Info, Events, History

THOUGHTS AND INSIGHTS ON THE LIFE OF MY STOLES

I read an article recently in Selvedge Magazine dedicated to the Berber and titled “Weaving is Life”.  The writer worked with textiles and stated that “when I set my scissors to the fabric I am giving birth to it, sending it off into the world” so she was filled with an unease when she learned that the Berber view of a finished textile was associated with death.  However, upon looking further into the Berber’s belief she discovered that to them death is followed by an afterlife and therefore when the completed textile enters it’s new home it is reborn to begin life anew.

This delighted her, as it does me, because that is exactly how I feel about my stoles; when the finished article is beautifully wrapped and handed over to the client it is reborn to take on it’s new life wherever and whatever that may be!

 

ROYAL SCHOOL OF NEEDLEWORK  –  THE RED DRESS

The Red Dress is a 13 year , award winning global, collaborative embroidery project conceived by British artist Kirstie Macleod.  The initiative provides an artistic platform for women around the world, many of whom are marginalised and live in poverty, to tell their personal stories through embroidery.  The garment has been worked on by 336 women and 7 men from 46 countries.  Initially the project sought to generate dialogue of identity through embroidery, merging diverse cultures with no borders.  However, over the 13 years the dress has also become a platform for self expression and an opportunity for voices to e amplified and heard.  See The Royal School of Needlework website for more details  (royal-needlework.org.uk).  An amazing and emotional project.

 

WALL  HANGINGS

OSMIC  MATERIAL MANIFESTATION – MARCH 2021

As we prepared for the One Spirit Ministers in Connection gathering in March this year, a suggestion was made for something to be created to represent the weekend.  The vision was of combining words and textile to capture the essence of the retreat in a piece that could be retained post-event. One Spirit Interfaith Ministers Barbara Payman, a poet, and Maureen Pelling, a textile artist, were approached and both readily took up the invitation. After much animated and enjoyable discussion the concept of the Material Manifestation, in the form of a wall-hanging/alter cloth, was born.

The main ethos behind this hanging is the gathering of individual ministers working and flowing both as individuals and as one as we work in a myriad of different ways in the world.

We hope this Material Manifestation will bring joy and inspiration and a sense of deep connection.

www.onespiritministersinconnection.com

MAUREEN

As textiles have always been part of my life I was delighted at the suggestion of working with Barbara in the making of, what has now been called, a ‘Material Manifestation’ of the OSMIC retreat earlier this year.  While Barbara was working with words to represent the essence of weekend, I felt drawn to finding a way of representing all of the participants in textiles. As ideas came up so my enthusiasm rose. I love to touch and feel fabric, especially silk, so to represent everyone at the retreat by a small piece of silk really excited me. On the second day of the retreat we asked everyone to name a colour to represent themselves, and what a beautiful array was given!  How these pieces of coloured silk could be used gave much food for thought. It was  when Barbara gave me the first draft of her poem that the ideas crystallised: to have the poem as a central panel with a piece of silk in each person’s chosen colour creating a border around the words, spreading out from the centre to encapsulate the whole.

I loved doing this project and trust the hanging will continue to be used representing our first online retreat of gallant ministers.

BARBARA

It has been a deep privilege and pleasure to work on this project with Maureen. As a poet, this was my first collaboration with a textile artist and it has been an exciting and inspirational new venture!

I really appreciated being part of the dynamic and heartful OSMIC gathering: I much enjoyed ‘wearing my poet hat’ throughout, trying to capture the themes and noting my felt experience of all that was happening. The presence of everybody there contributed to the poem.

The process of writing was at times challenging but really enjoyable. As I worked with finding words to capture the essence of the weekend, I was very aware of Maureen’s vibrant array of coloured silks representing each individual present. Hard to describe, but this in some way added to my experience of writing… as if the textiles were  somehow contributing to the words even as they were being written and ‘before the two had met’.

Once the poem was finished, the conversations between Maureen and I about how the piece could come together were a joy to me. Maureen’s expertise and love for the materials led the way. For one call, Maureen had handwritten the poem on a big sheet of paper and laid out the silks alongside: to see the wonderful colours alongside my words for the first time was so moving. It was clear that it would be in Maureen’s working with the materials that the final form of the piece would emerge. And what a beautiful piece it is.

 

GROUP ‘THANK YOU’ HANGING

 

 

 

 

 

Each square on this hanging was designed and made by participants of a series of workshops as a way of saying Thank You to the facilitator.  I  stitched them together to make the hanging which was gifted at the end of  the sessions.