Final Day of Artist Residency at Bergby Konstcenter

The past two weeks, working as Artist in Residence at Bergby Konstcenter, has been very inspiring, productive, thought provoking and down right good fun! As you will have seen through the last 13 posts, the arts centre itself is a beautiful and inspirational place, based in an idyllic part of rural Sweden but also in easy access of Stockholm, Uppsala and other fantastic places to visit.

Visitors to the exhibition were welcomed with cake, as part of an afternoon tea party!

The last day of the exhibition was busy with visitors, many taking part and making ‘Green Pledges’ for me to sew into mini pennants when I return to England – written in Swedish and English.

Afternoon tea party to celebrate the final day of the residency, organised by Helen and John.

As part of the residency, it had always been planned to parade the larger pennants up into the Bergby woods and hang them with the ‘Green Pennants’ as the closing part of the exhibition. This seemed only fitting, as it is an environmentally charged work about the planet and our job as ‘caretaker’s’ of it.

Getting ready to parade the pennants to the woods…

On parade.

Deeper into the woods…

‘Sea Juggernaut’ pennant.

Hanging up the ‘Life giving bee’ pennant in the trees.

‘Life giving bee’, ‘Haxors Trosor’ and ‘Sea Juggernaut’ pennant hanging in the trees at Bergby woods.

Me, about to start hanging up the ‘Green Pledges’.

Once the larger pennants had been hung, we then hung the ‘Green Pledges’ which had been made so far as part of this environmental art project. Most of these pieces had been pledges by people from Newcastle, but there were also a few new ones from Sweden.

‘Green Pledges’ hanging in the Bergby woods.

More detailed view of some of the ‘Green Pledges’.

‘Green Pledges’ blowing in the wind.

Besides fueling and developing new ideas, working as Artist in Residence at Bergby Konstcenter, talking to Helen and John,  and to the visitors to the exhibition, it has made me realise that I don’t want to finish this project but to continue with the ideas and ethos which has evolved from my time in Sweden. I have always fully intended to finish the now 50 plus ‘Green Pledges’ and to exhibit them in other places but I also wish to encourage more people to be part of this project and to either in writing make a pledge and/or make it into a textile piece which can be hung side by side with the others. Within each of these pledges, people – young and old – have raised important environmental issues and thought about how they can help address them in a small way.

‘Green Pledges’ flying from a Suffolk bridge following my return to England.

I would like to thank Helen, John and their lovely family, who made us all for so welcome and comfortable in their arts centre and home, and for giving me this fantastic opportunity to be part of their work.

Artist Residency Day 13 at Bergby Konstcenter, Sweden.

In the last few days whilst my ‘Häxors Trosor’ exhibition has been open, many of my Swedish visitors have also been keen to make their ‘Green Pledge’. During this time I have also been busy making more from the list of pledges I brought from Newcastle.

Visitors to Bergby Konstcenter making green pledges.

I have been using local resources to make some of the pledges, including milk cartons, plastic bread and chocolate wrappers. Helen and John the artists who run Bergby Konstercenter have also made a pledge to be hung with the others.

‘I am making a compost in my garden’.

‘Here I write my solemn pledge to grow and eat organic veg.’

Visitors to the exhibition seemed to really enjoy looking at the craftsmanship in the environmental textile pennants, from the heavy embroidery to intensively worked beading and the sentiment in the poetry. It was extremely heartening to hear the very sincere feedback.

A local bee keeper and her daughter looking at the ‘ Life giving bee’ embroidery.

Talking to the visitors, asking them to also make a ‘green pledge’ has made me really think about taking this project so much further. The exhibition of the work produced during the residency is going to Gateshead Old Town Hall in September and October but I feel I would like to continue encouraging people to make pledges, so that the number of pledges made grows past the 50 we have so far.

‘I will eat less dairy and milk.’

‘I will recycle more’.

‘I will try to raise awareness with my friends about the issues of sea creatures’, by Rosie age 13.

Visitors to the exhibition.

If you would like to be a part of this project, please get in touch. You can just write a green pledge which I will make for you or you can make your own to form part of the growing numbers of green pledges made so far.

Residency Day 11 -exhibition openning day!

Bergby Konstcenter.

After lots of work, the ‘Häxors Trosor’ exhibition is ready to open. With over 36 ‘ Green Pledges’ made so far by over 20 people, three large textile pieces,  4 environmental sculptures and 4 painted artworks, plus the ‘Young Artist’s’ gallery with over 40 pieces on display. All responding to the challenges which face the environment today.

