Begin Your Creative Journey with the School of Stitched Textiles

Begin Your Creative Journey with the School of Stitched Textiles

For almost 20 years the School of Stitched Textiles has been delivering textile craft courses to crafters and creators across the world. From their humble beginnings as a needlecraft centre based in a quiet Lancashire village, the School of Stitched Textiles has become a globally renowned provider and one of the few centres delivering impressive distance learning courses.

The School of Stitched Textiles’ creative journey began back in 2000 when the now Head of Centre, Dr Gail Cowley established the school. With a specialism in Designing Textiles and Metal and a postgraduate cert in Education, as well as a PhD in e-Learning, Gail went about combining her expertise in both education and craft to deliver City & Guilds of London textile programmes in Embroidery and Patchwork.

After a few years the demand for courses far outweighed the teaching space available so Gail went about designing City & Guilds courses that could be delivered via distance learning - expanding their remit and their reach. Today the School offers an impressive range of textile based courses including knitting, crochet, hand embroidery, machine embroidery, stumpwork, textiles, felting and patchwork & quilting, across varying skill levels, making them the UK’s largest distance learning provider delivering City & Guilds accredited textile courses. 

Gail says, ‘it took us the best part of five years to establish all of the courses we have on offer today because the approval process is so stringent. But certificated, accredited courses are vital for learning and expanding on correct techniques and encouraging creative ideas, which is why they are so important for those who wish to prove their skill level, either to themselves or to an employer or client.  Our graduate students have gone on to teach, author books, design patterns or go on to study further education. For beginners we believe that a certified course provides the best possible foundations for those looking to begin their creative journey.’ 

The accredited courses on offer are a serious business. With the average course taking around one and a half years to complete (depending on the speed you wish to tackle tasks) they definitely have a lot to offer. Gail adds, ‘many modules on each of our courses encourage students to use different techniques, experiment with ideas and play around with their own creativity. More importantly, the courses are fundamental to nurturing creative confidence, allowing people to take their craft to the next level, whatever that may be.’

And it’s not just for serious artists and crafters. The school has recently established a range of online courses for absolute beginners which are all delivered through online videos. These promise to be great introductions to new crafts as well as a fantastic opportunity to meet the tutors, and gain an insight into the more advanced accredited courses.

Intake for the accredited courses is limited and they only accept new students during enrolment which opens between 3 and 4 times per year. If you’re interested in enrolling you first need to express your interest via their website which is the only way to be invited to enroll. The School are also offering some Creative Bursaries for those that may not have the finances to pay for an accredited course and these can be applied for via their website, at https://www.sofst.org/bursary-application and the deadline for applications is 15th April, but will offer more bursaries towards the end of the year.

Whether you’re ready to begin something new or really starting to go places the School of Stitched Textiles say they are ready to help you on your creative journey.

No Serial Number - Eco Print

No Serial Number - A new magazine to me, and probably a new magazine to others. No Serial Number is on its seventh issue with a theme that is probably going to appeal to a lot of those who visit this site.

Dyes, fabrics, fibres are a central focus of this magazine, their central core in fact. It is interesting to have an arts magazine that embraces tradition and innovation within textiles, a number have tried before and never quite got the balance right, but No Serial Number seem to have got it right, even to the point of printing on recycled paper, something that is sure to appeal to many of you out there.

This new winter issue of No Serial Number focuses on eco printing, something that is gaining in popularity, gaining momentum within textile art and textile craft, and gaining space within the textile industry. The subtleties of the visual effects of natural dyeing and printing are also beginning to be appreciated. High, dense colour has its place, but so too does textured low-keyed colour. The complexity of natural dyeing is a near art form in its own right.

This issue of No Serial Number has reports on dye workshops, foraging for plants to use in printing, eco felt, practical dyeing details, recipes, experimenting, weaving, sustainability, traditions, All subjects connected to eco dyeing and printing, all subjects with long traditions, but also subjects with a very healthy contemporary feel and understanding to them.

I must admit, this is a great magazine for anyone interested in taking an holistic approach to textiles. It definitely has a feel of being connected to both past and present, to both textile art and textile craft, of being both global and regional, individual and tribe. Excellent!

