For centuries women have used cloth as a tool of comfort and as an expression of beauty within their homes. Creating cloth for warmth, cloth for shelter, our female predecessors embellished these linens with hand stitch using laborious and time consuming techniques thereby enhancing the functional beauty of objects which enveloped and protected their families. Inspired by these women I hope my creations pay tribute to and recognise the devotion expressed in cloth by our female ancestors .







''the use of traditional often time consuming process alludes to the devotion of a mother''. c K. A. Ruane 2007







Saturday, September 13, 2008

Today was the preview of an exhibition where I have two pieces of work. Regular readers of this blog will be fully aware of my OCD and because of that I just had to be there first thing to make sure the work was hung properly. (to my ocd standards anyway! no disrespect to the gallery staff who know much more than me about this kind of thing.) I managed to take some photos but they don't really do much justice to the work or the setting. I always struggle to get images of the full piece, they are either blurred or not bright enough. Anyway, if you are local to this gallery try and pop along and take a look, I would be interested in your thoughts.












When I got home I decided to try and sort out one of my 'corners'. I have loads of corners at home where I keep my stuff. None of them have any order or logical arrangement to them...they are just corners of 'stuff', things that may be useful, things I have acquired merely because I like them even if they are useless. I chose this corner to show you today because of all the colour there is, and as you know I don't really do colour. So from now on this will be known as my 'looking at' corner.















I have lots to tell you today along with the exhibition and corner explanation......... do you remember I completed a commission for the person who discovered she was going to be a grandma for the first time by text message? Well the baby arrived last thursday so I want to say welcome to baby Isobel!!
Next, it will soon be my 200th post. I really find it hard to believe that this has been going on so long. So I am going to rack my brains and come up with a give away for the occasion, stay tuned for that!
Finally, I promised some new blogs for you to look at in honour of the awards I got recently. If these are not new to you then I apologise. They are blogs I visit regularly but haven't yet got around to putting in my link list, have fun looking!

11 comments:

Camilla said...

I'd love to see some of your work in real life sometime. Well, apart from the pieces I own! Which reminds me- I finally got my act together and started to give people away my part of our PIF exchange- I hope to have something on its way to you soon. I think I still have your address!

Paula Hewitt said...

The wrapping cloths look great displayed.
thanks for the link x

Jane said...

Must be lovely to see your work on display like that. A welcome reward for all the time you have put into them

Gina said...

Wish I lived nearer and could see your work in the exhibition.

Anonymous said...

I did see the exhibition and as always it never fails to be stunning work, so much better when seen close up, the work should be in a gallery for future gernerations to see. Oh and as I remember you were supposed to be cleaning up that day, nice to see you also had time for the nicer things in life.
Jill

Gayle said...

Absolutely beautiful! Oh, and I enjoyed looking into all of your glass jars.

Victoria said...

The exhibit looks so beautiful, Karen! wish I could see it in person! And I like your corner stash!

Anonymous said...

Oh my! Your embroidery took my breath away. The intricacy must have taken hours. It kind of reminds me of a wedding, have you done any wedding dresses? I would love to try embroidery, but I am afriad I lack the patience for any area where I cannot use my sewing machine!

Jacky said...

Hi Karen, how lovely to see my blog link in your post... and thank you for popping by and visiting as you do.
I loved visiting the other blogs you mentioned too. A couple of them I knew, but love being introduced to new blogs.
Your pieces in the exhibition are simply gorgeous, you must feel so proud!
Loved seeing your "colourful" corner too (I would love to get into those jars!!!)
Enjoy your exhibition and thanks for the photos.

KT Mo Design Studio said...

Hello. I say your pieces in the exhibition and thought I recognised them from you flickr pictures. I have long admired your beautiful work which is even more beautiful in person. I have a piece in the same exhibition....sometimes its a small world.

jackie said...

Even your little jars of 'stuff' look pretty - you should see my heaps!