Jumiege, Making Art, A Long Ramble

I could say pfoof, pftt, woosh- and what would you imagine happening? Where does art begin and where does it end? Is nature art or does it need to be applied by imperfect interpretations that can become perfect in their own right? How is art made and what fires the imagination to  try to make art? There are as many answers to these questions  as there are questions to ask.

People often ask what inspires me and it is a difficult question to answer- no one particular thing inspires me, but things that I love often arrive at a confluence where things can be made or where process is explored in order to begin to make things. Sometimes it takes years to evolve other times it arrives quickly- and that brings me to Jumiege- the  ruin called "perfect" by Flaubert and admired by George Sand.

Confluence.A number of unrelated threads coming together;

NOUN

• 1The junction of two rivers, especially rivers of approximately equal width:the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Fossfarther down the Tigris at its confluence with the Euphrates
  

  MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCESSYNONYMS
• 1.1An act or process of merging:a major confluence of the world’s financial markets
  

  MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES

 I read Flaubert many years ago and was really annoyed with Emma Bovary, I was annoyed with her flacidity and I was annoyed with  Flaubert for creating such a heroine though I admired the writing itself ( I read this in the seventies when the womens movement was escalating). I admired the writing enough to want to read Flaubert's biography, and thought he was a bit of a syphilitic old fart, but out of this emerged his correspondence with George Sand- an extraordinary woman by any stretch of the imagination, not only did she count Alfred de Musset and Chopin as her lovers, not only did she nurture Chopin's wonderful etudes, she wrote an extraordinary amount of books herself, was considered one of the great french writers of the nineteenth century,was political, started a newspaper though only for three issues, she wore mens garb, smoked cigarettes and was involved in preserving french heritage when destruction of such heritage was rampant after the revolution, and had a remarkable correspondence with Flaubert.

Jumiege- I stumbled upon Jumiege some years ago- we were looking for a camping and happened to find one at Jumiege- the ruin there of the abbaye was love at first sight. The intention had been to go to Rouen the next day but instead we explored the ruin- took many photos and were interested that this abbaye was apparently the starting point for William the Conquerors journey of war and capture of England( every child in Australia learns about this at school- William the Conqueror that is)

Just the last few days I have spent at Jumiege again with my aunt. It's a lovely part of Normandy sprinkled with apple trees and cows, colombage houses and churches and great food and great sweeps of the Seine.In a way I was researching, I can feel that this ruin will one day be part of something I make, and I must admit to a fascination with the middle ages. Imagine my delight that 2 people whose writing I  admire felt the same way about this ruin.....to me that was a confluence, that two such unconnected strains of enjoyment could come together in one place. So here is some of Jumiege... I think it's attraction is that it leaves "open" space for the imagination....

I said this would be a ramble- I don't think I have answered any questions except to share some of the things I enjoy and I don't know whether I will ever make anything to do with Jumiege, but it is  bubbling away in the background somewhere as are the stories associated with it... William the Conqueror ( though to be truthful I am more interested  by his wife Mathilde)... Bayeaux tapestry, Lady and the Unicorn.......

This is said to be a sculpture/bust  of  William the Conqueror... I have not found any representation of Mathilde

Some lovely carved imagery...

And some lovely sculpted bestiary...

And I have not been idle- I have been working on something weird which is related to travellers blankets ( there is still time to join the on-line Travellers' Blanket class if you are interested - it has started but it's such a long slow process that few days don't matter) and another love- fabric steels/fabric sample books, which money can't buy these days unless you have a lot of money. So meanwhile I mooch  around on the internet, dream and think how can I combine my love of books and fabric and stitch, and illuminated texts of the medieval kind? I know I have shown images of stitching on khadi paper before, but I did not take khadi paper with me in my suitcase, that contains my life at present.

What i did find was some  brown wrapping paper when I was at Palaiseau- now brown paper is an attraction in its own right as well- don't I neatly fold it and put it away from some  thing or another? So whilst at Palaiseau I started  with some random thoughts about  Books of Hours ( because I was whiling away hours and I had been to see the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries at the Cluny Museum and seen some illuminated texts)
and this is what emerged...