Häxors Trosor embroidery.

‘Life giving bee’, embroidery.

Green Pledges.

Green Pledges.

Green Pledges.

Green Pledges.

Green Pledges.

Green Pledges.

 

Optical Telegragh – Imaginary Messages.

‘ Sea Juggernaut’, embroidery.

I shall blog the ‘Young Artist’s’ gallery separately as it is part of the two week ‘Digital Detox’ the children have been having!

Watercolour and pen pictures of local birds.

 

So far, the exhibition has been very well attended but I must get around to taking photos!!

Residency Day 2 at Bergby Konstcenter

The lovely, fresh Swedish country air encouraged a restorative lie in for all! Once we’d breakfasted, the girls and I spent a couple of hours in the studio, the girls painting and I was stitching.

I am currently working on a larger embroidered and beaded piece of what I call the ‘Sea Juggernaut’ – a sperm whale.

This piece is heavily worked and I’ve been working on it for a while. Yesterday at the local ‘Loppis’ (a type of second hand shop that you find unexpectedly by the side of the road) I found a very small boat wheel which I have also sewn into my picture!

Openning up the upstairs of the gallery/studio!

In the afternoon, we popped down to a very pretty town called Norrtalje.

Norrtalje Old Town.

Besides being a very beautiful town, we also discovered that every year the local council ask artists to create artworks to go in the river, these stay for six months and are taken away, then replaced the following Spring! Such fun! Some very beautiful and some which bring a smile to your face!

Art sculpture – blame the GPS!

There are also sculptures on or by buildings.

Whilst also pottering around Norrtalje, I also found some beautiful second hand Swedish fabric, which I might use in my next artwork. Plus on the journey back to the studio, I was delighted to see Marsh Barriers, storks and buzzards!

Late afternoon and early evening was spent in my studio. Such a wonderful place to be creating artworks.

Call out for ‘Green Pledges’

Over the next four months, I am working on a environmental art project to be finished and exhibited at Bergby Konstcenter in Sweden. As part of my artist residency, I am asking people to make ‘Green Pledges’ which can be made into a small pennants to be sewn together and hung in the trees at the center. Some of the examples below have been made by members of the 86th Newcastle Guides, who are working on a craft badge, they have designed their mini pennants using fabric pens on cotton, which they will then further embellish with embroidery, recycled fabrics, ribbons and buttons.

 

Made by a member of 86th Newcastle Guides ‘Grow Your Own Veg’

If you would like to get involved, you can either get in touch with me, telling me of your ‘Pledge’ to live a greener life OR you could even make your own ‘Green Pledge’ mini pennant (I haven’t set a size for the finished piece, but the largest we have made so far are 20x30cm).

‘Recycle’ pennant made by a member of the 86th Newcastle Guides.

The pennants can be made using any textile technique and can be as simple or as sophisticated as you wish or have time for.

‘Take care of our Planet’ by a member of 86th Newcastle Guides.

If you just wish to make a pledge, get in touch and I can develop you plan of action into a ‘Green Pledge’ pennant to be hung in Sweden as part of the exhibition.

‘Green Pledge’ mini pennant.

This weekend, you can also pop into my studio for Late Shows, Studio 11 at the Biscuit Factory, Newcastle, between 6-11pm on Friday and Saturday night (13th & 14th May, 2016), where you can see some of the pieces I am currently working on.

About ‘obsesivcreativ’

Hand and machine embroidered portrait of war poet Rupert Brooke

Louise is a Newcastle based textile and three dimensional artist making unique pieces, working with traditional north east techniques such as hooky and proggy matting, as well as spinning, quilting, patchwork, embroidery, felting, batik as well as upholstery and lino print.

Hand and machine embroidered portrait of war poet Rupert Brooke

Louise is particularly influenced by nature and environmental issues. Inspiration and influences include the Arts and Crafts movement, costume of all eras (but particularly military, late C20 and theatrical), contemporary quilting and fibre arts in the US, subversive crafting and textiles.

Hand and machine embroidered portrait of war poet Rupert Brooke

A constant maker, Louise sources materials from across the country. She is keen to react against mass production and uniformity.

Recently, Louise was very pleased to be involved in the exhibition of Grayson Perry’s ‘A Vanity of Small Differences’ at Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens. Louise worked with local community groups to create three large textile wall hangings in response to his work, these hung alongside the exhibition.

