‘In Our Space’ – Newcastle Carers Artist Residency final exhibition.

From October 18 to March 19, I worked as Artist in Residence at Newcastle Carers as part of Newcastle City Council’s Arts Team’s residency program. I have blogged a few times about this residency – which I have really enjoyed. It has been a privilege to have worked with such a great and supportive organisation and the people who took part in the creative workshops and who, as you’ll be able to see below, produced some amazing artworks which are now on display at Shields Road in Byker.

It was also a lovely surprise to find out that I had been nominated for an award as part of the work I had done with Newcastle Carers during the residency. What made it even more special was the lovely nomination letter I received stating the reasons why:

“Having Louise in the Café really helped us to relax and take our minds off our caring roles for a couple of hours. We always had a lot of fun and constantly laughing. We loved learning new skills that we can share with our family/friends. It helped us to open up and strengthen our friendships with each other. She also made all of us believe in our selves more and that we can try new things. We are extremely proud of all of our work we created with Louise, thank you for everything.”

Three of the artworks on display at Newcastle Carers.

Over six months, I worked with four groups who meet regularly at one of the ‘cafes’ which are available to carers within the city to meet peers, talk to volunteers who are able to offer advice and support, as well as support workers who are able to provide further help. The individual cafes normally meet once a month, so we decided to add in extra sessions so that we were able to meet each group at least once a fortnight – as members of the café were really enjoying the creative project work they were doing within the cafes. Below, you can see the fabulous finished artworks and quotes that came out of the project, which are now on display in one of the rooms that is regularly used by these groups.

‘A comfy pair of slippers’ made by Byker Carer Café.

“When I first started coming to Newcastle Carers, it was like putting on a comfy pair of slippers or a blanket on.”

Many of the group at Newcastle Carers either already enjoyed knitting and crochet, or were keen to learn. This project has given the group a chance to learn and share skills with each other, from the simple, colourful squares to the flowers around the edge. Traditionally such techniques would have been used to make pieces for loved ones or for practical purposes. The heart shape has been inspired by tattoo designs.

‘Laughing, Caring, Sharing’ made by Gosforth Carers.

The imagery of the jigsaw puzzle reflects both a relaxing activity we might do but also the interlocking pieces symbolise the support given to members or visitors to the group by the volunteers and carers. Some of the pieces have been decorated with images of special places we visit in our minds and others the results of opportunities of experimentation with colour and form. Others have been made to represent important things the carers would like to say: the crocheted flowers say ‘Thank you’ to the people who originally set up the group and the knitted cakes represent having a cuppa with understanding friends.

During the workshops at Gosforth Carers, we have been using inks and fabric paints to decorate the jigsaw pieces, then using beading, knitting and crochet to further embellish the surface.

‘Life has layers’ by Young Adult Carers Café at Byker.

“We can be who we are.”

During the workshops at Newcastle Young Adult Carers, the young people have been learning a number of different creative techniques. These included lino printing, batik, weaving and fabric painting. This piece reflects many of the different aspects of a young carer’s life: school/college/work, friends and socialising, family and caring. The cogs of time continue turning in the background, with the occasional spanner in the works that might slow things down. However, the ‘Tree of Life’ keeps growing, providing new opportunities and experiences – including being part of the group.

A big part of the weekly sessions, besides the creative activities, has been the banter that flows, talking with friends about films and music (listening to Rag’n’Bone Man quoted here); this has fed into the piece that has been created.

“I am giant.”

B.M.E. Carers Group – ‘Time for Me’

Self-care is essential for all of us, but particularly for people who care for others. This piece reflects upon some of the simple things that we could do every day that make us feel happier and more relaxed. These things may not even take long like being creative. The group made these hand pictures and wrote things they enjoyed within them which gave them time to switch off and stop thinking about other things for a while.

Textile books made by Newcastle Young Adult Carers and Newcastle Carer Café.

‘In Our Space’ – Newcastle City Artist in Residency exhibition logo.

‘In Our Space’ – Newcastle Carers Artist Residency

It won’t be long now until my residency at Newcastle Carers , funded by Newcastle City Council Arts Team, comes to an end. I have been based with the organisation since October last year running weekly/bi-weekly sessions at the different ‘cafe’ groups run at Byker and Gosforth. These sessions are open to carers of all ages, but there are also groups specifically for Young Adult Carers and Young Carers.