But the fabric " sample" squares weren't quite right, the messiness of it somehow, and I do subscribe to the theory of not making just one, sometimes the wonder is in whole collections of things, so  this idea  has morphed into these following pages that keep my hands busy, that make me realise that stitching on brown paper is  difficult even on one page let alone a concertina of pages, it's a record of days somehow, of travels and wanderings , of musings and stitches, of small repetitions and nuances

The backs of the pages are as interesting to me as the front, a kind of writing in dashes and dots and threads

Hardly perfect, somehow flawed, somehow silly stitching on brown paper ( I can't tell you how many times I was asked why was I stitching on brown paper at Quilts en Beaujolais- and the reply of I am just playing seemed to be odd to some people) and somehow bookish- which you can't see in the photos but which you can see when you hold the pages.

Oh my goodness what a ramble this has turned into but one last thing- I drove through the Picardie/Somme countryside at a time of remembrance  for Australian and New Zealand soldiers , thousands of whom died in the fields coloured with poppies in World War I. I had thought of perhaps going to one of the ceremonies to remember all those young men and to think of those left behind,  but  because there are are many ceremonies to do with 100 years since the commencement of World War I an especially big one had been planned for Anzac day- 25 April at Amiens and at the many cemeteries that spot the countryside around there, I didn't. I found this grave- lone and forgotten at Jumiege- the young man it had belonged died, at age 17 in 1916- I have no idea whether the war was the cause of his death, but for me  he was a tangible remembrance for all those  doomed youths who lost their lives- 5000 Anzac lives were lost in the Battle of the Somme alone.

A collection of memories surround his head stone. And so I cannot say better than what Wilfred Owen said:

Anthem for Doomed Youth

BY WILFRED OWEN

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

      Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

      Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle

Can patter out their hasty orisons.

No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells,

      Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,—

The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;

      And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?

      Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes

Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.

      The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;

Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,

And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Source: The Complete Poems and Fragments of Wilfred Owen (1984)

On the Go

I seem to have been on the go almost non-stop since my last blog post, though the last few days have been quiet- I needed the rest and also to recharge!

First some photos from Quilts en Beaujolais, which was as usual lots of fun, catching up with old friends, making new friends, Els Mommers from Saba in the Dutch Carribean, Chantal Guillermet, Caroline Higgs, Jane  Rollason, where I will be exhibiting in her village Viville in September and also conducting a workshop.

  So here are my five Chartres ladies altogether and below also faces inspired by Chartres for the Voyage art exhibition which was also shown at Quilts en Beaujolais.

I did spend a day or two in Lyon and in particular in Vieux Lyon after Quilts en Beaujolais where i found this  carved door handle  to an atelier of a young  card/textile artists whose name I did not record.

And a lovely  bookshop Diogene full of second hand books and  old  and rare books to die for, but there is only so much you can carry... alas. I spent a lovely hour or so there regardless.

And last but not least there is still time to join the On-line  Travellers Blanket class starting next week- just email me if you are interested in joining. I am also teaching this class in the flesh in Colac in begin July. And now that I have some moments to reflect on the last few weeks I think I shall make a start on one myself as well- something with a new  twist!

Hectic

The last  two weeks have been incredibly busy, with teaching dismounting the  Sentinelles exhibition delivering them to Villefranche sur Mer  next to Nice so they can go home as luggage and teaching a day in the Aude region. I feel like I have done a whirlwind around France with barely time to stop and I also teach a class today, the last class ever at best of Quilting in Marcoussis before heading off to the United Kingdom early tomorrow.

So one last look at all the sentinelles as they were hung..

And that is not quite all of them- the room looked so bare when we had taken them all down, and the staff at MJC Palaiseau said they would miss them too. Unfortunately the sentinelles are now  not going to be shown in Canberra, which is a great pity but sometimes logistics and costing gets in the way of things especially as I could not be in Canberra in the beginning of May as I have to be at an event in Germany later in May.

I shall be at an ICHF event in London at EXCel 3/5 April- will have work on display and will also demonstrate some printing, plus the Voyageart work will also be on display. If you come to this event please come and say hello.

Then straight after this event i shall be off to Quilt en Beaujolais with all the new Chartres work- it's going to be a busy couple of weeks that is for sure as I intend to  also make some more new work.

I shall be starting a new On-line Travellers Blanket class after Easter this year. If you are interested please email me!

And finally some of the things encountered int he last few weeks..

Love the juxtaposition of the brightly coloured simple little boats with the more heavy duty hardware in the background!

The Lady & the Unicorn tapestry, marvellous as always:

Sentinelles and Palaiseau

I should have posted the exhibition flyer on my blog much sooner than this, but time and internet access the last 10 days in Australia got away from me. Still you are invited to come and see the wonderful 137 embroidered sentinelles that have been embroidered and stitched and even mosaiced by many women- les brodeuses!

