Textile Folk Art (eBook)

Design, Techniques and Inspiration in Mixed-Media Textile

Anne Kelly (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023 | 1. Auflage
128 Seiten
Batsford (Verlag)
978-1-84994-556-1 (ISBN)

Infos

A practical and inspirational guide to textile folk art from cultures all around the world, accompanied by step-by-step projects. From samplers and quilts in Europe, to tribal and nomadic cloth further afield in Mongolia and China, folk and traditional designs have played a crucial part in the development of textile art and craft. In this book, Anne Kelly explores the traditional motifs used in textile folk art and shows you how contemporary textile artists use these in their work today. The beautifully illustrated guide is also packed with helpful step-by-step projects that demonstrate how to apply folk motifs to your own work. Drawing inspiration from the Far East to Scandinavia, artists and designers have often used folk art to influence their work. Beginning with the chapter 'Samplers in Stitch', Anne looks into handmade momentoes and souvenirs created in the UK and USA. Samplers as statement pieces are also explored and are contextualised within the role of women and children recording their personal histories and lives. 'Nordic Notes' then looks at Scandinavian traditional textile art, and how modern screen printing and embroidery have been used by contemporary makers. 'Silk Road' looks at the influence of nomadic cultures and textiles, including yurts in Mongolia and Miao folklore in China. Projects on how to make felt, pouched and jewellery are also covered. Lastly, 'Trees of Life' looks the motif of the tree in a variety of cultures. Anne also looks at traditional techniques from South Asia and how to create your own 'Family Tree' using photo transfers and appliqué. Featuring step-by-step projects as well as work from contemporary artists and makers throughout, this practical and beautiful guide shows how practitioners of all kinds can draw from folk art for making and inspiration.  

Anne Kelly is a textile artist and tutor. She trained in Canada and the UK and now teaches and speaks to guilds and groups. Her work is exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions, including private collections in the UK and abroad, the Vatican Collection in Rome and at the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto, and she was artist-in-residence at Sussex Prairie Garden in West Sussex and exhibited at the international World of Threads Festival and the Prague Patchwork Meeting. She is the author of several books published by Batsford: Textile Portraits, Textile Nature, Textile Folk Art and Textile Travels, and was the co-author with Cas Holmes of Connected Cloth. She lives in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Autor

Anne Kelly is a textile artist and tutor. She trained in Canada and the UK and now teaches and speaks to guilds and groups. Her work is exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions, including private collections in the UK and abroad, the Vatican Collection in Rome and at the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto, and she was artist-in-residence at Sussex Prairie Garden in West Sussex and exhibited at the international World of Threads Festival and the Prague Patchwork Meeting. She is the author of three books published by Batsford, Textile Nature, Textile Folk Art and Textile Travels, and was the co-author with Cas Holmes of Connected Cloth. She lives in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Textauszug

Sampler, embroidery on calico, Cockermouth, UK, from the collection of Barbara and Heather Gratton.

 

Samplers in Stitch

‘’Tis the gift to be simple, ’Tis the gift to be free.’

Shaker hymn

Samplers and Stitched Panels

Samplers and stitched panels are the first introduction many people will have to textiles. Practicing stitches and putting them together in one piece or project is a satisfying way to capture the essence of sewing. The great tradition of English and North American samplers tells us much about their creators and the lives they led. Dates, including birthdays and locations help to identify their often young and inexperienced makers. Family pets, houses, plants and trees all enrich the surface design. These are often treasured heirlooms that can be handed down to, and enjoyed by, new generations.

A fascinating collection at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, Sampled Lives, showcases the variety of subject matter, purpose and design of English samplers. Dating from as early as the 17th century, these were used to record individual lives, families, villages and even schools. With Mary Derow’s sampler from St Clement Danes School (shown opposite), we see in a nutshell the depth and breadth of experience that these precious fabric mementoes represent. Mary was a student at the school that still exists in London’s Covent Garden, and her work was presented to the board of trustees for sale to raise funds for scholarships to the school. The piece is a sampler worked in silks containing repeat border of patterns, including coronets, alphabets, numerals, an inscription and detached motifs. Mary was ten when she completed it in 1723.

Simple Heart by Helen Ott, a work in progress, mixed-media textile.

Student work from a Stitch Samplers Workshop, mixed-media with block printing and hand stitching.

Sampler by Mary Derow (1723). A band sampler in linen and silk, bequeathed by J.L.W. Glaisher to the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge.

The Little Bird Quaker Sampler by Jacob de Graaf, mixed-media embroidery on canvas.

Modern Folk Embroidery was started by Jacob de Graaf, a Dutch artist living and working in the UK. From his Yorkshire studio, he sells original patterns and materials inspired by centuries of arts and crafts. He uses the visual language of crafters that have gone before him as a creative springboard. His designs have appeared in international publications and are distributed all over the world. His fascination with samplers started when he accidentally found a Quaker sampler in an antique shop – it was a happy find as the piece was from 1795. He has since discovered more about its maker.

For The Little Bird Quaker Sampler (above) all the elements seen are original designs, including the traditional-looking medallions and lettering that Quaker samplers are known for. Many Quaker samplers feature birds and elements of the natural world. For this sampler, Jacob wanted to focus on the theme of birds. As he finished the design and counted the number of birds – there are 22 – he remembered that this number is also known as ‘two little ducks’.