Using text from a vintage typewriter, typed onto special ‘fabric’ paper, to add to our textile books.

We have been working towards making pieces for an exhibition, with it’s opening on the 29th March. The different groups have been working on their own piece. At Gosforth, the group has been working on a textile hanging which takes it’s inspiration from jigsaw pieces, how they interconnect and support each other – just like the group. Each jigsaw piece is painted, using inks which has given us very rich tones and then they are added to using textile glue paints which have a beautiful iridescence. Some of these pieces are then further decorated with stitching, beading, knitting and crochet.

Jigsaw piece, decorated to reflect how the group feel about the group at Gosforth Carers.

“I feel better when I have been to the sessions – very restorative.” 

Jigsaw pieces made for the Gosforth Carers wall hanging.

At Newcastle Carers in Byker, they are making two (if not more) pieces for display. The first is a large ‘tattoo’ style heart which I am having cut in wood and the group are knitting and crocheting squares to cover it, like a patchwork blanket. Blankets are traditionally made for those we love, to warm and protect and this reminds me of a quote from one of the group recently about how coming to the ‘Carers Cafe’ makes them feel:

“When I first started coming it was like putting on a comfy pair of slippers or a blanket on.” 

Using typed text to add to the fabric pages of the textile books the carers are making.

The outside of the heart will be decorated with knitted and crocheted flowers, symbolic of the flowers we would give someone to say ‘Thank you’. This we do not do enough – especially to people who give their time, love and energy to keep us safe and well. Through the middle of the heart will be a ‘swag’ with a phrase or a saying which sums up how the group feel about the support they get from each other and the carers organisation.

Decoration ideas for the Gosforth Carers hanging.

At Newcastle Carers, some members of the group are also working towards a collective textile book or a personal one. Some group members have also been making pieces for our project at home, which has been really inspiring to see.

Additional pieces made at home by one of the carers for her own textile book.

I am also working with a group of Young Adult Carers, who have been very industrious trying out lino printing, batik, fabric painting, weaving and writing. They are also making couple of pieces for the exhibition, including a textile book and possibly their own large ‘tattoo’ heart – but worked in a very different way.

Pages for the textile book.

As part of the residency, I am also very fortunate to have a third year art student from Northumbria University working alongside me. He has been extremely supportive to myself and the carers, encouraging people to try different techniques, suggesting ideas and he will be taking the lead on the larger piece made by the Young Adult Carers. We are also hoping that we will be able to take this group to visit Northumbria University, to look at the art department and the art students studios.

Evan, Year 3 Art Student at Northumbria University and Student in Residence, working alongside carers to create a textile book.

 

‘Life has Layers’

Newcastle Carers – Artist in Residence

From October 2018, I have been working as Artist in Residence at Newcastle Carers an independent charity which supports young carers, young adult carers and adult carers across Newcastle upon Tyne. This is a six month residency as part of a larger project by Newcastle City Council Arts Team to place artists within the community. I was so delighted to be picked to be part of this project as I passionately believe in the benefits of creativity on wellbeing.

One of the aspects of the residency I felt very important, was that the people involved would be able to learn new skills or rediscover old ones, and that resources would be put in place that they could develop the skills further after I have left, rather than the skills stagnating and being lost.

Over the first few months, I have been meeting with the different groups which meet as part of Newcastle Carers, from cafe’s at a number of venues across Newcastle where people meet to have a cuppa, chat to friends they have made through this support network and talk to the workers and volunteers who are able to provide the detailed information and support individual carers need.

As part of the residency, there will be an exhibition at the end of the project and we have planned to make a number of pieces which will hang in the main building on Shields Road, in Newcastle. Each group I am working with are making a different artwork for display but as we are still at the development stage, trying out techniques that the group haven’t tried before or would like to develop further.

One of the groups has decided on a direction of their artwork, which will take the shape of a textile jigsaw approx. 1.2 m x 1.4m. It came about through our initial chats about what people enjoy doing, what they find relaxing and one person mentioned jigsaws and suddenly there was a lovely long discussion about it.