‘The First Aspirational Tea Party’ made with young mums for Grayson Perry’s ‘The Vanity of Small Differences’ exhibition in Sunderland.

Louise believes that passing on skills is very important and welcomes commissions involving school and community work, teaching textile crafts in formal and informal settings.

‘All We Are Saying’ blanket for Peace.

This year, with her family, Louise is heading to Sweden for a two week artists residency at the Bergby Konstcenter. The underlying theme for her residency is about the environment and she have come up with the working title of ‘Häxors Trosor’ for the residency. This is Swedish for ‘Witches Knickers’! This is a humorous term for the shreds of plastic bags stuck in trees and bushes which are such a common sight in our landscapes.  These are symbol of the sad condition of our planet, much of which is a result of a throw-away culture, with rubbish found dumped in beautiful landscapes, plastic floating in the seas and chemicals seeping into the planet’s ecosystems. Watch how the project develops here and on instagram.

Loom Band workshop at Gateshead Library.

Last week, as part of the school holiday Family Fun workshops at Gateshead Library, I ran a ‘Creative Loom Band’ workshop for local families. Although it was a lovely hot day outside – quite rare at the moment – it was extremely well attended and we had such fun!

Families creating loom band creatures!

As many children have been madly loom banding for over a year now, we looked at making things a little bit different to the norm and using other elements such as beads into the process.

Well prepared for the workshop!

Children as young as five joined in and they had great fun making things such as sea monsters, lights sabres, all sorts of fruit, groovy bracelets and even an ‘Elsa’ from Frozen!

Beaded loom band bracelet.

‘Elsa’ from Frozen.

‘Teddy’ loom band pencil holder.

Before and after last weeks workshop, my three girls have all seemed to have had a loom band resurgence and everyday, something new has been created during the summer holidays!

Octopus, made by mini obsesivcreativ.

Mini OC’s Pebble Painting

Although it’s Summer, recently it’s been rather stormy, cold and wet. So recently we decided to do some indoor crafting after a very cold and blustery trip to the beach. Having successfully decorating my ukulele with nail varnish, I thought that a good, hard wearing way to decorate pebbles would also be to use the left over nail varnish. Inspired by images we had seen on Pinterest, the girls made ‘Thank You’ pebbles for their teachers, little fairy houses and many other designs, of which these are a few.

Painting the clean, sand free pebble.

Inspired by Fairy Houses on Pinterest.

Some of the pebbles are destined for our allotment, so the girls thought it would be lovely to paint little Fairy Houses which could either sit in or by the vegetable beds – they already have a collection of Gnomes which hide amongst the plants there!

Finished painting the pebble, just needs further decoration.

Fairy House finished and ready for it’s close-up!

Once the painting as finished and dried, using marker pen to add further outlines and details, really enhanced the finished piece.

‘Welcome’ stone for the allotment.

This is such a fun activity, cheap and easy to do. My seven year old had a great time, mass producing presents for friends and teachers.

Dog and Cat Pebbles made by my youngest OC.

Gorgeous Fairy House made by little OC.

My eldest two daughter’s made these lovely Fairy Houses – I love the detail!

Fairy House Pebbles.

Once we get some of these pebbles down the allotment, I think it would be great to make more with either the bed numbers on them, the type of paints growing or just more fairy houses…

School has now broken up for the Summer, so I am really looking forward to spending a lot of the time making with the girls, as my eldest daughter recently started Secondary School and she is very concerned that Textiles is being discouraged at G.C.S.E. So the plan is to gain as much knowledge and practice at home, so that she can have that wonderful, relaxing and productive skill for life – regardless of what she wants to be ‘when she grows up’. Rant over…

REWIND: Ravenswood Primary ‘School Values’ window hangings.

In the Spring and Summer term of 2012, I was asked to work with the children of Ravenswood Primary School to create a series of banners which illustrated the ‘school values’ and to be hung in the large windows of their dinner hall. ALL the children in the school, from Nursery to Year 6 were involved in the design of the banners and painting them – well over 500 children! It was a fantastic and exciting project to be part of.

All ten window banners, hanging in the dinning hall.

Every year group was allocated a school value and in their lessons, they came up with a design for it – often linked to areas of the curriculum they were working on.

‘R’ for ‘Respect’.

