Folds and knots.

Just a quick update - here are some photo's of a new piece I have been working on. As yet it doesn't have a title. It is made of folded fabric with black thread stitched through and then knotted in place, there is a piece of wire threaded into the piece below the black ribbon to help maintain the  shape and then it is resting on upholstery pins and pinned out at the ends.

I sold my brain to medical science!

 Just a quick post to let you see my knitted brain finished, in its beautiful high quality wooden box made by Damon Morrish of Jewel Display, Brandon. I am delighted, and rather proud, to show the picture (above) of myself with the wonderful Sir Michael Rawlins, president of the Royal Society of Medicine, who bought the knitted brain as a gift for Nancy Wexler, Professor of Neuroscience at Columbia University, New York. Meeting such interesting clever people through my work is a really special bonus for which I am very grateful (and it's even better when they seem to love my work too!!).

STITCHED AND TWISTED - DNA Artwork at ON HELIX

Well I have been very quiet of late and not blogged, however, today I can reveal why.... I have been working flat out to produce this new body of work as Artist-in-residence for the ON HELIX event organised by One Nucleus at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge. 

Above is an image of  Twisted (- So beautiful it had to be true). This piece is made from very fine wire knitted into a double helix and the bases are represented by glass beads as can be seen below.

There are six pieces in this body of work, "Stitched and Twisted."

Genetic History above is a cut canvas restitched together to create cells, the nucleus of which is crocheted in fine red cotton. The background of the canvas has been stitched with the names of scientists involved in the discovery of DNA.

The same but different (below) is a cut canvas with crocheted DNA bases showing how DNA replicates by splitting or unzipping as I like to think of it. 

Perfect Match? is made of ribbons sown onto pairs to represent a set of human chromosomes. The background is stitched with xx and XY.

Blood lines is made up of a cut canvas, crocheted twists and the blood groups embroidered on.

Lastly, this canvas is called A stitch in time....comes out further down the line and is based on the work of Gregor Mendel and his work on the Laws of Inheritance. Mendel worked with peas and looked at how flower coloration, as well as other characteristics, are inherited by successive generations. I have crocheted pea flowers and pods as part of this family tree. 

Hello Stranger!

 Well first I must wish you all a very Happy New Year and then next I have to apologise for being absent from my blog for such a long time! Lots of stuff has been happening and so I think this blog better be a catch up first and foremost.
Brain artwork: Well the two images above show the neurone weaving I have been working on, it is still in the experimental stage but it is opening up lots of ideas.

Workshops for adults with learning difficulties: Below are some images showing the exhibition of the work they had created with myself and a couple of other artists over the term.

The following photos show the display of the work I had led....

Here are the woven baskets made from plastic milk bottles and rags, name plates made from papier mache and string,

 above are the tissue paper bowls we made based on a theme of either fire or water and to the left are our mexican god's eyes.
(We also made some gorgeous sewn picture frames that I may have shown in an earlier post but unfortunately I don't seem to be able to find a photo of them in the exhibition)



Then I must show you the homemade gifts I gave for Christmas this year. I was really inspired by my friend Nicola at Halfpenny Home Haberdashery, she showed me how to do freehand embroidery on my sewing machine and this is what it led to......

This apron I made for a chicken loving friend,

this one was for my Dad.......

I was particularly pleased with myself when I managed to do the knife and fork so convincingly even though it was only small. The last apron was for a friend and showed her house and animals.

It was also a friends birthday just before Christmas and so I made her a knitting needle roll.....

....as you can see I added all the important details in life- coffee and cake, wool and her pet cat Ruby. Finally the jumper I knitted for my eldest niece.

I hope you are enjoying the New Year, I am concentrating on keeping warm at the moment but it is beautiful outside in the snow..

...I'll try not to leave it so long before my next blog.