On reflection, the symbolism behind the design of a jigsaw stands for a lot of things the different groups as part of Newcastle Carers mean to the people who come along: giving support to each other, making links to other resources available, without each other the picture wouldn’t be so clear. Twenty fabric jigsaw pieces have been cut out in a finished puzzle shape, which people are individually painting with images that maybe important to them or an abstract design, These will then be further decorated with beads, stitched words, found pieces etc and made into an individual mini work of art which will be stitched back together with the other jigsaw pieces.

In the New Year, I have planned to start working with the Young Adult Carers on a more regular basis and they have asked to try batik painting and lino printing during their first sessions. Another group has started creating personal pages for a possible memory book they would each like to develop and you can see some of the backgrounds for these pages above.

Over the last three months, we have had a lovely time trying out new techniques, learning new skills and enjoying each others company. I have been given great feedback from the carers who have attended the sessions, who found the opportunity to loose themselves in their creativity a chance to relax and forget about things that may have been worrying them, plus giving them something to be thinking about outside the sessions. I have also been told, that people who may not regularly attend the sessions have been coming more often and that Newcastle Carers feel that the residency has been ‘beyond their expectations’ – which I am so glad to hear as it is a lovely project I am really delighted to be part of.

 

 

‘Green Pledges’ in the Northumberlandia woodland.

This summer I have felt very privileged and excited to have been one of the two Artists in Residence at Northumberlandia. It has given me the opportunity to work on a beautiful site, looking at a subject I am very passionate about: our natural surroundings, the environment and climate change. I have previously shared images of the pieces I have made in response to visitors pledges and the work of local children. Here are just a few more images of the pieces on-site in September, 2018.

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• 8.3 Billion metric tonnes of plastic produced since the 1950’s
• Plastic can take 500 years to fully decompose.
• Only 9% of plastic is recycled (79% goes to landfill and 12% is incinerated).

 

‘We pledge to do a litter pick every time we visit the beach’.

‘We pledge to plant flowers for the bees’.

‘I will try and make ecobricks’

Damselfly ‘We will try and use less plastic’

‘Reducing food waste around the World would help curb emissions of planet warming gasses’.

‘I pledge to recycle more items, buy less groceries and throw away less food’

 

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‘To use no more plastic folks’, Green Pledge.

After four months working Northumberland Wildlife Trust at Northumberlandia, over 120 Green Pledges were made with local families and school children and 17 large pledges were made in response to the pledges made by local visitors. I am hoping to be able to work again with the NWT and other organisations on similar projects encouraging people to think about the positive actions they can take to help their local environment and the World’s climate.

Recent ‘Green Pledges’ made for Northumberlandia Residency

Over the Summer I have been busy working on making individual ‘Green Pledges’ to illustrate some of the environmental commitments visitors to Northumberlandia in June and July have made by making small lifestyle changes.

‘We pledge to try and reduce the amount of plastic waste we are using’, Green Pledge.

In a couple of weeks, all of the ‘Green Pledges’ made by local school children, young visitors to Northumberlandia made onsite and those I have made to reflect visitors environmental commitments, will go on display within the woodlands at Northumberlandia.

Here are some photos of a few of the finished pieces, with brief information about the environmental commitment that inspired the piece.

‘Reduce plastic waste’ Green Pledge.

The ‘Green Pledge’ above, illustrates some quite shocking statistics:

• Over the last 65 years, more than 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic has been produced.
• Plastic can take over 500 years to fully decompose.
• But only 9% of that plastic has been recycled (12% incinerated, the rest landfill/litter).

‘To use no more plastic folks’, Green Pledge.

‘To recycle more plastic items’, Green Pledge.

‘Planting bee bombs in our garden’, Green Pledge.

‘No more nappy bags’, Green Pledge.

The above piece reminds us that over 3796 disposable nappies are used by babies up to the age of 2 1/2 years old. I tried visualising that – not a nice vision, and all that to go to landfill. The materials used in disposable nappies are extremely slow to decompose. Many children will use more…

‘To follow a Vegan diet to help save the planet’, Green Pledge.

I admire all the people who have been involved with this project and set themselves a challenge to improve things for the their local environment and, often, themselves. There are many statistics about the positive benefit to the planet if more people have days where they follow a vegetarian/vegan diet instead of meat – a big reduction in carbon dioxide reduction would be one benefit and the use of land purely for food production would be another, to just name a couple of things.

‘Planting flowers in our garden for the bees’, Green Pledge.