I transferred the children’s designs onto cotton fabric, 2 metres by 80 cm to fit the windows. Then every child in school from that year group, would spend some time painting on their hanging.

‘A’ for ‘Achievement’.

Using the mid weight cotton and COLOURTEX by Specialist Crafts, we were able to create a ‘stained glass window’ effect.

‘V’ for ‘Valued’.

As you can imagine, sometimes trying to co-ordinate so many children was a bit tricky but the teachers, classroom assistants and parents all helped to ensure it was a very smooth running project.

‘E’ for ‘Enjoyment’.

‘N’ for ‘Nurturing’.

On each of the hangings, the children decided it would be great fun to paint a Raven, a symbol of the school, which they could have fun looking for whilst sitting in the dinning hall eating their lunch.

‘S’ for ‘Self-confidence’.

‘W’ for ‘Working Together’.

The large textile window hangings, also help to absorb the sound in the dinning hall, so it doesn’t seem so noisy for the younger children.

‘O’ for ‘Opportunities’.

‘O’ for ‘Openness’.

Besides the different year groups, some of the school clubs also created their own designs for a ‘school value’. The Drama Club painted the ‘Self-Confidence’ hanging and the School Council design and painted the ‘Openness’ hanging.

‘D’ for ‘Diversity’.

I must admit, one of my favourite window hangings was by the children in the Nursery. There was approximately 63 children in Nursery at the time and each one choose a butterfly shape then painted it in their preferred colours.

The window hangings are much enjoyed by the children and are a lovely talking point for them, as they are able to remember which elements they painted of the hanging when they were lower down in the school.

This is a detail from the hanging painted by the 63 children in the school nursery. Their school value was about Diversity, so they each painted a butterfly, different in shape and colour. The raven appears on all of the hangings, as it is part of the school insignia and a fun image for the children to find on the hangings whilst eating their school dinners.

Recent finished projects

It’s always great to report that you’ve actually finished something, as often I have many W.I.P’s (work in progress) but I thought I’d do a little catch up – mainly to make me feel better – about some of the things I’ve finished recently and a couple I didn’t blog about at the time. Like the socks below, which I had speculated about finishing in time for Christmas to be my present to myself – which I did – but I became so caught up in the fun of family Christmas stuff and my jazzy, stripy socks were left forgotten in the blogosphere.

Christmas present socks

This week, I also finished another pair of socks for my birthday! This is not like me, I hasten to add, normally every pair of socks I make are usual given to friends and family, so to have actually made myself two pairs of socks in three months is pretty good going! Sock knitting is something I do a little of, often. I have a very cute little bag a friend gave to me a couple of years ago and it always contains my current socks in progress, so that if I have to hang around for a while whilst the girls are at a party/swimming lessons, the bag is taken with me. Below are my lovely new, very bright, slouch socks.

Slouch socks, a present to myself!

Now, I apologise for not up dating on whether I’d finished my Stash Buster Challenge in time during February! Well, I did, literally the night it needed to be finished to complete the challenge in time, at about 30 minutes to midnight, my tank top was finished!! I had made my own pattern up for the tank top and I probably could have made it a size smaller as the lovely wool I used, ‘Click by Sirdar’, was quite stretchy and forgiving. But it’s lovely, soft and cosy!

Stash buster challenge tank top February 2015.

Last week, I was busy preparing my studio for a visit by a local satellite TV channel Made in Tyne and Wear to discuss Ouseburn Open Studios and my work. So besides tidying, I decided to make a lovely Spring Wreath to go on the front of my studio door.  It is made using freeform crochet and has now got me in the mood for more crocheting – so I may yarn bomb the street where my studio is – or even just a few of my chairs!! My interview will be on the TV next Monday and I may – depending on the results – try and embed it into my blog… we’ll see.

Spring Wreath in Crochet.

Well, I said I was inspired to go a bit mad with the crocheting, and after seeing another crocheted gnome house on Facebook, my daughters have decided we need to make a village! This was last nights Gnome house and we now even have designs for the rest!! Still, when your youngest daughter is 6 years old, your allowed to not take life too seriously sometimes! And going off on a slight tangent today, I also made her a crocheted unicorn but that’s for her birthday and hopefully there will be a whole blog post infested with unicorns soon!!

Gnome house!

Another future idea, developed from the mad gnome house, crocheting craziness, as we have an allotment, I may also make some gnome houses using plastic garden twine, so that they can stay down there in the vegetable beds!! Might make a spring wreath like that, too…