8th-19th June 2009
Apple blossoms and Forget me not’s
An Exhibition of Contemporary Embroidery by Beth Blake (B a hons)
This Exhibition is a reflection of my immediate environment, using observed drawings and photography to create Embroidery wall pieces. The inspirations I find there in various shapes and forms are translated into my Artwork creating representational images of nature and life. Graduating in Embroidery (from Manchester Met uni) opened my mind to many forms of creative expression through textiles and the stitch and I try to include and experiment with as many of these as I can in my Artwork. The Exhibition demonstrates various techniques ranging from patch work to piecing, reverse appliqué, weave, hand and machine embroidery, and printing. I find it hard to work on a single piece of fabric and find piecing and patch work solves this issue and find it to be a really beautiful way to create an interesting background to an observed image.
Influences and inspirations
Art Nouveau style has always caught my eye. The way it uses our natural world and its sinuous lines to its striking advantage fascinates me. I feel fabric, thread and the stitch lends itself to such a natural line which is why these things sit so prominently in my most recent work. Old things generally interest me, like botanicals studies of plants from Botanists and Naturalists such as Alfred Wallace to Victorian ladies such as the “Frampton flora collection of wild flowers”. Classic books such as “The country Diary of an Edwardian Lady” By Edith Holden, also inspires me through her beautiful observations of nature. Antique Japanese panels and prints have also influenced my work through their simplicity of line and natural forms.
Aspirations for the future
The possibilities and beauty of the stitch in a decorative and expressive form for both the home and more public art environments I feel is not fully recognised by contemporary society. Where sculpture, painting, conceptual and installation Art has been pushed to the fore front of the contemporary Art scene and society in general I feel the stitch has been reserved for select groups and enclosed in the pages of library books. I would love my work and future career to be instrumental in raising the prominence of the stitch once more in homes and communities and the contemporary Art scene.