One thing I must highlight is that the majority of all the pieces of work made for the residency and the Green Pledges, are either made from recycled, vintage materials or from ‘found’ objects, which I have then further worked on – some in great detail. A great deal of my work is made this way. I collect vintage fabric from markets and charity shops, often I am given textiles that are still lovely but are of no use to the owner. I also ‘find’ things on my walks and recently, I have been bringing home plastic bottles etc that I have found littered whilst walking the dog in the park.

One piece I have made for this residency is made from just ‘found’ pieces like bottles from the park, cardboard dumped in our back lane, recycled wood and yogurt pots our council will not recycle. This piece is my ‘Gull’ which you can see below – I hope you like him!

‘To do a litter pick every time we go to the beach’, Green Pledge.

 

New Artist Residency at Northumberlandia

I am delighted to have been asked to be Artist in Residence at Northumberlandia.

Northumberlandia: ‘The Lady of the North’, landscape sculpture.

Northumberlandia is a landscaped sculpture of a reclining lady, designed by artist Charles Jencks. She is 100 feet high and a quarter of a mile long. You can take walk around the paths that curve around her body up to her hips, breasts and face.

A view from Northumberlandia’s ‘forehead’ looking down to her nose, breasts, hip and further into Northumberland.

This is a beautiful site to visit and take a gentle walk (though recently I visited during Storm Hector and it was a but tricky to walk up to the top!) Families, community groups, dog walkers and people looking for a soul rejuvenating spot to visit, visit daily.

Spring flowers at Northumberlandia.

The residency is in conjunction with Northumberland Wildlife Trust who help manage the site. My proposal responds to the importance of sites such as this where people are using our local natural environment, for walks and a quiet spot to be just outside a busy city, encouraging them to reflect upon how this urban/rural, relaxing place to walk is helping us and how we can help it.

Northumberlandia festival day.

A couple of weeks ago, during a Northumberlandia festival day, I set up ‘shop’ to be able to meet and greet visitors to the site and talk to them about my residency. I am asking people to make a ‘Green Pledge’. This is something individuals, groups and families can pledge to do to help their local habitats, places they visit, the environment on a local and national scale.

A ‘Green Pledge’ made by one of the young visitors to Northumberlandia.

During the festival weekend, visitors were making a decorating their own ‘Green Pledge’. These were made using recycled textiles, permanent pens and stitching on ribbons etc. These ‘Green Pledges’ will be hung together throughout the trees in Northumberlandia in September, for visitors to come back and see.

Caretaker’s of the World. UNITE!

Beside creating their own ‘Green Pledge’ on the day, I am also collecting pledges made by visitors to make into larger, more worked pieces which will hang individually amongst the trees. These pieces will be made using recycled textiles, hand and machine stitched, painting, printed, with found natural and manmade items on them to ‘illustrate’ the pledge.

Though, besides making two dimensional pieces, I have also decided that some pledges will require a more three dimensional, radical approach. An example of this includes the pledge to make ‘Eco Bricks’.

Entrance woodland at Northumberlandia.

Last week I visited Beaconhill Primary School, which is the school nearest to Northumberlandia as the crow flies. I spent the day with Year 4 and 5, talking to them about the Northumberlandia site (which the majority had all visited) and my residency. I had asked to school to be involved, as they school prides itself on having a very environmental ethos and is very proactive locally. I talked with the children about what they are already doing at home to help the environment, what small changed they could make to help further and if they had ideas or great inventive ideas about what we could do in the future.

The children were all very concerned about how much people are happy to drop and leave rubbish when visiting the countryside, our local beaches and just generally where they live.

Pupil making a ‘Green Pledge’.

It is heartening to hear how passionate young people are about doing things to help their local environment and things that will help the global climate issues. Over the weekend at Northumberlandia and my visit to the school, more that 120 ‘Green Pledge’ fabric panels have been made to be hung together amongst the trees.

‘I will use less plastic’ Green Pledge.

During the next couple of months, I will be making larger ‘Green Pledge’ panels, inspired by the visitors to Northumberlandia and in September everyone involved will be invited back to walk amongst the ‘Green Pledges’ hanging amongst the trees and try and track theirs down.

Families making their ‘Green Pledges’ to hang amongst the trees in Northumberlandia.