To say I am absolutely gobsmacked by the invention and imagination is an understatement and seems to be the general opinion of everyone who has visited except for one lady who didn't like all that "textile stuff"- I guess she worked in hardened steel lol!
So I will share a general view or two with apologies for the lack of names ( I will get around to marrying the makers names with images when i have time)

And some more detailed photos ( if you are on FB Elizabeth Dubbelde from Berry Patchwork, where the sentinelles will be shown later this year is doing a great job of showing each image)

I know the bottom left is Bronwyn Cooling and unfortunately when I zoom in on the photo the writing is not clear enough to see the  names- so my apologies.

It has been busy,  firstly installing the exhibition and then  minding it every day. Fortunately it has been helped along by the awesome sponsorship of threads by Aurifil Threads who have sent me some gorgeous  Mako 30 cotton threads so that i can get going on the sewing machine. I could not fit any threads into my suitcase coming over here so  it is much appreciated!

And spring is springing here, daily more flowers open their petals and the colours are changing and the sunshine has been gorgeous! I love this  bare paulownia tree ( I think that is what it is) in my friends garden

 I am lucky to have a space to exhibit  at MJC Palaiseau and I seem to have brought just the right amount of work for the space. I wanted to share this video of the  lovely impromptu  singing by Delaney Nguyen-Xuan and her mother Christine Skarie singing a traditional French Canadian and is called "C'est Dans le Mois de Mai".

And last but not least- my friend Christine Moulin has the funniest cat- so yes I am joining the minions of cat video loaders because this tail cleaning routine had us all laughing!

That's it for a few days!

Workshops for March:


Saturday 15 March- Best of Quilting Marcoussis-Form and Variation ( a fun class looking at how to change things up when  you are designing and making)

Tuesday 25 March- in the Aude ( south of France)- tifaifai

Thursday 27 March- Best of Quilting Marcoussis working with Solufix.
If you want to join any of these classes email me!

Briefly

In Paris with all the  sentinelles and a suitcase that weighed 100 gms under 30 kgs ( the limit of luggage allowance).
Rainy morning so I will be brief as I battle the suitcase.... on  wet and murky streets near Gare du Nord

The grant from Creative Partnerships Australia came through on the eve of my departure- yay the Australian Cultural Fund and Sarah Ricketts.

I got upgraded by Qatar Airways on the Doha Paris leg to Business class- you have won my loyalty yet again ( last time was when they were the only airline not to charge double the normal fare when I suddenly had to return to Oz in 2010 due to a death in the family)

Auriful threads are going to sponsor me whilst in Europe with their Mako 30 threads- I love these threads!

My morning so far:

And my last queen which I managed to finish whilst staying with my mother...

Still Packing

I have finished another  Porte Royale queen and another one is one the way. There are only  5 on the actual portals themselves, plus there is one inside the cathedral in the a downstairs passageway (not sure what to call it really as it is much wider than a passage and leads to the well and further chapels, I suppose aisle might be a better word) I am intrigued how different the faces become when stitched, they really don't look like the  sculptures at all anymore and yet that  is where they have come from and I am using the photographs as a base for the faces. I guess the angle of my camera shot comes into play as it makes the necks look longer than they are.

 To say that I am behind is not an understatement and in the end I can only get done what I can get done. I forgot to reverse this queen....oh well

Whilst packing I found some hand dyed muslin weight fabrics that I had dyed in preparation for a travellers' blanket at some point. They are for sale.They are all slightly different sizes so the prices vary.

This piece is  100  cm x 140 cm . Price is $25 ( AUS) plus postage.SOLD

 This piece is 85 cm x 140 cm. Price is $20 (AUS) plus postage SOLD

 This piece is 115cm x 140 cm Price is $28 (AUS) plus postage.SOLD Email me if you are interested in any of these pieces.


I have also updated my workshop page on my blog. On the page you will see details of a lot of the classes I teach, and I can often combine one or more- flexibility is the key!

Packing to Move GRRR

The last week has been pretty stressful- packing a  whole house away takes time, plus I need to keep working on my Chartres work and making more work for that. I feel like I am running short of time, but have to keep going as i can see these queens when they are all together are going to have presence. This morning I washed the outside of the house and the windows. I am trying to make sure I do something everyday including packing stuff every day. The biggest problem is my work things- you never know exactly what you may need. I am also running out of  the right coloured threads, but  non one around here sells the 28 weight Aurifil threads that I like to use.

