and then the video

For those of you that might be interested to see the whole exhibition a relation of one of the participating artists, Rebecca Herbert, has made a video and posted it on you tube.you can access it on http://www.youtube.com/watch?=avZm7g3wazo&feature=youtu.be  or look for a direct link on the Seeking Artemis blogspot.
I think he has done a good job .Oh and the remark at the end of the credits , that's another story.

The last day

Tomorrow will be the last day of our 'Seeking Artemis' exhibition in the Crypt Gallery,St.Pancras. London. It has been busy,eventful, exhausting,amusing and freezing! We had  a  crowded Private View,amazing footfall, excellent comments on the exhibition and some great press (even being mentioned in the Wall Street International magazine!?). We have met people from all corners of the globe and a few people that were ,shall  we say, an eclectic bunch that will provide me with some very amusing and interesting stories for my 'exhibition tales'.

Below are a few photos (of my work and the PV) just to give you a feel.

. As you can see it really is a very interesting space in which to exhibit but it hasn't done my claustrophobia any favours.

 So tomorrow evening everything will be taken down and packed away and I can't say I'm sorry as I am ready and excited  to move on to my my next batch of work. This time its going to reflect nature, wild hills, far off places and the big wide open sky - wonderful!

4000 miles

Do you remember last year,our (Material Girls and Articulation) project and  the series of exhibitions and talks we hosted in the UK ? Well the exhibition tour is just about to kick off  in Canada (see the flyer above). There is a whole lot more details on the gallery's website and I am rather tickled to see that they have used a snippet of my work on that website. We wish our Canadian colleagues a successful and enjoyable series of exhibitions over the next year , hoping they have as much fun as we had.

The funny thing is I have only just realised that next week I and my friend Miriam will have our work on display in London and Canada simultaneously. That's approx 4000 miles apart ! It also amused me that somebody once asked me how far I thought I could take my textile work- I don't think 4000 miles is a bad start.

Fame at Last?

Well not really but our local rag which circulates in Essex and East London has picked up on the 'Seeking Artemis' exhibition. They have pulled together a nice little article even if the facts are slightly muddled but they have the important details correct especially the location and opening times. Its a little bit worrying that we share the pages with adverts for mobility scooters - perhaps they are trying to tell us something!

I have fostered a pretty good relationship with the local press over the years as they now seem to support us whenever we have an exhibition and have even asked me to write a  short general article about my exhibiting group 'Material Girls' on the back of this article. 

I have also had articles in several magazines (even in Canada) over the years which is a great help  promotion wise (always good for the CV)  but it is hard work to stay on top of this aspect esp. when you really want to be stitching or designing. Magazines have seriously in advance deadlines so you need to have things in to them at least 3-4 months in advance when often the work isn't quite ready for photography . For local and not so local press you need to get in touch at the right moment so it doesn't go out of people's minds (I try to keep a sort of count down calender so I can remember when things need to be done. I also find it helps to have an angle which will catch people's interest.Then you are in the lap of the Gods to see if they have room in that particular issue. 

 I was told both when I was studying professional practice for my degree and at seminars that you should reserve one day a week for all your 'office' and promotion stuff -very true but difficult to achieve until they invent the 10 day week! But it is important to keep plugging away in this media obsessed age - for every 10 you contact one might pick it up and its not just for publicity for the exhibition but for opportunities to exhibit, etc... that might come from it.

At least the work is all finished ready for the exhibition now ( well almost) now its just drawing together all the peripheral exhibition stuff with just over a week till the hang. Who knows we might even feature in the London press one day , I've been in touch and I'm still plugging away ....

Taking the Mickey

So I am back from my little break. Couldn't really call it a rest as we have been over to Disneyland in Paris for a belated 21st birthday trip for my not so little girl. It looks like we were right to wait to April in the hope that the weather improved as boy did it! Having gone from serious worries if we would freeze there we were wandering around at 11pm in t -shirts

Anyway now that is over (all too quickly) its down to finalising everything for the Seeking Artemis exhibition. I reckon I will finish the stitching by the end of this week, I have sorted out my postcard printing, sent out all my private view invites and am just completing the stewarding pack. Its all the little last minute things that take up the time. I have a 'photoshoot' for a paper on Friday and two articles that I have been requested to write for publications to get finished so if I can polish them off next week I might even get to start on the next body of work (I should have already started -oops) before the exhibition begins. Needless to say I will be stitching whilst stewarding... As white rabbit says 'there's no time to say hello goodbye, I'm late,I'm late, I'm late'

What a difference a day makes

Can it be? Can spring really have sprung? For the first time since 2012 we have actually had a warm day. The animals have actually ventured into the garden, the daffodils (usually over by now here ) are in full bloom and I even got the washing dried.

Of course I should still be stitching as the Crypt exhibition edges ever closer  (esp. as next week takes me off on a short adventure) but I couldn't resist just a few minutes in the sun. The good news I have finished my 'felt quilt'. This is an experiment and I am ready to take this further for the next project as I am moderately pleased with the result and have worked out how to refine it now. Above is a picture of part of it and it measures approx 3ft x 6 ft.

 I am still stitching spirals onto my last piece which is approx. 8ft long (they are a recurring symbol in this set of work  signifying the spinning and weaving of the web of life) and have now lost count of all the spirals I have hand stitched in silk thread in the collection of work for the Crypt but if I ever have insomnia I could count them instead of sheep and find out.

stitch,stitch, tick,tock,stitch,stitch

Time has been slipping away so fast this year and my stitching muscle has gone into overdrive. I think this body of work for 'Seeking Artemis' will really be taken up to the wire .
My work for this exhibition has been exploring the topic of sea symbolism and its connection to the feminine . As regular readers probably know I love the sea and to me it is a very feminine entity. The more I have researched into connected symbolism the more I have found that the various sea symbols help depict definite aspects or periods of a woman's life. I have also found how interesting it is that a lot of symbolism is also known instinctively by people,almost a sort of race memory, and that we 'modern day westerners' tend to either ignore this or almost put it into storage at the back of our minds. It is this latter aspect that will be informing my display of the work. Well that's the theory behind my work, now for the practical side of exhibiting...

As you can see preparations for the actual exhibition staging are well underway. One of our number , the photographer in our midst, has produced a flyer and the details of the exhibition can be found on the Crypt Gallery website www.cryptgallery.org and also on our Seeking Artemis blog seeking-artemis.blogspot.com
( I would put in a link so you could click directly onto them but every time I try it goes to something weird!)
We also have a facebook page but again I don't know how to use facebook ,however. if you are a reader of the 77 Belle blog. you will find the link on there. I am always in troubleform my fellow exhibitors  for not getting things onto the computer more but to be truthful I really do find it confusing and it seems to crash half the time, which is really frustrating. What I really need is a little man living inside the thing I can just shout at!

We have been for a look at the space with no exhibition in it (which is rare) to measure and finalise our staging and its even more inspiring. It also makes me realise how close it is getting and how much I still have to complete, that being said.... back to the stitching!

ps. I did escape up to see the exhibition 'Woolhouse' at Somerset house yesterday and it is astounding, one of the best exhibitions I have been to in ages. It is only on until this weekend but if you get the chance ......