Please feel free to get in touch if you would wish to be part of this project by suggesting a ‘Green Pledge’ you would like to make in writing, or a physical piece that could be hung with the others amongst the tress.

 

Needlecase community workshop

Needlecase project and ‘maker’ essential equipment.

Last year I worked on a large project to create the Shipley Art Gallery Centenary Quilt, whilst doing that I worked with a small, lovely group of women who were part of the ‘Syrian Family Group’ who met up regularly in Gateshead. The women made about 10 of the hand stitched patchwork squares for the quilt that is now on display at the Shipley Art Gallery.

Hand stitching a needlecase.

Recently, the women have asked if I could work on developing some other projects with them, to help them get back into sewing. We decided it would be helpful to make up ‘sewing maker packs’, so that everyone had the essential equipment to get them going back at home. The pack included and pair of scissors, needles, thread and pins. So it was decided to make a needlecase as the first sewing project, to keep the needles and pins safe.

Sewing flower designs onto the needlecase.

The needlecase was made with felt, so that it was practical, versatile and gave a lovely finish. The cases could also be further embellished with buttons and extra stitching.

We meet this Saturday at the Shipley Art Gallery and had a very busy afternoon. When crafting in groups, I always love the social aspect of it: lots of nattering, laughing and cups of tea!

Here are some of the finished hand stitched felt needlecases made by the group on Saturday.

Fruit and Veg inspired

Beautiful, bright button needlecase.

Flowers in bloom.

Hearts and flowers needlecase.

 

The Shipley Art Gallery Centenary Quilt, finished.

In 2016, I was asked to work on a lovely, large community project to help the Shipley Art Gallery celebrate their 100th Anniversary in 2017. The Shipley Art Gallery has a fabulous collection of the decorative arts and a very long, established link with the traditional technique of patchwork and quilting. Within their collection they have hundreds of hand quilted pieces, which have either been wholecloth designs or made using English Paper Piecing.

The project took over 9 months and was ready for the anniversary celebrations in November, 2017. We had over 100 patchworked squares made by members of the community, some local and few were posted from different part of the UK. The pieces which didn’t form part of the finished quilt (not because of quality as the standard of the finished, hand paper pieced squares was fantastic), have been made into pieces which can be used with schools, community groups and general visitors to help explain the process of hand paper piecing.

Planning the final position of the patchwork squares for the centenary quilt.

Once all the squares were collected in and registered. A small group of people who had worked closely with the quilt over the last nine months, came together to help with the very tricky job of deciding where to place all the finished pieces. At this point, the paper templates were still in the back of the squares. Members of the group took a couple of rows away to join the individual squares together, then two rows together.

Reverse of the centre panel for embroidering, with it’s paper templates still intact.

During this time, I worked on the centre panel, which was made up of cream and white self patterned ‘Grandmother’s garden’ hexagons, which would become the area to embroider the text upon. This section was then sewn into the middle of three rows of squares.

Detail of the embroidery onto the central panel. The silk was hand dyed and hand spin by one of the members of the group.

Once all the rows and the central panel of the patchwork were sewn together, it was then placed, pinned and quilted to an organic cotton wadding centre and cotton backing. It took a long time to just pin the three layers together, accurately, as the quilt by this point was 200 cm by 220 cm.

The finished patchwork ‘top’ being pinned to the organic cotton wadding and cotton backing, in preparation for hand quilting.

I decided to use a new tool, called a basting gun, which I bought from Cottonpatch to ‘pin/tack’ the three layers of the quilt together. A bit like the tools used in clothes shops to attach price labels to clothes, which can delicately keep the layers together but also quick and easy to remove. It made things much quicker and cut out the damage pins could do. It also allowed me to use a large hoop to quilt with, as it was too large for my frames.

Binding the edge of the quilt.

The quilt needed to be finished a couple of weeks before the centenary celebrations, as it had to go in the large freezer at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle. This is something which the museum and gallery service will regularly do with new items to their collection to ensure that no new contaminates are brought into their collection.

Throughout November 2017, there were lots of different events at the Shipley Art Gallery to celebrate it’s centenary and the quilt was at the centre of this. People from the local community including the women of the Jewish community, women from the local Syrian community, plus local craft groups, the Shipley Quilters and all those who had individually made a square, were invited to a lovely afternoon of celebrations at the Shipley.

