NEWS FROM MOOR HALL

Well it has been a busy time again. I have been working on my new courses at Moor Hall for 2019 and I hope you will find something of interest. I am keeping my prices the same as last year, so sit back and do have a good look.

The Textile Study Group has also kept me busy in my role as their Chair, but what a privilege that is! I find it a real honour to be part of such a professional group. Do take time to look at our website.

LINK TO WEBSITE

Our most recent project DIS/rupt has now come to an end, but we have already launched into our next project......but more on that to come later.

Our tutor for the weekend was the brilliant Michael Brennand-Wood who  certainly presented a challenging experience for us all and we came away from the weekend thoroughly exhausted but very stimulated. If you get an opportunity to be tutored by Michael I thoroughly recommend him. 

MICHAELS WEBSITE

Kantha is a Bangladeshi word for cloth, and a particular way of stitching embroidered quilts made from the good parts of old worn out saris.  A wealth designs based on flowers and leaves feature on these quilts, mostly worked in variations of running stitch.

Through patching and piecing together scraps of coloured fabrics we will build a layered cloth  approximately A4 in size.   Using just running stitch we will add floral designs. And then to bring the textile piece together we will quilt the remaining spaces which will result in creating the rippling textures unique to kantha.

This workshop is open to everyone interested in hand stitching and exploring a contemporary take on  Kantha making.   If you have attended one of my Kantha courses before, do come to extend your Kantha making skills.

'A little Book of Leaves and More

£195 for 3 days

This workshop will appeal to anyone who wants to experience a creative few days with a needle and thread in their hand.

Those of you who have already worked with Amanda will find they have more time to develop stitch and cloth using leaves/natural forms as starting points. You will have time to work through strategies to get more personal developed imagery at the beginning of the course.

There will be ample studio time to work through all her signature techniques such as darning, inlay, applique, cutwork, trailing, layering and trapping. Amanda is developing ideas all the time so there will be some new surface relief techniques to 'play' with. Transparency, translucency and her favourite neutral palette will inspire your own thoughtful series of work which you will want to continue after the course.

A project exploring the idea of continuity and change through drawing, collage and stitch.

Working from a collection of personal objects we will be looking at ways in which abstracted visual imagery might convey, explore and develop the idea of personal language, narrative and history through the interaction of making, materials and process.

In and Out of Focus

£130 for 2 days

On this course we will look at ways of combining stitch, bonded applique and the use of the embellishing machine to create multi layered images.

There will be an emphasis on the ways in which the embellishing machine can be used to create a range of effects that work well when toning, linking, blending and 'ghosting' images.

In this three day landscape painting course David Tress will look at the building blocks which underlie representational landscape painting - light, space/perspective, tone, colour, composition - and will also consider the ways in which an expressive or emotional response to landscape might be explored. There will be a balance between describing and demonstrating the various painters' 'tools' which allow the making of strong representational paintings and vigorous compositions, and an exploration of risk-taking and 'gut response' in making landscape paintings which allow and encourage a more expressive approach to the subject.

Each day will include demonstrations and studio work, and sketching and drawing in the beautiful landscape surrounding Moor Hall Farmhouse in the Clun Valley.  Tuition will be both as a group, with demonstrations and discussions, and individually for all course members with help, discussion and suggestions. Demonstrations will be in acrylic, some of them using mixed media and collage. We hope as always for good weather when out drawing - but please bring along some stout shoes or boots and waterproof clothing just in case!

Hand stitching will be the emphasis on this course. Developing exciting surfaces by building up and layering stitches can be most rewarding. Finding the right stitches or stitches to interpret the image or surface selected is the challenge. Initially, we will work some experimental exercises and then progress to creating small, resolved, subtle and/or exquisite embroideries.

Decaying surfaces, old walls, pavements, rust, mosses, lichen, grasses, flower centres, rocks, stones, minerals, tree bark could all provide inspiration. Extreme close up images can reveal unusual, fascinating imagery.

Those who cannot cope without a sewing machine could select to work a grid/mesh/network of machine stitches on soluble film to support the hand stitches thus creating a unique lace. Sometimes having considered the planned action carefully machining into a hand-stitched surface can emphasis or highlight dimensional qualities.