
|
Jane JacksonI am a Northumberland based textile artist and I create needle felted paintings with Harris Tweed and wool yarns. Archives
January 2019
Categories |
|
Online Store |
Contact Us |