For more information about No Serial Number, which is a pretty cool name by the way, check their website: http://noserialnumber.org/

Also check their social media: 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/noserialnumbermagazine

Twitter: https://twitter.com/N0serialnumberM

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noserialnumber.com_magazine/

Textile Artist and Designer Jennifer Gaye

Illustration: Jennifer Gaye. Ocean Current Series 1

Textiles as a medium, is broad and complex. It has a history that is domestic, as well as aesthetic, practical, as well as decorative, singularly one dimensional, as well as infinitely multi-dimensional. It is this dichotomy between textile as functional fabric, and textile as expressive artform, that helps to give broad expression to the textile world, but it can also, at the same time, make it difficult to understand what textile as art really is, and where it fits into the great complexity that is the creative arts.

Where textiles as art finds its eventual place, is still an ongoing one. That more and more artists and designers are turning towards the broadening of the scope of textile art as an expression of themselves and the world they both see and interact with, has changed the surface of textiles as art, literally.

Illustration: Jennifer Gaye. Ocean Hollow Series 1

Illustration: Jennifer Gaye. Ocean Hollow Series 2

The textile artist and designer Jennifer Gaye has a deep relationship with the discipline, in both her incarnations as artist and designer. It would be fair to say that Jennifer's work in both the art and design worlds helps to influence all aspects of her work. The line between art and design is often a thin and perforated one, much more so than is often imagined, it helps to make each aspect of her attention, whether art or design, the stronger for the understanding from the different aspect.

The  inspiration for her artwork often comes from the natural world, often from the wide scapes of ocean and sky. She is keen to represent the many tones and layers that help to make up these two scapes, ones that dominate not only our vistas, but the planet as a whole. Interestingly, Jennifer sees both scapes being intimately involved in our created urban landscapes, folding into the urbanity, blending and toning down the aggressiveness, the dysfunction that is so often found there. It is the calmness and innocence of ocean and sky, of their layers, levels, breezes and currents, that so often help to temper our artificial landscapes, but more importantly, help temper ourselves within those landscapes.

Illustration: Jennifer Gaye. Cool Breeze series 1

Illustration: Jennifer Gaye. Naturalised Urbanity Series

Jennifer creates the most beautiful of organic surfaces, each piece seeming to show the effortless drift of elements of sky and ocean. Currents of both realms are represented as careful layers of work, through layers of fabric and stitch. Almost ethereal in tone and feeling, her work shows no sharp edges and angles, no pressing urgency of direction, just the soft and gentle flowing of movement, seeming to both guide and glide along predetermined pathways, but pathways with only the gentlest hint of predetermination.

These beautiful surfaces show us that textile art is above all, one of feeling, of empathy, and of understanding. It is no coincidence that so many textile artists look to the natural world for inspiration. Nature has an affinity with the textile medium, as textiles have an affinity with nature. The two are so wrapt up with each other that it seems perfectly normal and expected when a textile artist projects an aspect of the natural world through their work. The textile art form has a sophistication of medium that is exemplified by the sensitivity of the artists that use the medium. Both are partners in their shared empathy with nature, and it is credit to Jennifer as a textile artist, that she exemplifies such a high standard of that shared empathy.

Illustration: Jennifer Gaye. Naturalised Urbanity Series

Illustration: Jennifer Gaye. Naturalised Urbanity Series

The work of Jennifer Gaye can be found at her comprehensive website: jennifergaye.com, as well as at facebook, and instagram.

Please be aware that the illustrations for this article were supplied by Jennifer herself. Please do not share any of these images without permission from the artist. Thanks!

Illustration: Jennifer Gaye. Bringing Home the Tartan

The Profanity Embroidery Group

Illustration: Annie Taylor. Fucketyfucketyfuckfuckfuck

Most textile disciplines have been around for countless generations. They have a long history of relevance and tradition, they also have a long history of being connectors of individuals, groups and communities, very often using innovation, and subversion.

Embroidery is a textile discipline in particular that has had more than its fair share of relevance, continually reinventing itself within different contemporary eras, with each successive generation finding the means to reinvent, or at least add towards, the strong tradition that it has as part of its history.

