Embroiderers' Guild - the UK's leading crafts association
sharing opportunities for discovery and creativity
Apt 41 Hampton Court Palace, Surrey KT8 9AU
T: 020 8943 1229 - F: 020 8977 9882 - E: administrator@embroiderersguild.com
Embroiderers' Guild - the UK's leading crafts association
sharing opportunities for discovery and creativity
Apt 41 Hampton Court Palace, Surrey KT8 9AU
T: 020 8943 1229 - F: 020 8977 9882 - E: administrator@embroiderersguild.com
Chat from the Chair
The year seems to have gone by very quickly and here we are in July already. We have enjoyed a successful year, with a wide variety of interesting speakers and activities, in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. We are lucky to be able to meet in such excellent surroundings and the new caretaker seems to be just as helpful as Jim!
The Branch Library has got off to an excellent start with a good selection of books and DVDs, and we shall continue to steadily add more. I would welcome suggestions of titles of the sort of expensive book which you think members would be interested in, but unwilling to buy for themselves. I hope you will agree this is a good use for some of the Mildred Higgins legacy, as it is something from which all members can benefit. Many thanks also to those of you who have generously donated books. They are greatly appreciated.
As you know, two members of the committee are standing down in September. So far there is only one person who is considering joining the committee and we really do need two. For the Branch to continue to flourish and provide a lively and successful programme for everyone to enjoy, we do need more help. The Branch cannot function without a committee, so don't be afraid to put your name forward, even if you are a relatively new member. The work is interesting and you will be made very welcome.
Hope you all have a good summer break, I and look forward to seeing everyone at the AGM in September.
Dee.
Early news of the 2010 to 2011 programme
As I draft this for the summer newsletter there are some i's to dot and t's to cross but this item is to give you information about the first meetings of the new Embroiderers' Guild year:
September 11th 2010
a.m. Branch AGM on payment of subscriptions a full programme will be available. (Every effort has been made to present the information in an easily managed form).
p.m. Speaker Magie Relph from African Fabrics Shop, Holmfirth. [ Magie has curated an exhibition 10 Jul - 16 Oct 2010 at The Quilt Museum and Gallery, York. Entitled 'Under African Skies'.]
LAST CHANCE to sign up for Devore workshop with Lorraine Appleton to take place October 16th 2010
September 26th East Midlands Regional AGM at Ruddington Village Hall
October 2nd 2010 please note that this is first Saturday of the month to fit in with the college. A branch project day with input from a speaker to be confirmed
October 16th Devore workshop with Lorraine Appleton
Carolyn Merry
The V&A Quilt Exhibition 300 Years of British Quilting
The V&A's first ever exhibition of British quilts was well worth a visit. The exhibition included 65 quilts including many from the V&A's own collection but also a number of important loans and new works by contemporary artists, many of which were commissioned especially for the show. The earliest examples include a sumptuous silk and velvet bedcover, with an oral narrative that links it to King Charles II's visit to an Exeter manor house in the late 17th century. Recent examples include works by leading artists such as Grayson Perry and Tracey Emin and commissions for the exhibition by a number of contemporary artists including Sue Stockwell and Caren Garfen. The exhibition was presented chronologically and thematically. 'The Domestic Landscape', 'Private Thoughts, Public Debates', 'British Eccentricity', ' Making a Living' and 'Memory and Memorial'. Together the quilts document love, marriage, births, deaths, periods of intense patriotic fervour, regional and national identity and developments in taste and fashion.
On loan for the very first time from the National Gallery of Australia was the Rajah quilt, made in 1841 by women convicts aboard the HMS Rajah as they were being transported to Van Diemen's Land (present day Tasmania). The women used sewing provisions donated by Elizabeth Fry's social reform initiative to create what is now the only transportation quilt in a national collection, never before shown outside Australia.