Bath Open Studios

 This weekend I went to visit my mum and dad in Bath.  My mother, Lindy Wright has a studio in Bath Artist Studios and it just happened that this weekend was their open studios event. So before we went out to dinner on Friday evening, mum and I headed down there for the opening night. Bath Artist Studios has over 60 artists in residence and so there was quite a lot to see, but here is a handful, along with work for my mother.

Lindy Wright

This is one of my mother's most recent portraits. I love the way she has used the 1950's style print of the  subject's kitchen curtains as a backdrop.

Some pictures of my mother's studio, I haven't seen this one since she moved from the basement, when she first started renting a studio here, so it was nice to see where she spends a lot of her time.

 Just a few sketches that are tacked up on her wall, but all feature figures in clothing, which is what I need to practise drawing. I particularly like the movement she has managed to create in the blue dress.


Paula Tew

This piece in the exhibition caught me eye. Paula Tew has an MA in Textiles, Fashion and surface design and studied book binding whilst living in Japan. I wonder if this book binding technique would work with stiffened fabric?

Stella Brookes-Penrose

It was good to finally meet my mum's friend Stella. Stella studied Fashion at the RCA with Ossie Clark and has lectured at St Martins and the London College of Fashion. Stella's love of textiles, colour and pattern shines through in her paintings, which could also be described as fashion illustrations.

Anne Barclay - Colchester Open Studios

Last week I received some information in the the post about induction week and included was a little booklet advertising Colchester Open Studios. After a quick flick through to see what was on, the listing for Anne Barclay's studio caught my eye. I have always admired the tailoring and details used in historical clothing, which I have seen up close at the Fashion Museum in Bath or I have longed to own whilst watching Bright Star, The Duchess or Downtown Abbey. So I thought it would be really interesting to meet a designer with some of the same interests as myself.

 

I was so glad that I had gone, because Anne Barclay was lovely and her studio was amazing. Not only that but she has two daughters, similar in age to my own, and so Ella, who was a bit reticent about coming, ended up having a fantastic time playing with her girls and having her face painted, I almost had to drag her home!

I found out that Anne actually did her MA at Colchester, where I am studying, and also that she has taught a module on the actual course I am studying, small world!

Anne's latest collection is inspired by Regency, Victorian and Edwardian riding and hunting apparel. I particularly like the Frock Coat and Ruffled Spencer You can view and order from her website here.

For her MA, Anne explored the relationship between family, clothing and the undisclosed self. I find the social history of textiles intriguing, so we ended up having a long but interesting, multi-tangented chat about her research for the MA.

I had a quick flick through her sketch books, this is a sample of discharge printing on silk using old handwriting similar to this antique ledger she had in her studio.

This is an area of her wall that she uses like a ever changing mood board, I can't wait until I get into year 3 and actually have my own space to use like this.

 Anne was having a fabric and yarn sale on the day, as well as selling off some of the vintage textiles that she has amassed and the beautiful handmade brooches she makes from broken vintage jewellery and watches. I treated myself to to some handmade lace, vintage fur pieces and and some pretty yarn.

So all in all it was a lovely afternoon!

A Day in Rob Ryan's Studio

 As I'm sure that I've mentioned before, my little sister Libby works for the papercut artist Rob Ryan. So back in april, whilst my little girl was away on a brownie camp for the week I managed to escape to London's east end for a day working with her in his studio. I've already met Rob Ryan himself on a few occasions, but on this particular day he was off on his holidays, so it was a bit of an 'odd-job quite day' as Libby put it.

As you can probably imagine, it's a bit odd having your little sister boss you around, a bit of a role reversal, but the bossy Wright woman gene has not by-passed her and she did a grand job.

It didn't stop me having a bit of fun behind her back (literally) tee hee!

I wasn't just playing with sticky dots though. My task was to layout mini Rob Ryan logos on photoshop so that when they are printed onto the sticky dot sheet, they are all in the middle of a dot. So I had to peel off all the dots on one sheet and scan it, then use it as a guide so I knew where to place each logo perfectly. Simple but clever, I'll remember that one!

Amongst other jobs like shopping for, and cooking lunch for everyone, and then washing up. Libby let me loose on putting some water slide decals on mugs, which was really tricky. It is all slippy and you have to get all the bubbles out of it, by being quite firm with your smoothing, but not so firm that you stretch or break the decal and it has to line up when you get to the end, or it creases when you try to line it up. By my fourth one I'd finally got the hang of it, but by that time Libby had got fed up with helping me with my mistakes, so she got me wrapping tiles and moving a load of these kitty cats  round to the other studio instead.

dyeing with nature

I stumbled across this beautiful and inspiring blog, via Pinterest, called Tinctory .

Eva uses silk and smocking to create beautiful pleated jewellery, but what has inspired me the most is her experiments with natural dying. Once I come back of holiday I will definitely be ordering myself some Japanese indigo plants from here and trying out some of her techniques especially the steam printing and ice flowers.

More Knit Inspiration

Some more great knit inspiration from Irenebrination

I made it with my hands

This is my new favourite Rob Ryan screen print. I love the sentiment, I'm sure it will ring true with a lot of creative people too. You can buy it here.

Walcott Vintage Market, Bath

Such a subtle print created with such an intricate design.

love the cross hatched texture created in these two prints 

beautiful chinoiserie style embroidery used in this shawl 

adore the brush stroke painterly effect created in this stripe print.

Crabbing on Mersea Island

New Designers 2012

My trip to New Designers 2012 was, if I'm honest, a bit overwhelming. Although I have been once before (to see my sister's stand a few years back) I didn't really go round the whole thing properly. when I arrived I went round the whole thing once quite quickly and then I sort of tried to go back over it and make a note of some of the graduates work that appealed to me. I didn't take any photos because I wasn't sure if your are allowed to, and I kind of expected them all to have blogs or websites showcasing their work. But that turned out to be a mistake, as surprisingly some of them didn't.


Hannah Simpson - Knitted Textiles @ Buckingham & Chilterns University

Samantha Gardiner - Textile Design @ Somerset College

Kirsty Ridge - Textile Design @ Arts University College at Bournemouth

Anna Piper - Woven Textiles @ Nottingham Trent University

Kayleigh Daft - Textile Design @ University of Derby

Andrea da Costa - Knitted Textiles @ Central St Martins College of Art & Design

Hannah Ffion Alderman - Textile Design @ Central St Martins College of Art & Design

Eleanor Kingdon - Textile Design @ University College Falmouth

Emma Louise Castle - Textile Design @ University College Falmouth

Jennifer Hollidge - Textile Design @ University College Falmouth

Anyway, I've done some detective work and have managed to find at least some link to them. Next time I will be more prepared, and perhaps a bit braver come 2013.

One thing I did take away with me was the amount of competition for jobs, and it has driven home in me the importance of me not going down my usual route of being a 'jack-of-all-trades and a master of none'. It is true that having a understanding of all the different processes that are encompassed in fashion and textiles is important, as it makes you flexible in the workplace, but at the same time I think it is clearly important to be really good in a specialised area and not just mediocre in everything. 

Final Outcome finished - Apron dress

The Sun popped it's hat on briefly this morning, so I hot footed it up to my allotment to take some photos of my finished apron dress...