Illustration: Alison Fizgerald Lucas. Beaver

There is always a risk that if a discipline does not reflect the contemporary generation that uses it, at least in part, then its fate could well be to become fossilised within its own history, within its own tradition. This is not to say that all practitioners have to reflect the society that they find themselves in, but as long as an element does, the discipline moves forward, and a new expression has been added to the mix.

The Profanity Embroidery Group is one of those elements that is adding a contemporary flavour to the discipline of embroidery. It has only been formed recently, but is full of vigour, fun, and creative energy.

Illustration: Allie Lee. Can't be Arsed

The story of the group is best told by one of its founders the embroiderer Annie Taylor:

About 25 years ago, I sent a Rina Piccolo cartoon to my mother.  18 months or so ago, it fell out of one of her embroidery books, and she returned it to me.  It made me laugh so hard when I saw it, that I promptly shared it to my Facebook page.  It struck a chord with so many friends that within a matter of hours, our first Profanity Embroidery Group meeting. 

The cartoon is of a sweet old lady embroidering hearts and flowers and 'fuck the world': the title was 'Mrs Winchester finds a positive outlet for frustrated negative energy'. 

The Profanity Embroidery Group is made up of around twenty practitioners of varying skills, some had never sewn before, some were self-taught, and some had studied textiles before. The group is based in kent, England, and they meet up every other week at the Duke of Cumberland pub in Whitstable.

Illustration: Bridget Carpenter. Silly Bitch

Their first group project is the Quilt of Profanity which will be unveiled at their first exhibition to be held at the Fishslab Gallery, Whitstable, from February 10-16. Also on show will be a range of Valentine inspired pieces of embroidery work.

If you are going to the exhibition, and I highly recommend it, please be aware that the embroidery work does contain a liberal supply of rude words, so is perhaps not suitable for the young, and the easily offended.

The Profanity Embroidery Group facebook page can be found here, and the Profanity Embroidery Group exhibition facebook page can be found here.

Please be aware that all the imagery used in this article belong to the artists, so please don't reproduce them without permission from the individual artists named.

Illustration: Sarah Jesset. Wanker

The Artist Mary Mazziotti - Laughter in the Face of Death

Mary Mazziotti. A Day in the Life of Mrs Death, 1 in a series of 12, embroidered panel

The artist Mary Mazziotti produces a range of witty memento mori in a variety of guises, from embroidered textiles to full-sized billboards. Her work centres around the intention of producing work that will encourage the observer of her work to understand the fleeting ephemeral aspect that is the life that we live.

Mary Mazziotti. Shopping for Groceries, A Day in the Life of Mrs Death, 5 in a series of 12, embroidered panel

Death, the end of our brief lives, is a subject that none of us can ever be immune to, it doesn't matter how much money you have, how much you think your status on the planet gives you more than others, we all end up at the same place. 

How we approach the subject of the demise of each and every one of us, is a matter that has been treated in an endless array of social niceties across the many generations that our species has walked the planet. We have embraced, grudgingly accepted, or ignored death, we have danced with it, tried to trick it, and even tried to engineer others to take our place, but of course death gives us its eternal grin and takes us all anyway, regardless of what we do during our lives.

Mary Mazziotti. From the Cradle to the Grave, hand embroidery of vintage textile

Mary Mazziotti. From the Cradle to the Grave, hand embroidery on vintage textile

That is perhaps part of the appeal of the work of Mary, her big grin in the face of death. Mary treats the end of our lives with the droll humour and wit that it should perhaps be accorded more often, it is after all just another natural part of life, and if we are all faced with the same, then perhaps we should be at least familiar with it, rather than as we tend to do now, pretend it never happens, or if it does, to others, not ourselves.  

Mary Mazziotti. The Rake's Progress: Tom Gets a Fortune, 1 in a series of 8, embroidered panel

Mary Mazziotti. The Rake's Progress: Tom Marries a B-List Celebrity, 5 in a series of 8, embroidered panel

Mary's take on memento mori, literally "remember you will die", is part of a very long tradition that dates back to the Romans, if not before. "Remember you will die" could also be termed "be prepared, you will die". There are so many sneaky ways that death can sidle up to you nowadays, from pointed political terrorism, to the nonchalance of a moment's distraction on the road, it can happen in an instant, and often does.

