Due to a combination of events, including a pandemic, this section of the website is looking rather OLD rather than 'NEWS'.  Over the next few months we aim to add posts for the meetings that have been held in the last 2 years.  Any members with notes and/or pictures please let us know and we'll add them in.

The group met on Zoom during the various lockdowns and have returned to meeting in person since October 2021.  Below is a little information about our 2 most recent meetings.

20th May 2023 Jilli Blackwood spoke to us over Zoom from her Scottish home and studio about 'A life imagined'.  Her colourful designs and obvious enthusiasm came over loud and clear from all those miles away.  After lunch we had a workshop based on using stitch to represent our senses.

21st January 2023 Tansy Horgan inspired us by 'Using Sketchbooks for Textiles'.  Tansy generoursly shared her own sketchbooks and finished pieces to demonstrate how she makes small sketches and then translates them into stitch.  We all enjoyed making our own drawings and having a go at intepreting them in fabric and stitch.

Well, thanks to Sandy I have old blanket wadding - just what I needed. Thank you Sandy.

I’ve also printed six pieces of fabric as the layers in the work ... I knew those photos of surfaces I’ve walked on would come into their own one day!


And I found some very powerful Guardian interviews with people who are homeless and from these I’ve written 6 found poems. Small and emotional reminders of how lucky I, my family and friends are.  Quite how  I add these, and how to add stitch, well, I’m not sure yet but I’d like to use some of the tea bags I’ve collected, dried and made marks on. That would link with the request I had not long ago from a woman sitting outside a rail station for money for a cup of tea.  Needs thinking about. 

Meanwhile, on my studio floor the work so far ... somehow I’m tempted to have the blanket link the six pieces of fabric. Or I could make them into a folding book, or .... 
More news soon, I hope. 
Marilyn 

Some notes from Carol Wilkes - who was unable to attend in November:

"I recommend the Tate Britain exhibition, it has examples of Rachel Whiteread's work over the last 25 years and is very interesting and well presented.  Many of the pieces are very large (including casts of a room and a full size staircase) so the main exhibition is in one large open gallery which gives you room to step back and see the pieces as a whole. 

As well as the paying exhibition there are also smaller (free) displays elsewhere in the museum.  In the foyer of the main exhibition is a display of items from Whiteread's work space, notebooks, inspiration items and sample pieces along with a film of the making of 'House'; the cast she made of a terrace house in the 1990s.  The casts of the underside of 100 chairs ('100 spaces') is nearby and there was a least one other free display that I didn't have time to visit but hope to get back to before the exhibition closes. 

I made copious notes but in the end I decided that, for me, her work was about what was implied rather than present.  Hanging on the walls of  the main gallery were some recent casts of a shed made of papier mache, a much more accessible (and stitchable) material than concrete!"

Thank you for your thoughts Carol - I am particularly interested in your comment that her work was about 'what was implied rather than present'.

Jane

Well, I started by closing my eyes and taking one of the photos of the 4th Plinth pieces when we discussed the Group’s forthcoming exhibition project at the September meeting.


My Pick was A Model for a Hotel 2007 - some details and photos are here https://www.flickr.com/photos/blahflowers/2020255621. I would have included a photo but this is my first Weebly blog post and it proved beyond me to work out how to copy one (where permission was given for this) into this post!!!


From there, and it’s a long story, I began to explore the issues of homelessness in the City. Issues of contrast became important. I gave some thought to the shape of the piece - how it might fit into the box and how it might be hung. I did a very casual inventory of how much time I had to make the piece and a more serious one of the need to keep it simple given my skill level.


To date, I have the start of something pinned to my wall. There’s also a box of bits that might play a part in the making and a dedicated notebook for random thoughts and notes of any playing about with fabric etc. that I do as I’m sure to forget how I got this or that effect.


I’ve done some fabric printing from a photo and, as I’m a writer, mainly of poetry, I’ve drafted some words! I’m thinking about using tea bags and other recycled papers, and how best to incorporate the poems.


And I have a request! Has anyone got an old blanket, in not very good condition that they could donate to my piece? I’m keen not to use anything new for this piece and an old blanket will make an ideal backing fabric. Thank you.


I’ll stop here. Your comments are very welcome. I look forward to reading how other members are progressing with their pieces.

Marilyn

Rachel Whiteread created one of the earlier 4th Plinth commissions. Currently there is a major retrospective of her work at Tate Britain. If you are interested in her work generally it is an excellent exhibition - in a fully opened out gallery space which seems to really suit her work.

The main exhibition is ticketed, but the model for the Fourth Plinth piece is in the public shop area outside the main exhibition - and so can be viewed for free. Alongside some drawings and information about the work.

The effect of the resin material can really only be appreciated in the flesh and does not represent well in photographs. I would like to have seen the full scale piece in situ, but sadly I didn't.
www.tate.org.uk

Jane

Past member Joanna O'Neill has written an article about the history of Thames Valley Contemporary Textiles in July's Patchwork & Quilting magazine. Get your copy now! ​(I've yet to get my copy - so I hope this is the right cover, but we wanted to get this news out asap).

