Burnt Offerings: September 2017

Tuesday, 26 September 2017

Getting Hot Wet and Sticky in Rotorua

Tui Ridge Retreat

In a rural corner just north of Rotorua lies a retreat camp called Tui Ridge. It has been the location for the last 18 years of the Regional Retreat for the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Embroiderers’ Guilds. I last taught here 2 years ago and have very distinct memories of a lively group, eager to learn from their tutors and have fun. I find that in New Zealand there is a preponderance of tutoring in very specialist traditional hand stitch techniques, and that as a mixed media experimenter, I offer a very different experience to this – as you might imagine goldwork, fine hand stitching versus burning, ripping, waxing etc. which form part of my repertoire (an interesting position to be in as I am more used to considering myself as mainstream!).

Two years ago at Tui Ridge we explored both metal and Angelina fibres and how to incorporate those into their work. It was a great validation when one participant from that course told me how many pieces she had developed with the techniques and that it had stayed with her as part of her art and textile practice, and another brought me an example of work she had developed after the course, and several others commented on their positive experiences then also.

Angelina and metal book cover

Enough of the members must have been enthused I was really pleased to be asked to be a tutor again this year, and as I now had a better understanding of the quirky sense of fun and as we were near to the geothermal springs, famed for their distinctly sulphurous smells of Rotorua I named my course this year ‘Hot, Wet and Sticky’.

This involves hot wax, paper, hot water, hot irons, wet fibres and sticky glues. We spent time learning the techniques and by the afternoon session on day two, we were starting into developing individual pieces.

Jo Ann getting hot and wet

A typically busy workshop space

Watching participants have to make the transition from being led through techniques under close instruction to then be putting their creative thinking hats on is always a delicate time in a workshop. Guiding people through examining what they have enjoyed, how the techniques fit with their own style and interests and which ideas they will put together is a very important time in a workshop situation and can cause more or less trepidation for participants. However, with a gentle nudge here and there the ideas soon flow and by evening time all are on their own journey. On the Sunday morning session, we all continue to personalise the pieces and if not complete, then solve any issues and ask the questions which are required to enable everyone to complete their pieces.
Here are just a few examples in various stages of 'finished':

Participant work from 'Hot, Wet and Sticky' workshop with Alysn Midgelow-Marsden

I was not the only tutor for the weekend, Shirley Pygott, Robyn Hart and Kerry Seeley taught beautiful stitch projects:

Robyn Hart

Shirley Pygott

Kerry Seeley

The organiser, Linda, was kind enough to send through some of the comments she received on the feedback forms. Including:
- Great tutor - plenty of time.

- Fun, uses low cost supplies.
- Everyone (I think) able to achieve what they wanted. Lots of options and freedom to be able to develop own ideas.

- I liked the new techniques.

- There was plenty of time to practice what we learned and were given good, supportive direction during assembly.

- I like the class because it gave me scope to be creative.

- Always love Alysn’s classes.

- Most enjoyable class.

- We could work at our own pace and not feel inadequate and makes one relax more.

Thank you to the ladies of the Waikato and Bay of Plenty Region, you were fabulous.

A little reminder that everyone has their own journey, whether it shows on the outside or not – Thank you to Maureen, a stately lady, moving around with some difficulty who only lately started to visiting the retreats. Maureen told us her story about being a Bluebell girl in Paris and her backstage encounter with Frank Sinatra. Never forget that others have experiences and lives to be proud of – and don’t keep your stories hidden – they make us what we are. It reminded me of why I made the piece below called 'our personal journeys mark us'.

Our Personal Journeys Mark Us by Alysn Midgelow-Marsden

Friday, 8 September 2017

UK 2017, Part three and last.

No laughing, filming in progress

I had managed to organise two days of filming with Steve Balaam from Big Ant Video and press ganged my sister and niece to be models to create a short film using the dresses/costumes I have made over the past year. We had decided on Anglesey as our location partly because I did my first degree at Bangor University and the island of Anglesey was for a while a second home. It is always a pleasure to revisit the area, I am familiar with the feel of the area and was certain that there would be suitable film sites for us. There are plenty of atmospheric location options to choose from on Anglesey, including Neolithic burial sites, early British villages, ruined medieval churches, beaches, copper mines and quarries and cliffs.

Bryn Celli Dhu

Rhos Neigr

Unnamed cove nearby

Din Lligwy village

Church at Din Lligwy

Crypt at the church

Parys Mountain

Understand, this is not big film crew stuff, this is Steve (filming and all things technical, who will also be the producer, is an artistic film genius and musician), Vida and Naomi (models and dancers) and myself as support crew, costume carrier and refreshment supervisor. The outcome however will be an amazing short film playing with the properties of the steel fabric and wire costumes.

Steve

Steve with groovy camera on a stick

Late night between shots.

Can you just dance a bit on those rocks, in the wind, please?