So why are we so ill-prepared for our end? We declare as a culture, a zest for life, a love of what it is to be living in the moment that we hope is eternal, but never is. If being born is a part of the rich tapestry of our lives, then so too is death. The two should be celebrated as equals, but in reality births are a projection of collective hope, whilst death is hidden away as an unseemly individual experience, too stressing for our culture to experience.

Mary Mazziotti. Death at the Opera: Carmen, embroidered panel

Mary Mazziotti. Death at the Opera: Tosca, embroidered panel

Mary is an artist that asks us, through humour, to look at the facts of our lives with clarity, and if we can, humour. I personally love the inclusion of death as a healthy subject of creative debate, we spend far too much our time burying our experience of death deep within the interiors of our hospitals and care homes, and not enough within our popular and contemporary culture.

Mary Mazziotti. American Memento Mori: Tango, applique and embroidery on vintage textile

Therefore, I encourage you to visit Mary's website, www.mazziottiart.com, and to perhaps take some time to laugh with her, and perhaps even a chuckle with death at the absurdity of life, death, the universe, and everything.

Mary Mazziotti. Obituary billboard

The Fibre Fables Exhibition at The Stainless, New Delhi

The Fibre Fables exhibition, which is running at the The Stainless gallery, in New Delhi, India, is a collaborative effort between contemporary artists/film makers/ photographers/sculptors

​/

installation artists and weavers in Raj Group's factory at Panipat

​, India.​

The eleven participating artists are: Abeer Gupta, Brahm Maira, Dhvani Behl, Durga Kainthola, Nidhi Khurana, Nikheel Apahle, Puneet Kaushik, Sahaya Sharma, Sandeep Biswas, Shivani Aggarwal, Vibhu Galhotra.

This looks to be a fascinating collaborative effort between so many unique and individual artists, that it would be well worth visiting the gallery if you are in the New Delhi area throughout December 2015.

The curator of the exhibition is Shailin Smith, and it seems only right that, after so much effort put into the exhibition, they explain the reasoning behind Fibre Fables.

​The Raj Group was established in 1939, a

midst a growing industry of carpet weaving. They gradually evolved to establish high profile clients and today are one of the leading exporters and manufacturers of home décor in Panipat. Yet at the same time, somehow The Raj Group is in a paradoxical situation, where the glory of progress is dampened with the ever dwindling state of the weaving industry.  As machine made products take over the significance of fine hand crafted pieces, it is increasingly essential that the focus lies on salvaging the craft of an industry that has thrived for almost a century.

The idea for the exhibition emerged as a project that involved the collaboration of artists and weavers coming together to create works of art. 

​

This collaboration between art, design and craft, is a result of the relationship shared between the artists and weavers for almost a year.  Weaving in the collective aesthetic of knowing each other and responding to the marked journey full of experimental concepts. 

The artworks in this exhibition are not art itself; they are also a voice that echoes technique and craftsmanship. The works ubiquitously weave a visual fabric to communicate the many possibilities of liberal creative endeavour. They carry within, embedded memories that resonate an exchange of different disciplines and backgrounds. 

As the artists have learnt about various material forms and weaving techniques, the weavers have learnt to view their craft through the fresh perspective of art. Moving beyond boundaries, both have embraced a greater potential. And so the artist-weaver collaboration comes through in this exhibition, that aims to reflect what two creative souls can achieve, when they drop all inhibitions and dissolve in the purity of art. 

The Fibre Fables exhibition runs at The Stainless gallery, Old Ishwar Nagha, New Delhi, from November 21 to December 31. More information can also be found about the exhibition, and the work of the Raj group in general at the Raj Groups website, facebook, and instagram pages.