Thank you Joanna - we miss you since you moved up North :( - but its so lovely that you're still thinking of us. And, we can't quite believe that its been so long!

Welcome
Sandy welcomed everyone; the meeting was again very well attended.

Celebrations
Several members from TVCT entered their work at the Festival of Quilts 2016 and won prizes! Jane Bonney won first prize for her garment, Kate Crossley won third prize in the quilt creation category, Sandra Newton won a first in miniatures. Other members had entered their work and enjoyed seeing it displayed. Sandy won third prize for wearable art at Sandown.
Jane Glennie thanked everyone for the support for the South Hill Park event in July, Engage with Art. Images are still availble online here.
 
Information about upcoming events

• Wokingham Arts Trail, 24th & 25th September. 
• June Withers ‘Taking Textiles Further’

• Caroline Marriott mentioned the Robin’s Nest Gallery in Wargrave where she occasionally runs workshops.
• National Needlework Archive: ‘1000 and 1 nights’ 3rd - 29th September
• National Needlework Archive: CQ ‘On the Edge’ from 1st October – 3rd November

Worn Threads
This will next be exhibited at the West Country Quilt and Textile Show on 11th - 13th November 2016 and again at the Excel in London in April 2017.  Stewards needed for both events; this is coordinated by Marion Robertson.

Speaker:  Amanda Hislop       www.amandahisloptextileartist.com​

Amanda gave a talk entitled ‘Land lines; drawn lines; stitched lines’.  She described how she finds inspiration in the landscape where she lives, near the Ridgeway and the White Horse Hill.  She also feels inspired by the sea and the sky as well as trees with all the variety of lines and colour they give.
Amanda is a trained artist; stitch is just one of the techniques she uses in her work.  Amanda starts with mark making, wanting to capture the lines in the landscape.  This is followed by the layers of colour and texture. Amanda illustrated this process with the sketchbooks she keeps.

Amanda is a member of Prism and she exhibits with this group annually at the Mall Gallery in London.  The themes for these exhibitions can be challenging and in their way are important in her artistic journey.  She talked about the concept of the ‘liminal state’, that as an artist you are often in this phase between the known and on the threshold of something new; you don’t know what it is because you haven’t arrived yet!

Amanda gave a demonstration of how she creates her layered landscapes, working on muslin with paper and threads, binding with cellulose paste, later adding colour with acrylics before finally adding further texture with machine stitch.

If you are a member of the TVCT group and would like a copy of the technical notes then please email Sandy.

Come and join some TVCT members and others at an exciting event of visual art at South Hill Park on 2/3 July from 11am to 6pm. There will be lots to see and free workshops and taster sessions to take part in.

More information at www.engagewithart.org.uk

Welcome
Sandy welcomed everyone; the meeting was again very well attended.
The Worn Threads
Marion Robertson told the group how well the exhibition was received at Lady Sew and Sew and the NNA. At Lady Sew and Sew they reckon about 500 people had been to see it. The next venue is in Bristol at the West Country Quilt and Textile show from 11th to 13th November. The exhibits must be with Marion or Sandy at least a week prior to that. Marion also asked for stewards to help over the weekend.
Information about upcoming events

• Child of the Sixties by Threaded Together at Lady Sew and Sew, 2nd – 23rd June
• ENGAGE Art at South Hill Park 2nd – 3rd July. This event will be a visual spectacular! It will involve art installations inside and in the grounds, students work will be exhibited, free workshops and demonstrations 
• At BBC Country File Live at Blenheim Palace in August, Kate Findlay will be talking about her bird pictures, 4th – 7th August
• Whiteknights Studio Trail in Reading 11th – 12th June 2016
• North Surrey Group Guildford House Gallery 18th – 19th June where Mavis Walker’s chess set will be on display
• Wokingham Arts Trail September 2016

Tactile books for children with special needs
Merete showed the group a fabric book made for a visually impaired child. The books are multisensory and have to be robust for little hands to explore. There will be a workshop about making tactile books at the meeting in May 2017. In preparation for this, people were encouraged to start collecting bits and bobs – it will all come in useful one day. The leaflet about how to make tactile books will be put on the website.

Textile artists mentoring
Kate Findlay informed the group about a textile mentoring group she and a friend are in the process of setting up. This is still in the early stages, please contact Kate if interested on Kate@findlays.net

Members’ work
Annie Hamilton showed her series of pictures based on her apple tree.

Studio 21 - including Sandra Meech -  have an exhibition at SIT Select - in Stroud at the Landsdown Gallery for all of May - until the 28th.
The Sewing Machine Project 
The private view is on the 7 May 12-2, (Sandra will be there stewarding 17/18, 22 May).
This open studio/gallery event is one of a kind and explores work for many creative disciplines.

All welcome. http://www.studio21textileart.co.uk/

There is also a lot more to see besides at SIT (Stroud International Textiles) more information at http://www.sitselect.org/index.html_