What can you say about Welsh summer weather? About as good as the rest of the UK this summer I suspect, and that is mixed to horrid! Having said that, we were especially lucky with the weather which rained on both mornings but cleared later giving us afternoons and the long summer evenings to film in. So we danced in rock crevices, in the sea, in a bronze mine, abandoned villages and churches from noon to midnight, with lights and smoke bombs, capturing some beautiful footage. The next stage will be to add more images, layer these together with the costumes and movement from this session and to create a sound track. Not a quick job, so this will be happening in stages over months or even a year (watch this space as they say)

Balance and dance, not at all slippery on those rocks!

Pretend you are a breathing rock!!

So, a brief taster! Just ait till you see what we can do with these!

Revisiting Angelsey this time was a great pleasure as there seems to be an uplift about the place, a modernisation of the cafes/bars/attractions which I can’t help but believe will be a great benefit to the island. We made a special effort to visit the new (ish) Oystercatcher at Rhos Neigr. This is a Huff house which includes a very stylish restaurant and bar set in the dunes at the coast (a great place to retreat between filming when the weather closed in).

Finally a big thanks to Sue and Sarah of Golden Hinde embroidery supplies for letting us use their holiday home as our base for the duration.

The Festival of Quilts at Birmingham’s NEC is always a fantastic show – if you get a chance to visit, whether you are a quilter or an artist in any medium, there is so much to see. The highlights were too many to mention.

A special mention though for Tui and her mum, Suileti whom I had asked to come to the show to celebrate the tapa cloth traditions about which they are experts. Their words say it better than I can:

'The decoration of Tongan tapa cloth is an art form in perpetual transition. Each generation adds their own innovations. This transition can be charted in the works of Sulieti Fieme’a Burrows and her daughter Tui Emma Gillies.
Sulieti’s work is rooted in the traditions of her native Tonga. Often It is a mix of symbols connected to the royal family and Christianity and imagery aimed at catching the eye of tourists, such as flowers, fish and turtles.
Tui was born and brought up in New Zealand’s biggest city, Auckland, which is also the world’s biggest Polynesian city and her work is much more modern.
It is influenced by the work of her mother and grandmother but also draws inspiration from the world of contemporary art and her own experiences as a half Tongan-half European woman, mother and artist.
Tui’s art is often overtly political. One piece, which was a finalist in the Walker & Hall art awards, is a royal portrait of her mother, an ordinary working class woman with her history painted into the designs of her clothing. Another shows Tonga’s late King George V surrounded by angels taking the souls of the victims of an infamous ferry sinking to heaven.
Tui is one of the most challenging and exciting practitioners of tapa art working in the medium and is blazing a trail that many artists are now beginning to follow.
She and Sulieti have also helped revive tapa art in Sulieti’s home village of Falevai in Tonga and their experiences there were captured in the short documentary Falevai Flava.'

Tui and Sulieti

Painting on Tapa Cloth by Tui Emma Gillies

Another stand out show was by Diana Harrison, she says:
'‘Traces in Cloth’, is showing fabric, patchwork and quilt produced by the marks left behind after layers of process have been applied. The stitching, dyeing, shrinking, bleaching, and printing combine to create pieces that reflect my individual ideas and aesthetic.
In these textiles I have recently used and manipulated found items, by unstitching previously sealed pillowcases or overdyeing and bleaching into handkerchiefs, I am working with the original measurements and cloth qualities, boundaries are given and this defines the outcome. The format and history is still evident but transformed.'

Traces in Cloth by Diana Harrison

Other offerings which took my attention were the historic quilts, a group quilt by prisoners and this recycled clothing quilt.

The Scottish Region of the EG host their annual summer school at Stirling university, and it has a reputation for selecting great tutors. I was pleased to have been asked to be one of four tutors this year and had been looking forward to getting there as my last engagement of this UK trip.

The Wallace monument through the dreich.

The weather continued to prove to be mixed ('driech' is the correct term I am assured), however the warm and energetic atmosphere created by enthusiastic stitching, painting, burning and chatting from all participants and the other tutors more than compensated. Our late night parties in the hall kitchens took me back to student years!

The other tutors were the amazing Amanda Clayton, Carol Naylor and Tracy Franklin. Here we are sheltering from the rain at Stirling Castle, enjoying 99's, as insisted upon by Mandi - naughty girl!

Amanda Clayton, Tracy Franklin, Carol Naylor, and myself with ice-cream in the rain.

I oversaw two courses over the 5 days. Firstly ‘Personal Statements’, in which we explore the properties of metal fabrics and Lutradur in the context of simple patchwork and collage and favourite phrases.

Personal Statements course, Scottish EG Summer School 2017. Tutor Alysn Midgelow-Marsden

Secondly ‘Wild Wire Weaving’

Wild Wire Weaving course, Scottish EG Summer School 2017. Tutor Alysn Midgelow-Marsden

And just like that, it was all over. Back on a plane (or two) to NZ.
Brian managed about a day before telling me to stop rearranging furniture (a regular habit on my return) and starting his countdown to my next UK sojourn (54 weeks apparently – not that he’s counting!).