Stitched Sentinelle panels are also starting to arrive- they look splendid- in case anyone wants to work on a panel and send it to France ( to join the project ) I found a few more panels I had stuck away whilst I was packing. Email me if you  would like to buy one.

Meanwhile here is another queen. She has extremely long braids- braids were much admired in medieval times with several writers of the time mentioning the aesthetic  beauty of perfect braids. The sculptor in any case went to long lengths to make the braids look long and perfect. The panels are awkward to photograph because they are about 180-185 cm long. The queens in the sculptures themselves have different heights.

I have been thinking I would like to make a booklet to go with them, but again the awkwardness of the length of the figures I can't quite  think about page size.















Today is Australia day- sadly it celebrates white settlement of this large continent when three boats arrived loaded with convicts. 

More Chartres

We have just had a four day spell of plus 40 degree temperatures ( 105 plus fahrenheit), and of course consequent bushfires in various parts of the state. It's always scarey when those temperatures rise, there is no question that it will result in bushfires somewhere. It is also not very conducive to quiltmaking especially when your house is not air-conditioned, thank goodness there is ceiling fans in the bedrooms. Packing is progressing slowly- I wish the packing up and moving fairy would just do it overnight whilst I was sleeping... never mind it will all eventually come together I hope! And good news, my youngest daughter got into Monash University Arts, which she is very happy about ( and her mum too I might add)

However I am behind on the work I want to make for my exhibition at MJC Palaiseau in France for the Voices of Women Festival, so I had to keep on going . The exhibition will run from  3- 22 March along with the sentinelles and all the sentinelles that have been embroidered around the world. I now have 20  stitched sentinelles at my house- and I am blown away by the inventiveness of the stitching and embellishing- it's going to look spectacular I think! Can't wait to see them all. So another Chartres doorjamb queen is just about stitched. I love  how they look in colour- they once would have been coloured in fact the whole royal portal would have been highly coloured as things were in  the middle ages.I also  finished another little face embroidery- the pile is growing!

On the left is the queen as she stand on the portal and on the right is my version of her done  with lutradur and machine stitching. the lutradur  I have used is the type used by florists, so the fibres are bigger creating a different kind of transparency.















I posted some work for sale before Christmas. I am trying to get together my airfare  to go to France late February and am prepared to consider any reasonable offers in relation to the quilts that have not sold. I am also prepared to let a travellers blanket ( the blue one that was on the cover of Quilting Arts  or the one with circles) go for less than half price. But only one these pieces are so much work  they have been the  only ones I have ever been really reluctant to sell .If you are interested please email me.

First Quilt for 2014

I  put all the names who left comments on my first blog post for 2014 into a hat and drew the winner- Chrissy. Can you please let me know how to contact you as I shall e sending you a little something.

Sentinelles:It's getting to the business end of collecting all the sentinelles that people have embroidered.If you finish them before 6 february ( which is the date I vacate this house) you can send them to me. The address is 22 Carinya Ave, Newcomb, Vic 3219. If you are overseas it's best to send them directly to France. Email me and I shall forward address details. The little embroideries will need a rod pocket, and you can finish the edge however you like.If you have any questions again just email me.I am looking forward to seeing all your work. The ones I have here already are all so different and so imaginatively stitched.

I have been working on the Chartres quilt I showed in last weeks post and I have realised that I must be mad to take on the high gothic- what was I thinking and what made me think I could do it??? And then statues as well? But I am on the road now and they are really starting to capture my imagination. They are about 170 cm long and about 40 cm wide and very densely stitched.So the first door jamb queen is finished.

Here is the full length version

Chartres and More

My days are filled with Chartres and the  images of the women in the royal portal, they look so different from different angles. And then I discovered there is  a female figure on the south entrance,  who I have only managed to partially photograph and do you think I can find an image of her anywhere? They are all from a distance so I can't see enough detail.

My little embroideries are growing in number and I am enjoying working on them in the evenings. I have to really get machine stitching   like the blazers as well, as it is not long  until we move out of this house.
Here is a lutradur image taking shape.These are elongated figures like the originals on the door jambs, so the painted image is only a portion of the whole.

A lot more stitching to do!

And the latest embroidery I have finished. I have not quite worked out how I will mount them, hopefully that will come in a dream.

I will put the names into a hat later this week and will let the winner know, and then I shall send you something!

Still time to join the Traveller's Blanket on-line class starting January 10 2014.  Just leave me a message or email me if you are interested in joining. Cost is $60AUS This will be the  last Travellers' Blanket that I do for awhile. The embroideries seem to be turning into their own blanket as I look at the collaged image.