Urchfont Manor - episode 2

You might have sat on one very special bench outside Urchfont Manor at tea or coffee breaks or for our 'goodbye' group photo last year as above. That special bench is in memory of Tom Barklem, a past Vice Principal and lecturer of ancient history who led many of his adult students around Greece and Italy on educational expeditions. Tom wrote the small book 'The History of Urchfont Manor' which is a fascinating story about the building and the alterations made over the centuries as different generations 'modernised'.

Tom has three sons and as well as a lovely garden bench, they now wish to buy Urchfont Manor itself and retain it in its current function to provide residential adult education. This seems to be the fairy godmother act that everyone was hoping for but never really thought would materialise. As you might imagine, this does not automatically 'save' Urchfont as Wiltshire Council need convincing that there is a demand 'out there' from adult students in order to persuade them to accept this bid and not to seek a much higher one, which they might get on the 'free market'.

Wiltshire Council have been censured for their lack of public consultation before last weeks vote so another is being taken on the 30th January. Can you help them in their 'consultation' and email the chair, Jane Scott and let her know how vital and enriching Urchfont has been in your life and wish it to continue providing adult education. So many of you come to Wiltshire from other parts of the UK and other countries of the world. Let her know what a gem Urchfont is in the world of adult education' and most importanly of all, please give your backing to the Barklem bid to buy Urchfont Manor.

Please email Jane Scott before the 30th - jane.scott@wiltshire.co.uk 

Many thanks to you all.

Sad news of Urchfont Manor

I have very sad news about Urchfont Manor College. Wiltshire Council has decided it must close to save money. So unless some rescue plan or fairy godmother comes forward, it will close its doors in September 2012. I am sorry that the devoted staff will lose the jobs they all do so well.

I can't say how sad this makes me to lose such a wonderful venue as I have been teaching at Urchfont since 1982 as a young embroidery tutor alongside Val Campbell Harding. I have become fond of the heroic staff who give their services so cheerfully. My husband has worked out that I have spent a whole year of nights slept there in total!

Events such as the Distant Stitch Summer School will go ahead as usual this year and Mandy has said that they will make sure it is one to remember. So this will be your last chance to meet up at Urchfont - so sign on now before it is full. Even though the venue for the 2013 is yet not known, two tutors have been booked already so be assured it will take place and we will establish a new Summer School 'home. It will be difficult to find somewhere as good as Urchfont, but I will try my best.

Urchfont is the City and Guilds Examinations Centre for Distant Stitch. This will be re-located to another similar Centre in due course so all business with City and Guilds will continue as normal as far as students are concerned.

Similarly with the Masterclass weekends I tutor, a new home will be found for us to meet up for our weekends together.

To remind you of those lovely days at Urchfont, take a look through the Summer School pics on the Distant Stitch website and wonder back through the years to see Urchfont Manor and fellow students and their work. 

Walking around the gardens at Urchfont on a recent frosty day.

Looking into the nest

'The Empty Nest', shown in my previous posting, will be part of the 62 Group exhibition, 'Interventions', at Platt Hall from tomorrow until 19th May. Check out the opening times on thier website http://www.manchestergalleries.org/our-other-venues/platt-hall-gallery-of-costume/exhibition-programme/

I wonder why I was attracted to this recent find in a nearby hedge, a small nest? It has been lovingly constructed in the shape of a heart by a goldfinch someone said.

A communal drawing day at a local church hall allowed me precious time away from the computer (much as I love you) to do some drawings of this nest. A warm-up exercise asked us all to do an 'unseen' drawing with our eyes closed of our faces by recording only from touch with our left hands. A very interesting exercise!

Here are a few of the most interesting ones of my little nest, done perhaps as a way of 'looking into' something.

Chalk on black paper, using the edge of the square pastelstick.

Charcoal and soft pencil.

Black pastel stick, charcoal and soft pencil.

Monoprinted base layer with added black pastel chalk and pencil.

