I was not able to come to the meeting with the brain storming session on 'Halfway between' so I did a bit of brain storming on my own.  Here are my initial thoughts.

the near and the far

the detail and the horizon

the sea and the sky………………

the land and the sky ………………is the horizon, what’s on a new horizon?

the water and the sky ……………

the top and the bottom ………… are the stairs

the start and the finish …………  is time

birth and death ……………………… is life

the lost and the found …………… are the un-discovered

Halfway between the extremes are the average ……….who wants to be average?

Halfway between the real and the unreal are the almost real, the ‘I’d like it to be real’, the ‘I wish it were real’, the ‘I feel like it’s real.
Halfway between the real and the unreal is the surreal

Halfway between the joy and the pain is the living it, the day to day relentlessness of it. 

If you can find, halfway between the mundane and the necessary, that flash of delight/excitement/wonder then your life will be enriched.  Perhaps that’s what eccentric people manage to do and that takes them away and into a whole new view of life. 

Thoughts on notes from meeting:
Gutter and Stars: 
“We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars” Oscar Wilde
 Halfway between the gutter and the stars is the an album by Fatboy Slim (2000)

Awake and Asleep:
Halfway between awake and asleep is the blissful state before you remember, before the memory presses down on you; sometimes that memory sneaks up on you and other days it just whams into you.

Black and White:
Halfway between black and white ….. is grey – boring
                                                      are all the other colours
Neither one thing nor another:
Surreal, imaginative, eccentric

I then made some collages on some of these thoughts; photos below.

Here are a couple of pictures that I took of my attempts ...

Stella Harding/Shane Waltener's cup technique that Mary Crabb showed us really helped to get the twining method as the uprights were flexible enough to work with, but stiff enough that they didn't move too much. Something we all discovered was a drawback when we confidently moved on to something entirely constructed of threads and ropes that jiggled and moved all over the place when we started to twine.

For more information about basket techniques, here is the book recommended by Mary (and with one of her lovely pieces on the cover)

On Saturday Merete and Sandy swiftly dispatched the AGM duties (and I'm sure a few efficient Danes would be a help in Westminster!) so we could get to the exciting and enjoyable part of the day with Mary Crabb.

Mary introduced us to her career from her childhood influences through to her discovery of traditional willow basketry and on to the contemporary and innovative work that she produces today.

Sadly for us we were unable to see some of her most recent pieces but this is because they are currently on show at Horsham Museum until December.

After lunch we began the practical workshop where we learnt the basics of the twining technique to create flat pieces or even 3-d vessels.

I was so busy during the workshop, and enjoyed myself so much that I forgot to take photographs during the session. If I get a moment I'll take a snap of my attempts and post them. Please send me any pics of creations made or developed from the session ... Thanks, Jane.

The final outing for the Whatever floats your boat... exhibition was to the National Needlework Archive in Newbury where they had 160 paying visitors, plus numerous others who attended the Archive as volunteers or for the various workshops and sewing clubs that take place there. The Archive were so happy with our exhibition that they would like to have new work from our group in the future.

Some of the visitors were part of organised groups, including sixteen from Oxford Quilters' on 12th October. Sheila Dunscombe, Ros Crouch and Kate Murrell are exhibiting artists in the show and are also Oxford Quilters' and so were able to talk about the project and their pieces to the rest of the group. They also came prepared with relevant props such as research sketch books and photos and Sheila took the dolls shoes and patchwork coverlet that inspired her work.

Also at the Archive is the 'The Country Wife' mural by Constance Howard and the group enjoyed the talk about its restoration.

The new project for Thames Valley Contemporary Textiles is to be 'Halfway between'. We brainstormed the idea through a range of methods - talking, writing and words, images, paper collage and 3-d collage.
We came up with loads of ideas in a relatively short space of time, and I'm sure there are many more ...