The Work of the Artist Dennis Potter

Illustration: Dennis Potter. Big Boro

Japan and Japanese culture has both fascinated and inspired creative individuals across the planet for generations. The defined nature of Japanese culture, both in the visual and in the conceptual, lends itself to a broad interpretation and reinterpretation by artists from a range of backgrounds and disciplines.

The artist Dennis Potter is inspired by a number of different elements of Japanese, and East Asian culture. He has travelled and lived in a number of environments through East Asia, and has been correspondingly influenced within his creative work by those environments.

Illustration: Dennis Potter. Big Boro, detail

One specifically Japanese inspired creative theme that Dennis has used in his work, is that of the kimono, more specifically the hakui, which is a kimono worn by Buddhist pilgrims who circumambulate the Japanese island of Shikoku. This specific and simple garment works as a metaphor for experience and memory, because it is inscribed with both printed seals and brush painted blessings and sutra written by monks visited by the pilgrim whilst wearing the kimono.

The kimono of the pilgrim becomes the skin of their experience whilst they are on the island. It becomes transformed by creative art, and by the experience of the pilgrimage. Therefore, walking the long treacherous path around the island, the kimono becomes worn, stained, rain washed, and faded, it becomes an artwork of experience, the experience of the pilgrimage, and in turn the experience of the pilgrim.

Illustration: Dennis Potter. Japanese Rain kimono

Dennis has taken the idea of the pilgrimage kimono and worked it creatively into his work. The kimono's that he produces are a cultural hybrid, or "quote" of the hakui, taken from the stance of a westerner with a painterly background. 

Dennis works in a range of materials and has very much based himself within the mixed media discipline. His kimono's are complex layered works that use and reuse themselves within each composition. In many respects, the artist plays with the conceptualisation of the pilgrimage, the idea that a costume can become a noted pathway of experience, that it can highlight moments and directions, pauses and changes in direction, the fundamental apparatus of all our lives, the trajectory of our experiences.

Illustration: Dennis Potter. Flax kimono

These are indeed extraordinary pieces that tell of the unique experience of the artist, but also tell us something of ourselves. Dennis kimono's show us the patchwork of our lives, the bringing together of experiences, connections, meetings, and partings, of the joy and confusion, the calmness and stress, the jumble of contradictions that is a life lived.

This article can only show a small sample of the artists kimono work, which in turn is a small sample of the artist's life work. Dennis has a wealth of creative and observational experience, and he pours that liberally into his work, hence the great range of work that he has been producing. His work can be found at his comprehensive facebook site, where he has arranged an album of his kimono compositions, as well as regular updates of his work in progress.

Illustration: Dennis Potter. Flax kimono, detail

Please be aware that the images for this article were kindly supplied by Dennis, and are therefore his property, please don't use them without prior permission from Dennis himself.

Next Steps in Weaving by Pattie Graver

Weaving has got to be one of the oldest of human occupations, countless generations have been honing and perfecting their skills across millennia, and continue to do so to this day.

Although industrial weaving now dominates the textile industry, hand weaving is still an important element within the textile world, it has an enviable status and position, and is often considered one of the senior skills within the many that make up the varied textile world.

That hand weaving is still very much with us, still a learnt skill, has much to do with the individuals that have been involved in the hand-weaving world, those who work within hand-production, and just as importantly, those who teach and in teaching, pass on the accumulated skills gathered from seemingly countless generations.

Teaching hand skills in order to bring enjoyment to one generation, and to pass on learnt skills to the next, is an important part of the story of hand craft in any discipline. Without teachers, generational skills would soon shrivel up and die, which is why individuals such as Pattie Graver are so important.

Pattie is a weaver who lives her passion. She sees weaving as being part of the essence of who we are, an integral part of our history, as well as our present-day culture, and therefore in many ways a birth-right to us all, and one that she can share with us if we wish to follow her into the world of weaving.

As a former Managing Editor of Handwoven magazine, Pattie was always well-placed to understand the passionate interest so many in our contemporary world have shown for learning basic, as well as more complex skills involved in hand-production. it is one of the main reasons for the publication of her brand new book Next Steps in Weaving.

