Art from our travels

 A quick follow up to Tuesday's travel post, to show some of the art we experienced whilst we were away.

In Norway we saw a fair bit of street art which brought smiles to our faces. We didn't get to any museums or galleries (May Day public holiday in Bergen) but we saw some lovely pieces on the streets.

And this was street art to me! We paused as we dragged suitcases to the train station and turned and saw this massive stretch of board which had been home to many many posters over time.

In between flight arrivals and departures in Aberdeen, we made it to the Gallery there. There was a wonderful exhibition of embroidery samplers which was a joy to spend time with.

I like that these artworks have survived the centuries and they tell us about the women and young women who worked them. Their names are stitched into them. They are foregrounded, not backgrounded.

I also like the layers of symbolism in some of them - peace wreaths, forget-me-nots, doves and more. Here are a few of my favourites.

The oldest sampler there - by Hannah Bosvile, age 13, 1755

Mary Margaret Payne, 1827. 

Eliza Luke, 1799.

Mary Helen McMahon, 1885. I like the length of this scroll-like sampler, and of course the white on white of parts of it. It demonstrates a number of embroidery stitches, but also various dressmaking techniques.

And the local embroidery guild has also put together some modern samplers which are bright and beautiful!

Overall, it was simply a delight to see women's work displayed so prominently. The gallery also had an exhibition of women's works on paper; and one room full of Suffragette artworks and items - all excellent!

Taking a deep breath and beginning

 One of the main pieces for Scotland involves seven bobbins with seven hand stitched scrolls. As ever, a lot of preparation has happened to get to this point where a needle goes near fabric.

Firstly I had to try and find seven wooden bobbins. We were lucky to come across a stash in a nearby antique shop so we snaffled them and brought them home. I was trying to work out the descending measurements and B kindly cut the bobbins that needed reduction, and we glued them back together so there are now 3 pairs of different sizes, and one large central bobbin.

Another step involved having seven sort of matching rusty tins, so I painstakingly went through my rusty tin stash and tried to pull together seven tins that were siblings and might be able to go together. 

I learned how to hand stitch run and fell seams to create the seven scrolls (after all the fussing that went into measuring and choosing fabric).

I bought a bunch of embroidery threads that I thought might suit the work, and which complemented my own threads which I had chosen.

I had created a very long list of words - a bit like a shopping list but different - and then transferred some of them onto the fine fabric.

And started stitching.

I am very conscious that there is a lot of stitching to do, and I am still strangely anxious about overdoing it and damaging my hand again, so I am going slowly.

But the first scroll is done!

Cautiously, and slowly, onwards.

The coasters...

I mentioned before that art-wise, this trip has been a fair bit about preparation - making  things and testing things and setting in motion some ideas for artworks, without getting stuck in and actually producing much.

On the other hand, I had done a small bit of preparation before I left Australia, thinking it would be good to have a sewing project on hand whilst I was here; and because of function, I decided to make a set of six coasters by hand.

It was an organic process - I had my squares cut and trimmed, and I had my threads, but beyond that not much was known or planned.

I have enjoyed the practice of randomly stitching within a structure and with purpose; and have been focussed this week on getting them finished before we head back.

The last of the internals almost finished.

Six coasters with their patterns stitched.

The first of the borders which joins tops and bottoms.

A completed first border.

A second border underway...

A couple of two-border ones done; with a bit of fraying begun.

Ta-da. Six completed coasters.

So, there are 6 new coasters to leave at the cottage, and to be used when we next return.  Of course, as I look a them I can already see how I could add something more to them and it feels like I might have another wee project waiting for me on our next visit!

Even as I type, three of the coasters have a glass of red wine on them, so they are being used already. Good news.

Cottages, gardens and stitches

I have been enjoying the quiet moments - stitching, reading, writing and researching.  We are interested to discover as much as we can about the woman for whom our cottage is named; as well as the history of the cottage itself, the village, and the archaeological bits around this part of Scotland with its ancient history.

So I am mostly doing the people stuff - discovering that "Hughag" was in fact Hughina McKay, born 1868 and died 1951.  One person in the village, our neighbour across the road, remembers her as a tall stern woman in black who kept her chickens in the kitchen.  Another woman from a neighbouring village says she was a wonderful story teller and the children would hang around her and she would teach them songs and tell them stories.  I like that part a lot, but I also love the chicken story.

Barry is doing maps and village history and the archaeology - I am trying to track down the building of the cottage and its inhabitants.  The people with whom we share the experience of living here, albeit in very different circumstances.

So that is lots of fun and means we have no excuse for an idle moment! This was a great find, a petition for the building of a doctor's house signed by Hughina in 1896.

The garden is returning to a semblance of normal, although heavy rain meant we once again had to dig drains!  The water gets away a whole lot better now.

Nonetheless rain does make for lovely photos too - I call these two "wet washing day".

It is the first day of Autumn here today and the colours are fading and a few leaves disappearing.  But there is still enough around for me to want to dye more thread, so the search continues.

I was amazed by the first batch of dyeing.  The sweet peas had been so mauve!  Then as they dried they softened down to a pinkish colour, then I rinsed them in water and they turned silver grey, then they dried agains and ended up soft green.  Who knew?

I spent time last night rolling them onto pegs, and then did the labels today.

From L:R sweet peas, thistle, red clover and stinging nettles.

And then to stitching quietly.  Two coaster top layers stitched, a third underway.

And some foraging in the weeds produced these flowers for the next brew. I think they are Devils-bit Scabious, but it can be pretty tricky working out these Scottish flowers!

They may be the third purple flower to dye green, but we shall see.  At least they have had some lovely sunshine today to burble away with.

I Dream of a World...

Barry and I are back from a whirlwind trip to Sydney where we attended the opening of Mo Orkiszewski's gathering from around the world "I dream of a world where love is the answer".

Here we are joining hands around the world...

The installation was wonderful; and all the details shone. We ended up spending a lot of time just staring and checking and looking- the longer we looked, the more we saw...

My appreciation for the talisfolk in particular just grew and grew the more time I spent with them. They were so so beautiful.

Of course, I wandered around hoping for a glimpse of my wee pennant. See here for its story. In amongst the vibrant beauty of so many others, it was hanging quietly, surreptitiously with its quiet message of love.

 The world seems smaller and closer somehow when I realised I was hanging next to Jude Martin who was such an inspiration for so many; and Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord; and one pennant away from Liz Ackert; and one pennant away from Louise Watson.  All three folk I have 'met' through the wonders of the interweb...

An especially captivating element of the show was the line of correspondence around the wall. Many participants had written notes to Mo about their work and their hopes for love mending our beautiful broken world, and these were placed along the walls and around corners. So many visitors were fascinated by them.

Liz's!

 I loved the notion and it felt like finding an old friend when I saw this piece amongst them.

 Mo looked gorgeous and talked and shared with everyone. And everyone talked to everyone...

The details of the gloves and their star cut outs and embroideries called me back time and time again.

Unknowingly to me, Barry took a series of photos of me reading the words of Rod's song that Liz had embroidered on her pennant. I was clearly gazing intently!

And in what seems quite fitting, as we walked (hobbled) along the street outside the gallery, I came across this graffiti heart on a rusty covering. 

Perfect.

So many hearts and congratulations to Mo for the most magnificent of gatherings - so much love from around the world poured into these works...

Update: To see all of the beautiful pennants and talisfolk, and learn more of the stories and hearts behind them, click here to view the astonishingly beautiful digital catalogue.