Second print with added drawn lines of black and grey pastel sticks.

Textile response

I’ve just finished a piece of work and it’s packaged up and sent off for selection – hopefully – in the next 62 Group exhibition. I thought you might be interested to see my response to an item from the museum collection of Platt Hall, where the exhibition will open in January 2012.

This is the item I chose after a research visit last summer – it’s a child’s bonnet made of extremely fine silk net. The 3D form is barely visible except for the solid lines of the seams. I made some quick sketches a and took photos in the short time I had in their wonderful store room, filled with hundreds of boxes containing the most exquisite textiles. Platt Hall is only open to the public in the afternoons and 3 hours was just not enough!

   

My newly discovered skills of working with willow seemed a good way of describing the lines of the seams so I soaked, tied, bent and coaxed my locally grown will into lovely curved shapes. I also broke and snapped more than I bent! I take my hat off to willow basket makers everywhere.

The ‘net’ was made from stitched paper, using pages from my old school sketchbooks, recently discovered in my loft. Many pages were machine stitched together making a long surface of about 3.5 metres. Many more lines were then stitched all over to form a connecting network. This stitching created the ‘net’ after being soaked and scrubbed in the sink – I didn’t risk the washing machine in case too much of the paper disappeared.

  

After lots of trials of how to attach the ‘net’ to the willow and how to form an interesting shape –

(no details here but to all who have deliberated and are currently deliberating with a ‘creation’, you will know the joys of anguish and indecision) this is what emerged – ‘The Empty Nest’.

It can be suspended or

placed on a surface.

Happy Christmas!

Drawing Project–Christmas Competition–with prizes!

This is it – the finale to the Drawing Project – well at least for the time being!

I am inviting you to take part in the Distant Stitch Drawing Competition – with lovely prizes -

• A £50 Voucher towards a Module of any Distant Stitch Course for you or a friend to be used in 2012.
• A £25 voucher from Art Van Go (See Trusted Traders section on www.distantstitch.co.uk)
• A £25 voucher from Ario  (See Trusted Traders section on www.distantstitch.co.uk)

This competition is open to any one who is a non-professional artist, whether you are a Distant Stitch student or not.

There will be three jurors – Jan Evans (Distant Summer School tutor), Viv White (Distant Stitch Creative Sketchbooks tutor) and myself, Sian Martin.

After judging, a selection of the submitted drawings will be posted on a special gallery on the Distant Stitch website along with links to your blog.

The title or theme is “Looking Into”.

A drawer containing ‘things’ could perhaps come under this title. I have a large cupboard of tiny drawers, rescued from a closing chemist’s shop. Peeling the tatty sticky labels off the outsides and scrubbing off years of grime revealed the original painted labels in gold. So now you can see what I keep in my ‘opium turc’ drawer! Any chemists out there who can tell me what ‘r:helleb:a:p’ is please?

What else could you ‘look into’? For all the details and hints on how to get started take a look at the Distant Stitch website.

Drawing Competition

Look out for a major Drawing Competition to be published here soon.

Visit my blog again to find out the details and the prizes!

Open to all.

Get your sketchbooks ready!

Poppies and vessels in Weston-super-mare

A full class of lovely students at Weston-super-mare, pulled threads from the coloured linen scrim replaced them with stitching and then moulded it into flower and vessel shapes. The day was a ‘Remove and Replace’ workshop which takes withdrawn threadwork to extremes. Many people chose to make poppies as tomorrow is Remembrance Day and what better than to wear ‘one you made yourself’.

Here is my demonstration sample and I will wear mine tomorrow.

A vessel was made by forming a flat piece of linen over a selection of large balls and adapted bowls– no flat bottoms please – these are art pieces!

My next workshop will be at Plas Tan y Bwlch in North Wales. This will be a two day Shibori workshop. Come and join in the fun of steam-setting weird shapes into your fabrics and being in this wonderful place in the middle of the Snowdonia National Park.