Barbara J West - 2011 JC Graduate

Here are post cards of Barbara West's exhibition work.

She calls the installation 'Drinking Games'

From her artist statement: 'This installation draws attention to one example of alcohol misuse in western culture, with potentially violent consequences for young women.'

It is powerful work, personally relevant to every parent who has sent a daughter out into the world.

New JC BA(Hons) Graduates 2011

Ingrid Lincoln and I have just returned from the private view of this year's graduates of the Julia Caprara School of Stitched Textiles BA(Hons) degree programme exhibition in Redchurch Gallery, London.

6 students had a selection of their final work displayed in the gallery.

Viny Smit, Principal of the school, welcomed everyone.

Alice Kettle gave the address to the graduates.

Congratulations to all the graduates: Barbara  J West, Wendy Harris Williams, Diana Bliss, Diana Halbert, Valerie Huggins, Chris Spencer

I'm sorry I can't show you images of the wonderful work - photography was not allowed.

More Sampling of Food While Travelling

Of course i also sampled cream teas as we travelled across the English and Welsh countryside.
So far my vote goes to the cream tea in the Old Stables Tea Rooms in a small village in the foothills of the Welsh Black Mountains, Hay on Wye.

They have won many awards with their own fresh clotted cream, yeast unbleached flour scones warm from the oven when you order, rose-flavoured strawberry jam (all ingredients from their garden and their father's garden), and a delicious blended tea, all served on a piece of slate.
But i will not decide on my favourite cream tea until we have explored the Devon coast next year when we return for my graduating exhibition.

Each village has a bakery or two with a bow or glassed window where they display that morning's baking. All very tempting.

What i couldn't resist was a cone of vanilla-flavoured sheep's milk ice cream - that's the cone on the left. It was delicious. We sat out in a market square with our backs to a 700 year old church wall and watched village life pass by while licking.

Afternoon Tea in the UK

While traveling around the UK we sampled afternoon tea in lots of different places.
This is the Bantam Tearooms in Chipping Campden.

They have an inviting display of baking in the window, causing many passers-by to stop and look.
It is also a 2-room B & B and we stayed up stairs for the night then had the tea rooms to ourselves for breakfast.

By Chipping Campden I had discovered flapjacks (called oat cakes in Canada) and sampled them often.
They are made plain....

...covered or half dipped in chocolate...

... or have dried fruit added.

I stuck to sampling the plain ones.

They go very well with tea.

Pattern in the UK

On a recent trip to the UK I looked for pattern wherever I went.

Mosaic floor tiles in an endless variety.

Organic patterns in stone.

Patterns made with different materials.

What a feast for the eyes

Prairie Landscapes

I am beginning a new body of work. It will be exhibited with Articulation.
After sorting yarns, I needed to wind all of the skeins into balls.

Then I sampled....

... to see how the colours worked together.

I am working with my photographs, drawings and colour studies collected during Articulation's study week based in Regina, Saskatchewan, when we studied life on the prairies.

Studio Clean Up

After packing up a module of work and sending it to my tutor in the UK, I cleaned up my studio.

This table has been covered for months and I have had to shuffle piles to find spaces to work in.

Part of cleaning up my studio involved getting a new iron - just because I finally had time to go out, check the different brands and make a decision.
Isn't this a great name for an iron. It is heavy, holds lots of water and is programmable.

It took me many hours to sort and put everything away.

But only a short time to cover the table again.

I am sorting yarns from my stash for a new body of work.

More Doilies

Table Cloth, stains removed, washed, dyed, blocked - transformed

So many different patterns

Like snow flakes, or flowers

Blocking

While at the retreat I continued blocking. I had a big pile of washed and dyed doilies that needed to be blocked and dried before going moldy.

Every time I was surprised after I pulled out a damp limp cloth from the bag.

Blocking transformed it

Dolies

I have been washing, dyeing and blocking crocheted and tatted doilies.

I have been building up a collection of doilies for quite a while. Friends have kindly been helping, buying doilies when they see them in thrift stores and auction houses.

The range of crochet techniques and patterns is most interesting to study. The majority are made of cotton.

A few of them need mending and some are so rotten they didn't stand up to washing.