This is a book that makes the fundamental practical understanding of weaving, its main drive. It is definitely a technical book, and one that makes the assumption that you have at least some prior knowledge of weaving. As the main title suggests, the book covers the next steps beyond the initial ones of warping up, and answers the often-used question of new weavers, where do I go next?

Pattie has added a useful subheading to her book What you Never Knew you Needed to Know, which very much sums up the emphasis of Next Steps in Weaving. There are main chapters that deal with weave structures and ideas such as twill, color-and-weave, overshot, summer and winter, lace. It also contains a seemingly infinite supply of sub-headings that cover everything that you could possibly want to know about moving forward with weaving projects. Diagrams, color photos, tips, and troubleshooting suggestions also abound, so it would be hard for anyone to lose their way when attempting any of the different sections within Patties book.

Each topic within the book is explained, and then supplemented with instructions for both a woven sample, as well as a more complex project. this is definitely not a book just giving a list of weaving patterns, it is a book that is meant to give you more experience, and with that, more confidence, which inevitably leads to being the springboard for personal projects.

Overall, this is a book for the enthusiastic learner, for the beginner who has passed through the very first initial steps of weaving, and who wants to move fully into the discipline, but it is also a book for those that want to make a connection with the past, as well as to make connections with the future. Pattie has produced an invaluable book that promotes, encourages, and projects her obvious love and affinity towards hand weaving.

This is an invaluable addition to nay hand weaver's reference library, and anyone buying the book will know that with Pattie they are in safe hands.

Coming in at 183 pages, Pattie's book is available from major outlets such as Amazon, as well as Interweave, who have generously published Pattie's book.

The 'Speaking With Threads' Exhibition

Illustration: Artwork by Mary Bero

I thought you might be interested in the 'Speaking With Threads' exhibition that is being held at the Craft Alliance Center of Art and Design, St Louis, Missouri from August 28 to October 25 2015. 

'Speaking With Threads' is an exhibition that features fiber artists that who are exploring the the overlap between contemporary art, craft, and popular culture. The artists involved are: Mary Bero, Sonya Clark, Kathy Halper, Cindy Hickok, Mark Newport, Carol Shinn, Benji Whalen.

Illustration: Artwork by Sonya Clark (photo credit: Taylor Dabney)

There is quite a lot of detailed information that has been supplied by the organisers, so rather than me trying to sum up in my own words, it might be easier to give it to you the information straight from the organisers themselves, that information is as follows:

Speaking with Threads features seven artists whose work incorporates utilitarian skills like embroidery, knitting, and sewing, and elevates them to a state of fine art. All these artists, although different in their aesthetic sensibilities and subject matter, build their work up from simple linear elements — small stitches become intricately detailed images. Curator Jane Sauer says, “I am fascinated by the end result from the accumulation of hundreds and perhaps thousands of small elements coming together to make a powerful statement. Whether diminutive or large in scale, the pieces draw the viewer to come closer and examine how the piece is constructed.”

Visitors to the exhibition can expect to see embroidery that overtakes comic book imagery, creates detailed landscapes, “tattoos” stuffed arms, and imagines what goes on after closing at a museum from Mark Newport, Kathy Halper, Benji Whalen, and Cindy Hickok, respectively. There will be vibrantly colored mixed media work by Mary Bero and photorealistic sewn images by Carol Shinn. Sonya Clark will display several pieces, including works made from human hair.

As curator Jane Sauer says, “It is my hope that this exhibit looks at the overlap between art, craft, and popular culture. I hope it is a peek at a healthy and rewarding cross fertilization.”

Illustration: Artwork by Kathy Halper

RELATED EVENTS

Innovations in Textiles Keynote Speaker: Jenelle Porter

Saturday, October 3, 9:30 am

Contemporary Art Museum, 3750 Washington Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63108

Jenelle Porter is the Mannion Family Senior Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Boston. Recent exhibitions include Fiber: Sculpture 1960-present, Figuring Color: Kathy Butterly, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Roy McMakin, Sue Williams, and one person exhibitions of Charline von Heyl, Mary Reid Kelley, Jeffrey Gibson, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Dianna Molzan, Christina Ramberg, Matthew Ritchie, and Arlene Shechet. Porter has written essays for catalogues and journals, as well as books on artists Charline von Heyl, Trisha Donnelly, Stephen Prina, and Matthew Ritchie. Prior to joining ICA Boston in January 2011, she was curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia (2005-2010), and from 1998-2001 she was curator at Artists Space in New York. She was a curatorial fellow at the Walker Art Center (1997-98) and a curatorial assistant at the Whitney Museum of American Art (1994-1997).

