Galerie Reves et Nature

Here are ten little landscapes of Ian's ready to go off to our joint exhibition at Galerie Reves et Nature, 18 Rue Gambetta, Figeac. I will be showing tapestries and felt pieces. The exhibition runs from 2nd May to 16th June in this new gallery being opened by our friend Véronique Barrès-Roussel.

Spring update...just when I thought it couldn't get much better, (wisteria, lilac, cherry and pear trees all flowering, lime tree in the yard in leaf, seeds germinating) the nightingales started singing! They sing during the day but you really hear them at night when everything else goes quiet. It is a heavenly sound to lie and listen to in the dark.

read

Here is a tapestry I finished yesterday, provisionally titled 'read'. I am on square number 13 of the overlap piece but I felt a strong need to get something started, finished, mounted and framed.

8 years ago my son was born and not long afterwards my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. From then on there was a symmetry between them, one growing, learning, becoming himself - the other forgetting, withdrawing, fading away to an unreachable place. Much of what I have made in recent years has been a response to this.

Quite early on my Dad lost the ability to read but he would still sit and turn the pages of the newspaper, go through the motions, looking blankly at the abstract, meaningless marks on the page. In 'read' the central panel is a randomly chosen word with the edges cropped off the letters. It's kind of familiar but not quite legible. My father was in a familiar but not quite comprehensible place for years.

garden - april

We have spent this week working hard in the garden and the henshed (which to my alarm I now notice still smells stongly of hen despite it being 5 years since the last resident departed...). Monday and Tuesday were cool and so ideal for digging and heavy work. We made a path up the middle of the veg patch and despite it being a bit bockety I have to keep going and looking at it! I planted broad beans, leeks and salad, transplanted selfsown marigold and cosmos seedlings and have sown far too many seeds in pots. This is my favourite gardening time of year - so much promise. It's just too good to be indoors. Here's a glimpse of what our outdoors looks like. (ps the second photo of the wisteria was taken last May - just to give you an idea of what's to come. It's on the verge of flowering now. All the others were taken yesterday)

squares

10 squares down. 54 to go! The weather has turned from glorious and springlike to grey and wet so this afternoon was spent weaving whilst listening to Radio 4 where, amongst other things, I caught a programme about fishing for perch. Yes, a radio programme with two chaps getting excited about fish! I just love the eccentricity of Radio 4. Along with Royal Mail stamps it's one of the best things about Britain.

urbanFIELD

urban FIELD is a collaborative project between three UK crafts organisations and some of Britain's finest makers. "The key outcome of this collaboration is an exhibition exploring the rural urban theme, asking whether it’s a divide or a bridge for today’s craft makers."
Dail Behennah is one of the exhibitors and will be giving 2 talks at Contemporary Applied Arts in Percy Street on 23 May. 1.30 - 2.30 pm and 6 - 7pm. Admission is free but booking required as space is limited. I got to know Dail through exhibiting her work back in England and am lucky to own the piece pictured above. Dail has her own unique voice. She makes sublimely beautiful objects which involve meticulous planning and execution but somehow never stray into sterility. It should be an interesting talk if you are in London.

NB - Dail notified me to say that there is a mistake on the urbanFIELD website - her talks are on the 23rd May not April as stated.