Fabric Art Workshop 6th June Leicester

One of Britain’s most important collections of modern religious art is currently being exhibited in Leicester under the title of Wondering Soul. 

A joint project between the Church of England’s Leicester Cathedral and the Methodist Church, the Methodist Modern Art Collection will be on display across the city from now until 9th June. You can find more information about the exhibition at the Leicester Cathedral website here. 

I'm delighted to have been invited to run a workshop as part of the exciting programme events accompanying the exhibition. Taking place on 6th June from 10am to 2pm at St Andrews Church, Jarrom Street, Leicester, LE2 7DH tickets are £17 and can be booked directly from here.

Each attendee will be encouraged to use one of the art works in the exhibition, several of which will be displayed at St Andrews, as inspiration. Working with fabric, lace, ribbons, buttons and basic hand stitching techniques I will then help you create your own textile collage based upon that inspiration or your own interpretation of it. No previous sewing experience is needed and the aim is to have fun working with the materials whilst learning a little about creating fabric pictures. 

I can't wait!!!

Belvoir Art Trail

I'm delighted to be not only on the organiser team but also exhibiting as part of the Belvoir Art Trail again this year at both the Geese and Fountain in Croxton Kerrial and with fellow artist Donna Drouin in our installation #copsecollective at Kooroon Too. For more details on all the artists and venues involved visit www.belvoirarttrail.co.uk for the full programme.

Super excited and super busy.

It's a mad time of the year because I am one the team of organiser who put on the annual Belvoir Art Trail as well as working hard with my friends to get a new gallery and workshop space set up right here where I live. I''m making new work to exhibit, have a cabinet in a fab boutique to create a display for and pulling together my autumn / winter workshop programme. Plus I will be moving all this finery to a new website.

So with all that twirling around my head I think I will simply share some of my favourite moments from the last couple of months in pictures.

Do you know why the mermaid sings? Image of one of my exhibition pieces from March

"The unkindness of ravens" Image of one of my exhibition pieces from March

"Play Freely" One piece of work for the Copse Collection installation for Belvoir Art Trails 2019 

"Still life Yellow Flowers" sold in 2017. New work of this style will be exhibited in May

My lovely friends during the Kooroon Gallery event last weekend at The Old Sorting House (new venue we are developing)

This week

Do you know why the mermaid sings?

Belvoir Art Trail 2019

I'm extremely fortunate where I live in that I have a wonderful network of like minded creatives with whom I meet and collaborate, who I mentor and and from whom I gain a massive amount of support. 

One of our projects is the ever growing Belvoir Art Trail which I co-coordinate with Glenda Gibson from the Kooroon Gallery, Donna Drouin Artist and Dian Harrison owner of The Old Sorting House venue and who runs Art and Soul Studio as well as designing and teaching through 3 T's and Me. 

We already have 10 venues and nearly three times as many artists involved. And you can be too!

We are holding an open call for entries encouraging artists, artisans, crafters, makers, designers and potential venues to apply.

 To be eligible any work put forward for inclusion must be original and individual (i.e. not mass produced) and artists / makers should live or work or be exhibiting at a venue within the Vale of Belvoir area. 

Venues can be in any form from gallery to café window, already exhibiting or aiming to do so for the first time. Pop up shops and open studios are also encouraged provided they are run by the applicant.
 
All venues must be located within the Vale of Belvoir area, which we take as a rough circle encompassing Melton Mowbray, Bingham and Grantham and all the villages in between.
 
Application is free, although we will ask for a contribution of £5 per exhibition (single, group, venue) to help with print costs for the trail catalogue.

To apply please email Jane via belvoirarttrail@gmail.com or contact Donna via www.facebook.com/belvoirarttrail.
 
We will then send you a form and some further info. Deadline for return of entry forms is 17^th February, again via email. There is no strict criteria for inclusion, we just want to celebrate the rich diversity of unique creative making that goes on in our beautiful part of the world.  

Hand Sewn Bird workshop 18th January

I'm delighted to say that I will be running a hand sewn bird making workshop on 18th January from 7pm to 10pm in the beautiful St Mary's Church in Bottesford, Leicestershire. It's available for the special price of £7 including all materials because it is organised by Creative Space, a voluntary run group aimed at offering opportunities to explore creatively in many art forms in an informal and fun way.  I'm proud to say I am part of the committee for the group who are also responsible for co-ordinating and curating the Belvoir Art Trail in May. So much to look forward to.

If you would like more info or to take part in the workshop use the message form to email me or use the messenger facility on Facebook via my page www.facebook.com/pollywhistle

More workshops to follow soon. Happy New Year!!!

Build your own (BBC) Victorian Puppet Theatre

Looking for a little old fashioned activity for the Christmas hols? Well here is a great share from the BBC, full instructions and printables for making your own Victorian Puppet Theatre.

I discovered it whilst researching construction methods to design the Wincle Sisters Concert Hall at the Bottom of the Garden (part of the Laid to Rest Project).

Check it out HERE! In fact check out all 25 activites and learn about the history of Christmas. Have fun.

Constance Thimbleton a new Commission

I was recently approached with regards to Angelic Frankle to see if she was for sale. As the central character in the on-going Laid to Rest project (a dedicated website and podcast for which will be launched in the new year!), I explained that she was not for sale. However, I could create "sister" characters complete with their own stories.

With a little further correspondence from the client, I was sent some beautiful pictures and insight into a favourite grandmother, a seamstress no less.

And so Constance Thimbleton was born, a dear friend of said grandmother during their time working together in their youth, all invented of course but perfectly 'plausible'. Connie's story unfolds in the form of a letter to Angelica Frankle from her "dear friend and favourite old soul" Betrum.

The full tale and images will be available on the new website. Join my mailing list to be kept updated. and do contact me if you wish to discuss a commission of your own.