FREE and open to the public.

Guided Bus Tour

Saturday, October 3

Bus departs from the Contemporary Art Museum 3750 Washington Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63108

This guided bus tour stops at select galleries for artist and curator talks and includes lunch.

Cost: $45

Workshop: Finding the Magic in Disappearing Fabrics with Cindy Hickok

Friday, October 2, 10:00 am-4:00 pm

Delmar Loop Design Studio, second floor | 6640 Delmar Blvd

Learn to stitch on water-soluble fibers to create free form images made of thread with visiting artist Cindy Hickok. Participants must know how to use a sewing machine prior to joining this workshop.

$160, advance registration required.

Stitch in Verse

Thursday, October 15, 6:30 pm

Delmar Loop gallery | 6640 Delmar Blvd

This poetry reading inspired by the work in Speaking with Threads is presented by the St. Louis Poetry Center.

FREE and open to the public.

Illustration: Artwork by Cindy Hickok

ABOUT INNOVATIONS IN TEXTILES 10

Innovation in Textiles 10, a regional collaborative event, investigates contemporary fiber art. This fall, local galleries, nonprofit, and private sector arts organizations will showcase textile arts with exhibitions, guest lecturers, workshops, and programs.

Participating organizations include: Art Saint Louis; Contemporary Art Museum; Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design; Duane Reed Gallery; Edwardsville Art Center; Fontbonne University; Foundry Art Centre; Framations Art Gallery; Lillian By Design; Lillian Yahn Gallery, St. Charles County Arts Council; Meramec Contemporary Art Gallery; Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum; Missouri Fiber Artists (MOFA) at Maryville University; projects+gallery; Quilt National; The Gallery at the Regional Arts Commission; Saint Louis Art Museum; Sheldon Art Galleries; St. Charles Community College; St. Louis Artists' Guild; Sun Smith Floret Studio; The Gallery, University City Public Library; Third Degree Glass; Weavers' Guild of St. Louis; Yeyo Arts Collective/ Gya Gallery.

Illustration: Artwork by Mark Newport

ABOUT CRAFT ALLIANCE CENTER OF ART + DESIGN

Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design is a nonprofit art center dedicated to revealing the power of craft through bold programming that uncovers craft’s unique qualities, its evolving role, and its full potential for innovation. Located in the Delmar Loop and Grand Center districts of St. Louis, Missouri, Craft Alliance offers exhibitions, education classes for all skill levels, free community programs, artist residencies, and a gallery shop. Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design is funded in part by the Arts and Education Council; the Regional Arts Commission; the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency; and the generous support of its members.

As with so many of these contemporary events, there is much more than just the exhibition itself, There are a number of interesting events that spin off from the main event and although attached to the ideal of the exhibition, can be seen as events in their own right.

Illustration: Artwork by Carol Shinn

Although I won't be able to attend in person, with the best intention in the world, an ocean and half a continent are still geographically in my way, I hope that some of you who are nearer can take advantage of the event. To be able to see textiles in the new contemporary light, where it now sits comfortably integrating contemporary fine art, craft, and popular culture into its essence, is something not to be missed. There is such a buzz in the contemporary creative arts world at the moment, with disciplines colliding, overlapping, integrating, producing new innovations, new tangential pathways, it has been a long time in coming, but we are indeed lucky to be able to witness this new connectivity within the creative arts and 'Speaking With Stitches'; is one manifestation of that new found confidence in creativity.

Illustration: Artwork by Benji Whalen

The exhibition will run from August 28 to October 25 2015, open Tuesday-Thursday: 1000-1700. Friday: 1000-1800, Sunday: 1100-1700 and is held at: the Craft Alliance in the Delmar Loop, 6640 Delmar Blvd 63130.