Some of the women from the local Syrian community who worked on the quilt.

Finished Shipley Art Gallery Centenary Quilt on display.

The Shipley Art Gallery Centenary Quilt, 2017.

New interactive pieces for The Sill, Northumberland.

The Sill, is a new landscape discovery centre in beautiful Northumberland, very close to many of the famous Roman sites along Hadrian’s Wall. The Sill helps visitors to look deeper into the landscape, culture, history and heritage of Northumberland.

View from The Sill roof

Last year, whilst The Sill was still being built, I was asked by the Education Team to work with them on creating some interactive bags for schools and community groups to use whilst visiting their building and galleries.

Inside The Sill’s gallery, which explains many of the uses of the landscape, materials and habitats found in the area.

A large part of last year I spent working on the Shipley Art Galleries Centenary Quilt but as soon as that was finished, we started planning in more detail what interactive materials The Sill would benefit from first and how they would like them to look. So the first two interactive bags I worked on was the Moorland Curlew Bag and the Geology bag.

Curlew Children’s mask

The Moorland Curlew bag was great fun to make. The bag itself is large enough to carry all the interactive pieces in plus room for teachers notes. I always find children love as much opportunity to dress up – so any chance to make wings and masks is great!

Curlew wings, child size.

The Curlew bag also had a crochet nest, with eggs plus worms for the Curlew to eat!

Curlew nest and eggs.

Habitat bags always need a predator and what better than a fox – great fun for interactive role play!

Fox mask.

The Moorland Curlew bag itself had two sides, as the curlews nest in the moorland building their nests on the floor and they also spend their time at the seaside amongst the mudflats – which you may have seen, with their long, curled, distinctive beaks.

Moorland Curlew (mudflat side) and Geology bag being used at The Sill.

The geology bag looked at how the stone and the Whin Sill had been created over thousands of years. The bag itself illustrates very simply how the stratigraphic layers in the area have built up to create the landscape and stone in the area.

Geology bag cover, textile illustration of the stratigraphic layers in Northumberland.

To help illustrate to children visiting with schools and community groups, small textile panels were made to show how the local stone is used in Hadrian’s Wall, making roads, sandstone walls and limestone kilns.

This bag was also quilted so that rocks and stones, plus other materials could safely be placed inside.

Four textile panels illustrating the use of stone in the area: top left – road building, top right – sandstone walls, bottom left – limestone kilns and how limestone enriches the ground and bottom right – Hadrian’s Wall.

These bags have now been delivered and I am now working on a ‘Dark Skies and Mythology’ bag plus a large, layered map which will be used up on the grassed roof, to assist discussions about how the landscape has changed over the last two thousand years.

The Shipley Art Gallery Centenary Quilt update

100 finished hand patchworked squares positioned for sewing together.

Over the last five months I have worked with and meet with people from all over Gateshead, the North East and the UK to encourage people to be part of the Shipley Art Gallery Centenary Quilt. We have now received over 130 squares which have been made using traditional hand sewn,  hand paper piecing technique known as English Paper Piecing.

Designing and making individual squares.

As part of the programme to make the quilt, there has been a weekly class held at the Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead. Attending were a mixture of people who had patchworked before and people who hadn’t stitched.  This was a really vibrant and supportive group of people, who within a couple of weeks were advancing very quickly in their skill development and very confident in using the new technique they had learnt to create their own designs. There was also a great opportunity for skills sharing and even the embroidery silk which will be used to stitch the lettering was hand spun during a skills sharing moment by one of our very talented group.

The Shipley Art Gallery proved to be a great inspiration for our designs.

I have also worked with local craft groups, visitors the the Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival, members of the local Jewish Community and a Syrian Women’s support group. This has been a lovely opportunity to talk to people about how sewing,  making and craft has played an important part in their family, community and culture.

Just a few of the 130 squares made!

Members of the patchwork class have been helping me over the last couple of weeks to sew the 100 squares together into rows and then the rows together.  This has been a fantastic help, as I am working on the central panel which is white and cream hexagons sewn in the ‘Grandmother’s Garden’design. This will then be embroidered with hand spun silk to create the lettering. Next month, October, I will then start to quilt the piece ready to be hung in the Shipley Art Gallery for the 22nd November, 2017.