art

October: clocks change

Posted on by carolinehiggs

Here we are almost two months after my last post and we have changed our clocks ready for the winter months. Autumn has arrived and now we have had a week of high winds and rain, my fingers are itching to get into the garden as it is calling for attention and the although the sunshine was very enticing the ground was still too hard to dig, hopefully now I can crack on!

I have had three exhibitions, one as part of the Fete des Arts in the neighbouring village which was my fifth participation and the second as a part of open studios when my garage became a gallery for the weekend. This weekend participated in Arts et Fact a new art show in a local village, it was well attended and I demonstrated during the day. Then in November I am travelling south for a weekend exhibition. The year will end and 2027 will start with an exhibition in the Maison de Charente-Maritime which will run for a month, I am exhibiting alongside 4 other artists who are painters and sculptors.

Two new pieces which were exhibited.

As the weather cooled and before it became wet I spent time painting with pigments, preparing cloths to stitch during the winter months, once I have painted the cloth it has to cure for a month prior to being used. I decided to stop eco-printing until the spring when the leaves will be less dried out, unless I get tempted by something that I see and can’t resist. As usual I have plenty of ideas turning in my head I just need to apply myself.

A couple of weeks ago I spent two nights in Bordeaux, it was my first visit and there was a great deal to see, I need to return to do more. We went to the Bassins des lumières,(images below) an old submarine base where the images are projected onto the concrete walls and which reflect into the pools of water. The main show and longest was Matisse, his story was narrated while the images turned, rarely static, and the effect with the reflection was magical. Then there was a short session on Frida Kahlo which I was less enamoured by. In the Cube where the floor acted as a mirror there were two short shows one about dreams and the other geometric lines which was excellent. Apart from walking around the outside of the Cité de Vin, various churches and streets, some shopping happened, we went to the Capc, the Contemporary Art museum, there wasn’t a great deal to see but there was a great screen print (image below) made on polished metal using wood dust as the ink made by Olu Ogunnaike. The wood dust came from sanding beams in the building, which is a wonderful old warehouse with links to the slave trade.

I am up to date with my journal quilts and also with Fifteen by Fifteen.

A while back I did an on-line interview about the course, I did with Claire Benn last year, about using earth pigments which has really affected the way in which I want to work, this is the link; https:/taketwoart.com/featured_stories/student-story-caroline-higgs .

Damp November

Posted on by carolinehiggs

Here we are at the end of November, the time has flown by since I last updated. At the beginning of October I spent a night in hospital for planned sinus glitches that was followed by a light dose of shingles so it was relief when I set off for the UK at the end of the month to visit family and friends for three weeks.

For once I was around for the journées de patrimoine and I went to the Mairie in la Rochelle to see the textiles on display, these comprised of a life size contemporary embroidery (cross stitch) of Aliénor d’Aquitaine celebrating 900 years since her birth and some rather wonderful wall tapestries.

The last Saturday in September saw me invited to teach around a hundred ladies at a friendship day for France Patchwork south of here near Angoulême in the Charente region, a little hectic but I believe that everybody went home happy with what they had achieved and I failed to take any photos!

At the beginning of October I hung 17 pieces at Le Sauzy, a parish hall which holds many different types of events . The hanging space is well lit and I was delighted to be invited to exhibit my work for a couple of months.

The UK was foggy, damp and cold but there was plenty to do and see. I made use of my National Trust membership to visit two lovely properties, Oxburgh House in Norfolk and the grounds of Knightshayes in Devon. In the former were the most lovely embroideries, rich leather and burnished velvet wall coverings which were a real surprise. The bed hangings arrived at Oxburgh around 1761 and were removed in the 1950’s and taken to the V & A which has loaned them to the National Trust.

The grounds of Knightshayes are fantastic and many of the plants are labelled, there were a surprising number of plants flowering and luckily the rain stopped for our walk around the woodland garden. The were some woven willow structures of wildlife secreted amongst the trees.

I also visited Country and Eastern in Norwich which has a collection of South Asian artefacts. Not only were there old textiles on display but also stunning carved wood and some enormous windows and doorways. I was particularly drawn to the Pakistani and Indian pieces. The building is an grade 2 listed old roller skating rink with the most incredible wooden roof. It opened as a rink in 1876 but a year closed due to financial difficulties and had a chequered career until it was transformed to its present use in 1993. There was so much to see in the museum section and to buy but I managed to keep my hands firmly in my pockets.

En route between friends I visited the Honiton lace museum, they had an interesting display of lace from all over Europe showing the different styles, then also drawers of lace in chronological order some of which was so fine and intricate. The first piece is the Esther Clarke flounce which was made for the Great Exhibition of 1851. I also managed to find my grandmother’s old house which I hadn’t seen for sixty plus years but which I recognised instantly.

On the stitching front I haven’t done much, the quilt I made for god-daughter’s wedding present was finished on time and was safely delivered, it was large and I had trouble photographing it, I had to hang it sideways on the washing line, hence the photograph is a little strange. I embroidered some of the panels and tried to keep to the colours that she liked to try and keep in harmonious. The whole piece was hand quilted.

I finished the last two pieces for Fifteen by Fifteen on the subject of Children’s books the first was The Adventures of Robin Hood and the last will be divulged later as we have not yet had the reveal. I am now trying to catch up with my journal quilts, September’s is posted and the last three for the year will be done very soon. All the quilting took up a lot of time and I now want to get back on track with creating, I need to make some new work, not that I have any exhibitions planned for 2025 as yet, because I have sold some of the newer pieces and I prefer to exhibit new work when I do exhibit.