It’s all relative

Art portfolio- my work

Just before the year was over a great joy was announced; there would be a family meeting, a joyous reunion! When the time came for this anticipated gathering the woods were abuzz as the nice friendly giant proudly walked into the forest greeted merrily by the good fairies and ecstatic family pet. The forest Faye entertained their kin by playing with fire as they trapezed through the night sky; so many came and told them that the guests enjoyed watching you. Sadly, the nuclear family was alienated after their controversial rendition of ‘what’s love got to do with it?’. Thank you for coming said the wicked giants as the evening drawn to a close and the overwhelming sense of ‘you can’t choose your family’ was left hanging in the air. Walking out of the woods the artificial family just chuckled to themselves remembering that it’s all relative. The end. -Linda Fletcher

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cfa1VUhqn3X/

You can check out the link above if you want to see me reading Linda’s version on Instagram. (unfortunately WordPress doensn’t allow me to embed the video, and my copy doesn’t want to upload here, but…

below is the video I uploaded reading the one I wrote 😉

Thank you Linda for participating in making up a story using the titles of the works for my upcoming exhibition at MContemporary gallery in Sydney. Only 21 days to go!!

Minutes to Midnight and World Embroidery Day

Art portfolio- my work, Studio news/blog

Minutes to midnight 215 x 106 cm cotton thread, doillies and rubber 2018

Minutes to Midnight is the title of the work above as well as the title for my upcoming solo exhibition at 99 Loop Gallery in Cape Town.

minutes to midnight detail

For a long time my thoughts centered around the words “Minutes to midnight” as a title for a possible solo show, and after many attempts, planning, and discussions the works of the past few years (some new, some reworked) all fit together and finally I am looking forward to present the body of work soon (October 2018).

“Minutes to Midnight” is basically a continuation of my investigation of fear, which in turn lead me to the notion of time and eventually to the meaning behind the words: “Minutes to midnight” which actually refers to the symbolic clock used by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. This symbolic clock represents the countdown to a potential global catastrophe, and refers to this catastrophe as “Midnight”. It is currently standing on 2 minutes to Midnight.

Midnight in turn also reminded me about all the fairytales in which when the clock strikes 12 the magic disappears.

Minutes to midnight detail

But before you think it is all gloom and doom in this post, I have something uplifting to share with you as well:

I found out this morning, that it is World Embroidery Day today! I saw it on a fellow embroiderer’s Instagram account*, and decided to google it to find out more.

The origins of the World Embroidery Day date back to 30 June 2011 and was an initiative of the Swedish Embroidery Guild, to celebrate embroidery (what a wonderful idea). I even found their Embroidery Manifesto which I would like to share with you:

embroidery_manifesto_-english (1)

Or you can visit this website to Download in 5 other languages:

http://www.broderiakademin.nu/worldembroideryday/

minutes to midnight detail

So I would like to celebrate and wish you a wonderful “World Embroidery Day”. Until we speak again – happy stitching!

Footnotes and links:

*The fellow embroiderer I mentioned is: Nicole O’ Loughlin and there is a lovely interview with her on the Fiber Studio’s blog. click here

*Early this year the “Doomsday Clock” reach 2 Minutes to Midnight…the closest ever…you can read more about it here

or visit the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists website… here

*You may download the Embroidery Manifesto here

*For more details about my upcoming solo you can watch this space or contact the gallery 99 Loop, see here

*The photographer of my artwork is Kleinjan Groenewald, you can visit his website here

Bosch in Africa

Art portfolio- my work, Studio news

I’m also participating in another exciting group exhibition: Bosch in Africa! Curated by Sandra Hanekom, and inspired by Hieronymus Bosch of course.

I’ve made 6 small pieces for this show. I like to refer to these as my:

“Bosch in Afrikaans” series.

They were inspired by the pages in a lovely book called: Kinderland.

I used some pages which made reference to witches and decided to embroider some Boschian characters on rubber.

“Boomheks”

Groot vogel

“Tamaai mond”

“Verlore toorgoed (eier)”

“Plat op sy rug”

Verlore toorgoed (sprokie)

All the above have been framed for the exhibition, but unfortunately I don’t have photos of it except for this one: (which should give you an idea of what they look like now)

If you want to see more about this exhibition, then check out their page on Facebook. I am not on Facebook anymore otherwise I would have added a link for you 😉

The Woordfees in Stellenbosch runs from the 1st of March until the 12th. Enquiries: zelda.hamilton@gmail.com

Sleeping Beauty overslept

Art portfolio- my work

“Sleeping Beauty overslept” 2016 Cotton thread, doillies and rubber 103 x 74 cm

Good morning!

“Nog 10 slapies”… and then it’s showtime. So I thought since I live in a town also known as the ‘Bay of the Sleeping Beauty” that it’s a good idea to share this image with you. This piece will be exhibited at my next solo exhibition: The Grimm Needle at Fried Contemporary. I hope not to oversleep and miss the opening 😉

Inspiration for this piece came from this:

on a side note: My Mother-in-law taught me a new stitch, and I tried it on Prince Phillip. Always a challenge to try new stitches on rubber, but it was worth a try…practise, practise, practise.