Briefly summarising a few of the responses, some of the themes that could be explored include:

Interpretation as a phrase
Point of view - Specific, precise or vague, ambiguous
Best of both worlds
Compromise by committee
Neither one thing or the other or is it just right?
A stage in a process, a point in a transformation
The missing link
One thing and another

In or out of focus

Boundaries

Opposites
Light and dark. Near and far. Hot and cold. Earth and air. Adult and child. Young and old. Heaven and hell. Black and white. Thin and fat. Full or empty. Pattern and plain. Science/art. Sunrise/sunset. And many, many more ….

Combinations Pairing of people, or collaboration

Colours

Seasons

Technique Exploration of innovative techniques - hybrid techniques
Layering

Physical Location (abstract or specific)
Evolution. Equator.
“A human is halfway in size between an atom and the known universe”...

Negative space Spaces in between
Flat/relief
Position of something halfway between in a 3-d object

Psychological/spiritual States of being
Awake and asleep. Gutter and the stars.

Jobs

Halfway point

Mathematical/scientific
Fractions. Geographical plates. Molten/solid

Political/Sociological

Some food for thought ... and in fact food was also one of the ideas sparked by the session - or was it because we were getting near to lunchtime?

On Tuesday the Whatever floats your boat ... exhibition was installed for its final showing at the National Needlework Archive near Newbury. Thanks to Sandy and Mavis who put the show up with me. Some new pieces are on show - including this beautiful embroidery of trees by Marion Robertson, and embroidered books by Annie Hamilton.

The highlight of the September meeting was a talk and mini-workshop on the technique of cyanotype (blueprint) led by artist Barbara Gunter-Jones
She showed a range of her work, more of which can be seen on her website, then gave a demonstration. The group made cyanotype prints on paper. The technique is the same on fabric, but the process takes longer than on paper.
Luckily we had a sunny day, so we could get out of the hall and into the sunshine to get our experiments to react.
I found it fascinating how the image became positive and then negative as the colours changed with the chemical reactions.

For the Summer Term from Easter to July, we showed a selection of work from the 'Whatever floats your boat...' exhibition in the dramatic modern architectural setting of the Langley Academy main foyer.

We received some lovely feedback from Suzie who invited us to show our work:
"Displaying ‘Whatever floats your boat’ was an opportunity to show our students how contemporary designers use museums. Our work at the academy is about showcasing museum collections and making those collections relevant to our students, this exhibition explored this. Our GCSE textile students were able to see the range of interpretations and use that in research for their studies. We would definitely be interested in displaying future work."

Suzie Parr, Langley Academy
The Langley Academy is the only school in the UK with a museum learning focus. Museums are gateways to real things, real stories and real people; museum collections make learning meaningful for students.

And here are some photos of the work in situ. Note the advantage of the glass case for the beautiful presentation of the ribbons of Jane Edmonds Olympic Contrasts folded book, and lovely to see the iron on display next to Christine Restall's sample piece for her work Flat Irons.

Artists shown were: Gaynor Lloyd, Jane Edmonds, Mary Parry, Vicki Chambers, Jane Glennie, Delia Salter, Margaret Cooter, Ros Crouch, Clare Williams and Christine Restall.

Fantastic article on our upcoming exhibition in Newbury (19 September to 26 October) at the National Needlework Archive by Delia Salter. Get your copy ...

We were excited to hear about how Alysn transitioned from scientist to textile artist. Some of the knowledge from her degree has helped her in knowing and understanding the chemical changes in the techniques she uses for her work. Alysn also spoke about her design processes and how those work when she is designing items such as unique commissioned wedding gowns. Aspects of balancing gallery ownership with making and showing work in other places was also very fascinating.

We were very glad to learn we'd been able to have her come before she takes off for New Zealand! Although Alysn intends to spend a few months here, her popularity will probably mean she is fully booked during those times!

In the afternoon Alysn led her ‘Impressive Metals’ Workshop and the group joined in the scoring, painting and sewing of metal. The kits supplied were full of lovely bits and pieces. As well as having a go with embossing the metal, we experimented with using acrylic inks to colour the metal. Very interesting.