Hen’s Teeth Art

A modern approach to making a sampler could be something altogether freer. Viv Sliwka is a Staffordshire-based artist, making work under the name of Hen’s Teeth Art. She says, ‘I work spontaneously, reacting to the inspiration provoked from folk art, dogs, hares, flowers and birds ...’ Viv always starts the process with drawings and these are translated into print, paint, free-motion embroidery and hand stitch. As Viv says, ‘my completed pieces tell tiny tales’. Her work is naïve in style and clearly influenced by folk art. Her colours and imagery are simple but strong, ‘I am not one for meticulous planning when it comes to making my pieces ... I have an idea and tend to go with it and see where I end up.’ Viv’s use of old postcards and envelopes is effective and with her combination of fabric elements they provide a rich background upon which to embellish.

Envelope (above) and Envelope (left) by Viv Sliwka. Mixed-media textile with paper, lace, postage stamps and buttons.

Travel Box

Recently in my textile practice, I have been covering wooden objects with a mixture of paper and fabric, as in my Ark series (see here)and Stitched Shed. In my teaching experience, I find that students also like to present their work in new and different formats, mounted on wood and in box frames. The travel tags, shown inside the box below, were made for my project Moving Memories (see here) and provide another intriguing form of presentation.

Travel Box, showing the interior with tags. Mixed media on wood with paper, postage stamps and textiles.

I liked the idea of a travel box and I decided to use a small cigar box that I found in a charity shop to commemorate my visit to Australia. I have also inserted pieces of vintage embroidery and used fabric to cover the box. The project opposite demonstrates how you can mix and combine paper and fabric to cover a found item like this box. The final step is to embellish it with writing, postage stamps, small buttons and ribbon and then apply a protective layer of varnish.

Making a Travel Box

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

»  Small wooden box, which you can paint or re-cover, like a cigar or sweet box

»  Paper, postage stamps, ribbon, buttons, pieces of fabric, embroidery or patches that you wish to use to decorate your box

»  Paper scissors and fabric scissors

»  Paper-cutting knife and cutting board

»  Glue stick, or acrylic wax, if desired

»  PVA glue and water mixture or water-based varnish (matt or silk finish)

 

1 Before decorating the box, make sure that any traces of old paper or unwanted labels are removed.

2 Decide how many surfaces will need to be covered and assemble the paper elements accordingly.

3 Using a glue stick, secure the paper elements to the box and trim with a cutting knife where necessary.

4 Add the pieces for the top and the inside of the lid, and the inside of the box. Buttons and ribbon can be added at this stage if you feel they suit the theme of your box.

5 When everything is in the correct position, varnish box with a mixture of 50 per cent PVA glue to 50 per cent water – you will need two or three coats of the mixture. Acrylic wax can also be applied to the paper elements of the background.

Travel Box exterior, mixed media on wood with paper, postage stamps and textiles.

Lettering

Handmade signs and lettering add a folksy and naïve quality to textile work. This can be seen in the sample of handmade banners from Sussex Prairie Garden (shown below). They were designed and made by the owner, Pauline McBride, and are used and reused for a variety of events and general signposting in the garden.

Wall hangings, mixed media on textile by Pauline McBride.

If you look closely at the lettering on samplers of all kinds you can see some detailed and inventive script. This is often also a feature of contemporary textile art. The shape and formation of letters can be inspiring and representative of other forms in the piece. Often beginners and newcomers to stitch practice their work using the motif of letters.

Typography inspiration from the author’s collection, including books, a handmade lithographic booklet and buttons.

Lettering Sampler

I am inspired by lettering in stitch and wanted to celebrate the diversity of styles. I used the Swedish lettering book (shown left) to write the title Folk Art. I also made a piece using templates from the lettering book. Folk Art is a collage using previously existing backgrounds oversewn with the lettering and then assembled patchwork style into one piece.

Folk Art, mixed-media collage on textile. Notice how the arrangement of letters – not obviously divided into words – draws the reader in to look closer.

I found a table napkin with some lettering at a brocante fair in France and decided to use it as a background. To this vintage fabric I applied a series of small doilies in different colours. I drew on the lettering and stitched the letters by hand. Other details, like ribbons and scraps of vintage embroidery, were added later on. The colours for stitching were chosen based on the colours on the fabric background. Then the piece was mounted onto a backing fabric and framed.

 

Hannah Lamb

I was interested to see how other contemporary textile artists use lettering in their work. Hannah Lamb is a Yorkshire-based textile artist and tutor at Bradford School of Art. She says:

‘In 2015 I was invited to create work in response to a historic textile mill called Sunny Bank Mill near Leeds, West Yorkshire, for an exhibition titled Material Evidence. During my visits to the mill I drew inspiration from the buildings and the extensive company archives, noticing the grid structures seen in the mill and, on a much smaller scale, in the fabric samples in the mill’s archive. All designs are numbered and...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 3.8.2023
• Zusatzinfo: Colour photographs throughout
• Verlagsort: London
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Freizeit / Hobby ► Handarbeit / Textiles
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Freizeit / Hobby ► Heimwerken / Do it yourself
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Freizeit / Hobby ► Kreatives Gestalten
• Schlagworte: animals • Collage • cross stitch • Folk Art • needlework • quilting • samplers • textile art • Traditional
• ISBN-10: 1-84994-556-X / 184994556X
• ISBN-13: 978-1-84994-556-1 / 9781849945561