Saturday 28 April 2012

Stroud textiles

We went to the opening of an exhibition in Stroud last night, 'Conversations and Collaborations.'
A couple of our friends had their work on display.








Mary La Trobe Bateman OBE, patron for the Stroud International Textiles introduced Joanna Foster, who was opening the exhibition. Both women were wonderfully dressed, in lovely fabrics of bright, bold pattern. They were both in red and black and took a surprised look at each other when they first met in the gallery! There was such a crush of people at the opening speech that I could not get a photograph of them together. I caught up with Mary later to admire her wonderful jacket and her scarlet tights and shoes, which are sadly in the shadow in my photo and not displaying their vibrant colour.
I WANT  SOME SCARLET SHOES!




Joanne Foster CBE is chair of The Crafts Council and President of the Oxfordshire Crafts Guild. You can see what a matching pair they made!

The gallery was awash with makers. Interestingly there was very little colour to be found in the artwork and installations, it was all very monochrome. But the makers themselves were arrayed in delicious fabrics, all colour and texture.
 Curator, Alice Kettle.
What did I wear?
I was rather monochrome myself. Gap grey cotton lawn blouse, LBD at least thirty years old!
Black tights and Duo suede shoes.
We drove to Stroud in the rain and we came back home in yet another downpour.
That's it, Im packing my bag. 
 I will not be visible on Visible Monday, I'm going in search of some sunshine before it starts to web between my toes. 


6 comments:

  1. You are more than welcome to come in my direction and dry out for a time. Enjoy your weekend. Bonnie

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    1. Oh, that would be really nice, Bonnie. As it is we are flying much closer to home, just a short trip with friends to the Canaries.

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  2. What a wonderful event. That was an interesting observation, how most of the textiles on the wall were muted and the people attending were colourful. Sometimes I think there is an expectation that "serious" art is dark, in all senses, at least around here. Have fun in the sun!

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  3. Yes, I think that it is a similar attitude to art over here - I'm glad that you are bucking the trend, Melanie! (My friend Janet Haigh's piece of work was the only one with any joyful colour.)

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  4. Thank you for this inspiring posting. It inspires me to visit events like the one you visited, since I really enjoy art. Those women very generous, letting you take pictures of them, no? In Vienna people almost always show their grumpy faces when I want to take a photo of them, which always remembers me of the sage of Indians in North America who did not want the white men to steal their souls.

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  5. These women had all dressed themselves with such care that I think they were pleased that I appreciated their effort. There were a number of other people whom I would love to have snapped but did not do so because I was not too sure what their reaction would be.

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