Ropewalk studio artist, Wendy Chan, will be leading one of her popular workshops, Hand Felted Jewellery Workshop, later this month at The Ropewalk in Barton upon Humber.
Textile artist Wendy has a self-confessed passion for processes and techniques and on Saturday, March 24, she will be exploring the techniques for various components of jewellery felt making such as flats, beads, sushi beads and cords.
“Once you know the technique you can create a variety of wearable floral corsage and bracelets. “But I am sure there will be many more ideas on the day,” said Wendy. “My practice is about making an idea, a thought, a word, an image come together with the making process and then stitching these ideas into stories and projects, transforming it into a reality.”
Since graduating from Central Saint Martins College of Art, Wendy has been a freelance artist and workshop leader for both adults and children and has shared her expertise at many Ropewalk workshops.
Inspired by natural forms and colours and the use of natural fibres, Wendy describes felt making as “an ancient textile skill that uses natural, renewable resources for limitless creation.”
The following Saturday, March 31, the textile theme continues with another Ropewalk studio artist, Elaine Burke, sharing her love of textile-based craft pieces with a workshop which is suitable for both beginners and those with some experience of paper and textile crafts.
The fragile, beautiful cherry blossom – sakura – is richly symbolic in Japan and in this workshop students will create beautiful cherry-blossom inspired crafts from both paper and textiles.
The workshop starts with a brief slideshow showing the cherry blossom symbol in contemporary and traditional design in Japan which will help inspire the creations for the day using origami techniques to make paper cherry blossoms with several options to develop these into decorative pieces for the home, card-making and so on as well as creating a pretty cherry blossom brooch in textiles.
Both workshops run from 10.30am until 4.30pm and cost £34 or £30 forRopewalk members. For Wendy’s workshop there will be an additional charge of between £5 and £10 for materials and for Elaine’s there will be an additional charge of £10.
More details can be found on these, and other workshops, on www.the-ropewalk.co.uk/workshops and bookings can be made by either calling 01652 660380 or calling in at The Ropewalk’s Craft Gallery.
Spring Awakening
In the Box Gallery this month we have been inspired by the weather, and have put together a display celebrating spring. The focus is on the rebirth of nature, selecting pieces which represent the bloom of new flowers and joyous animals. The range of work within the exhibition is from a variety of makers working in different crafts all embodying our theme of spring.
Here is just a selection of the pieces we have on display in the Box Gallery.
Paul Collinson | Gary Saunt | Kat Saunt | Steve Upton
This exhibition shows work by a group of East Yorkshire and Hull based painters whose practice involves, either incidentally or wholly, the used of photography or computer software.
This can be in the organisation of the idea, the capture and use images as subject matter, or in the very creation of the artwork itself.
What all the painters do have in common is that need, the “agitation”, to produce something that has a presence.
Obviously my specialisation is in ceramics, but over the last 3-4 years I have diverged into 2D abstract and flitted back and forth between the two often combining techniques across both. A constant theme throughout has been the printed letter/text and the interplay between positive and negative space therein. The older letter bottles are relief printmaking in clay and from them blossomed the larger industrial 2D abstracts onto old metal shelves and disused wooden pallets. Another ever present has been my trusted blowtorch, which has enabled me to produce interesting surfaces and textures in the clay through forced drying and also letting me introduce dirt into the painted surface in the form of trapped carbon. It is important for me to be true to the material and allow it to be inherent in the final pieces.
Topics and style vary, from heavily textured, distorted pots, to letters bottles discussing elements of jazz, to political and social commentary and stuff about bikes? The large abstracts initially explored the rhythms between the letters but then began to migrate into the self-portrait in the form of big selfies and some of these themes then translated back into the pot form.
Throughout my career my work has cycled back to the same themes – surface and form – and these are essentially what this exhibition is about.
Customisable jewellery by Jackie Selcraig
Jackie Selcraig does not abide by the taught rules of creative design, for her it is very fluid and unstructured. Governed instead by play Jackie begins by siting down and experimenting with the composition of the bits and pieces she has collected over the years. Enjoying mixing colours, textures and materials, the aim is always to create something different, unique and unusual.
Modjool started with the Build Ring, since then, it has grown into a whole family of interactive jewellery, attracting fashion conscious customer eager to take advantage of the versatility of the range. Modjool is a system of statement jewellery, which features ranges which can be worn individually, mixed and matched or combined magnetically. The wearer can adapt the appearance by simply changing colour, shape, size, material or style all within the same jewellery collection.
Shape is bold, geometric, statement jewellery. The pendants can be magnetically attached to any of the colourful Click Range using a special bail.
Build is fun customisable jewellery. The silver ring and necklace base pieces can be transformed by adding a variety of colourful beads and stoppers. You can create a different look every day. Mix the colours up or choose a neutral palette for something more sophisticated.
There’s something about the contrast of textures of the different metals and etched parts that is so compelling. Metal is not always a hard shiny intractable thing – it can have a softer look, have variable colours created by the act of heating, can be a way of drawing in the air.
Jill Stewart was brought up in rural Northumberland, surrounded by nature and colour, always noticing the tiny details that surround us. After city adventures and unsuitable jobs, she started to make things, and developed unique ways of working in brass, copper, silver and titanium. The clocks developed after she was challenged to make larger items than jewellery, and to really develop a colour palette using the effects of heat on different metals. After cutting out the shapes, a large flame is used to solder parts of the design together, but also makes copper go beautiful unpredictable shades of dark red, and changes the look of other metals, especially the etched parts. The handmade look is important, that you can tell an actual person worked closely with their materials here, not absolutely sure how each process would turn out.
Harrison’s Garden
If John Harrison had a garden, how might it have looked?
In 2017, artist Luke Jerram took that thought and turned it into an amazing and imaginative exhibition that has been touring the UK. His idea was to create a ‘an imagined garden’ of clocks clustered into species, forming ‘flowerbeds’, ‘islands’, ‘pathways’ and borders’. Luke’s array of around 3000 timepieces has now visited the beautiful National Trust properties of Nostell Priory, Gunby Hall and Penrhyn Castle.
And in January 2019, Harrison’s Garden will reach its final destination at The Ropewalk. Bringing Harrison’s Garden home has been organised by the Better Barrow Community Project and Luke has kindly offered to donate the clocks to their fundraising cause to erect a statue of John Harrison. The clocks will be auctioned at the end of the exhibition – for further information visit betterbarrow.org
Harrison’s Garden was originally commissioned by Connect! and presented over 5 days at Devon’s Thelma Hulbert Gallery in 2015.