Arthur and Mary's trip to Leicester

Wednesday 17th October see the opening of an exhibition at Bishop Street Methodist Church in Leicester. The exhibition will be varied and unusual because each piece has been made from a part of the old pipe organ. 

Earlier this year there was an open invitation for artists to deposit £10 in exchange for a pipe or circuit boar, which they could take away and keep or make something with. Work could but did not have to relate to the title of the exhibition ‘Venite’. Although many of the pieces will no doubt be prophetic in nature or based around the makers spiritual belief this was not a requirement either. 

And so Arthur and Mary Crumphorn were born or should I say deceased? Chapter one in the 'Laid to Rest' project the piece reflects the vital role pipe organs played in the couple's tragically ordinary love story. 

The work comes with a memory-zine to take away and the full obituary as written by Angelica Frankle in her unpublished manuscript 'The Artful Obituary'. Later this month I will post up a little video flick through the book of memories and treasure's that Mary kept and a copy of the said obituary on the 'Laid to Rest' page. For now you will have to make do with a couple of little pictures and planning a trip to Bishop Street Methodist Church.  







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All a flutter for Angels

New Angels are going up in the shop on a regular basis (well the ones that aren't sold before they can even get there of course).

AND I have velvet!!! So there will be a whole range of sumptuous little winged characters arriving for your delight towards the end of the month. 

Just a few shots

(and not of the tequila kind).

Thought I would share a couple of pics of the Laid to Rest project as it is not live (if you pardon the pun).

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Angelica finally got a proper frock #LTRartdolls #artdoll #pollywhistle #contemporaryfolkart

A post shared by Jane (@pollywhistle) on Oct 5, 2018 at 7:52am PDT

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The Wincle Sisters looking most serene. #LTRartdolls #wip

A post shared by Jane (@pollywhistle) on Oct 5, 2018 at 6:51am PDT

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Dear Arthur Crumphorn, such a gentle, loving soul. #LTRartdolls #pollywhistle #artdoll

A post shared by Jane (@pollywhistle) on Oct 4, 2018 at 6:46am PDT

The day I ran away to join the (Marvelous Mechanical) circus

Well not quite a circus although there was plenty of circus type action too. No, I actually went to Compton Verney and to see the permanent British Folk Art exhibition and the Marvelous Mechanical Museum display.  (MMM)

In such a beautiful setting, it's a must for British Folk Art fanciers like myself. I even got to see a pieces by a few of my heros: Elizabeth Allen; George Smart and in the MMM display Paul Spooner and Sam Smith .

It was an enlightening day out partly because I had been so desperate to go for so long and partly because of what wasn't there are as much as what was. I can say I will be going again but I can't say it is the folk art mecca I had hope it might be. Perhaps that is a good thing.

Elizabeth Allen Population Explosion

Laid to Rest Launches 5th & 6th October

Presenting Angelica Frankle

Social butterfly Angelica Frankle has died aged 38 as a result of accidental hanging due to a spider bite. Her full obituary including details of why she was so interested in stranger's funerals can be found at www.pollywhistle.com/laidtorest #LTRartdolls #pollywhistle #artdoll #mixedmedia #textileart #contemporaryfolkart

Laid to Rest: A Memoriam of Art Dolls

Presenting a new body of work by PollyWhistle based around the contents of a recently discovered draft manuscript entitled 'Laid to Rest - The Artful Obituary' by social butterfly Angelica Frankle. 

Starting with the sweet yet bawdy "Wincle Sisters" and the tragic yet ordinary love story of "Arthur and Mary Crumphorn" presented at two separate exhibitions in October 2018, Laid to Rest is a long term project with thirteen and a half chapters. Click here for more info and see Events page for dates and venues details.

“It’s like finding a chest in the attic and pulling out the beautiful frocks, photos and letters that peppered a person’s life without ever meeting them!” Angelica Frankle 

New Angels coming soon.

I know it is far to early to mention the festive period to pretty much anyone but I'm already booking up my craft fairs and finishing new Angels, trees and other textile treats in readiness.

Patching things back together with day trips

Last week I got another chance to get away from all the chaos and enjoy a day out to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham (UK). There were several reasons for going but first and foremost was to see the 1718 Coverlet "the oldest surviving dated Patchwork Coverlet in Britain". 

I was rather taken by surprise in that I got a little emotional when I saw it. It was beautiful, faded and worn yet fascinating. The exhibition surrounding it did it justice too with reinterpretations by other quilters using basically the same blocks and plenty of details about the research behind it. Definitely worth the visit for that alone.  

Other than have a good nose about at all the exhibitor's stands I was also pretty keen to see the new Ruth Singer exhibition Criminal Quilts. I enjoyed the work very much but as I was already pretty shattered by the time I got to that particular section I am planning to go when it is shown at the Brewhouse in Burton on Trent and take my time over it. For more info and a fab video about the project visit Ruth's website here. 

A little bit of much needed magic

It's been one heck of year, mostly revolving around the illness and subsequent death of my father a last month and house move. Needless to say most of my making activity has been on halt but this time has given me the chance to rethink my plans, get focused and be really clear about what matters to me. So when the chance came to go to the opening night of an exhibition of new work by one of my textile art heros I jumped at the chance. 

Mister Finch's The Wishing Post at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park was everything I could have hoped for and indeed needed to restore my fretful mind after such as tough time. The work was beautiful, magical and fun, the atmosphere buzzing with excitement and I had two joyful travelling companions for the entire adventure.   

I cannot recommend the exhibition and accompanying book enough. The story is wistfully happy and the menagerie of characters created by Mr Finch from reclaiming vintage and antique fabrics and treasures is delightful. 

Go see it. Now!!! (It's on until 23rd September) 

Really looking forward to...

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