• Skip to main content

HAWTHORNE & HEANEY

Embroidery Specialists

  • ABOUT
  • OUR SERVICES
    • HAND EMBROIDERY
    • DIGITAL EMBROIDERY
    • MONOGRAMS & LOGOS
    • POP-UP EVENTS
    • CLASSES
  • CLASSES
    • LONDON EMBROIDERY SCHOOL
  • BLOG
  • SHOP
    • MASONS MILITARY BADGE & BUTTON SHOP
    • LONDON EMBROIDERY SCHOOL
  • JOBS
  • CONTACT

art

Hawthorne and Heaney Visits the Summer Exhibition At The Royal Academy of Arts

December 21, 2020 by Intern

On the 10th of December, I had the exciting opportunity to visit the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2020, located just down the road from Savile Row. Due to the current climate with unprecedented challenges and not wanting to miss its 252nd anniversary, the event was postponed to the winter months for the first ever time.

Coordinated by Jane and Louise Wilson, the exhibition supports the exchange of ideas and experiences from any background, shaping cultural conversation to art that we love, hate and smile to. The displays contain over 1,000 pieces of work displayed in 13 rooms ranging from paintings to sculptures to digital art.

Hawthorne and Heaney Visits the Summer Exhibition At The Royal Academy of Arts London Hand Embroidery

Vincent’s Ear by Conrad Atkinson,  Shrinking Violet by Ed Mays, Outdoor Minor by Simon Periton

Upon entering Gallery 1, I was surrounded by expressive paintings, textual line drawings put together by Isaac Julien. In the centre of the room stood an installation called Air Kid by Yinka Shonibare. The sculpture is one of 4 in a collection called ‘Earth Kids’, that fights for climate justice illustrating the difficulty of the natural world. Climate change is such a threatening crisis of our time, with sea levels rising, increased temperatures and extinction of many species. It’s important to make people understand the damage and negative effects their actions are having on the planet, a philosophical objective in Isaac Julien’s style of work to make us reflect and visualise.

Hawthorne and Heaney Visits the Summer Exhibition At The Royal Academy of Arts London Hand EmbroideryAir Kid by Yinka Shonibare

One of the pieces that intrigued me the most was the Inter-Concreto sculpture designed by David Batchelor, located in the Large Weston Room. The layering of the coloured geometric grids and multidirectional positionings is similar to the abstract way I like to work when undertaking my own multimedia textiles projects. His work looks at how we analyse and react to colour and hues in this current digital age through hypnotic patterns and shapes. These sculptural installations are made with a variation of industrial material scraps as well as recycled or broken domestic items. In this day and age, I believe it is imperative to reuse and upcycle discarded and unwanted objects to reduce the amount of plastic and landfill constantly entering our oceans. Everything has the potential to be made into something with another form or purpose.

 

Hawthorne and Heaney Visits the Summer Exhibition At The Royal Academy of Arts London Hand EmbroideryInter-Concreto by David Batchelor

 

There was a common theme amongst some of the galleries that reflected the year we have all lived through, learnt and educated ourselves to a brand-new way of life during a pandemic. Gallery 4 curated by Sonya Boyce, portrayed this theme well with mass paintings, photographs and a video named ‘Twice’ by John Smith, who demonstrates how to wash your hands thoroughly whilst singing Happy Birthday through twice.

Hawthorne and Heaney Visits the Summer Exhibition At The Royal Academy of Arts London Hand EmbroideryTwice by John Smith

 

Hawthorne and Heaney Visits the Summer Exhibition At The Royal Academy of Arts London Hand Embroidery

The Earth is full of violence by Biggs & Collings, Bringing the past to new horizonsby Athena Anastasiou

 

Every year there is a room that presents small architectural projects and ideas including works from student designers. The inspiration this year was taken from the constructivists in Eva Jiřičná work, displaying bold colours, large plinths, drawings and miniature models.Hawthorne and Heaney Visits the Summer Exhibition At The Royal Academy of Arts London Hand Embroidery
Inside Gallery 6, Drawing together by Niall McLaughlin

The exhibition was ticket-based priced at £20 and definitely worth the visit if you are in the area. It is a great way of promoting artists as well as supporting the creative arts industry in these difficult times. It is also available to view online for those who are unable to attend in person.

(Exhibition visits were undertaken within contempary covid guidelines)

Words and images by Jessica Westley

Filed Under: Embroidery, London Tagged With: art, arts, London, london exhibitions, royal academy, summer exhibition, winter exhibition

Hawthorne & Heaney for Luke Edward Hall

February 27, 2020 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Hands up, who wants to live in a space like this?Hawthorne & Heaney for Luke Edward Hall London Hand EmbroideryLuke Edward Hall

If you are anything like us then you haven’t got enough hands to express that completely. This shot is from the cottage of Luke Edward Hall, artist and designer who curated this space in his destinctive style.  Hall graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2012, setting up his studio in 2015 and has not stopped since.

Hawthorne & Heaney for Luke Edward Hall London Hand EmbroideryLuke Edward HallHawthorne & Heaney for Luke Edward Hall London Hand EmbroideryHawthorne & Heaney

His historically influenced, slightly eccentric flair has sucessfully been adapted to many different outcomes, having collaborated with the likes of Lanvin, Burberry, Berry Bros. and Rudd on wine labels, slippers with Stubbs and Wootton, ceramics with Richard Ginori and home accessories with The Rug Company.

Hawthorne & Heaney for Luke Edward Hall London Hand EmbroideryLuke Edward Hall

Since 2018 we have had the pleasure of working on the occasional piece for him, using our skills to bring his style to an embroidered textile outcome. Once upholstered they make for really striking center pieces.

Hawthorne & Heaney for Luke Edward Hall London Hand EmbroideryLuke Edward Hall Hawthorne & Heaney for Luke Edward Hall London Hand EmbroideryLuke Edward Hall

We work very closely with the original artwork to maintain the immediacy of Hall’s illustrations, to emulate their charm in stitches. Thinking carefully about the way that would have been drawn initially, the order of the strokes and the charater of the drawing medium used.

Hawthorne & Heaney for Luke Edward Hall London Hand EmbroideryHawthorne & Heaney

Hall’s choice of colour is always spot on and is one of the main features that gives his works such a destinctive style.

Hawthorne & Heaney for Luke Edward Hall London Hand EmbroideryHawthorne & Heaney

To find out more about Luke Edward Hall, check out his website or his unsurprisingly beautifully curated instagram account.

 

 

Filed Under: Embroidery, Fashion, Interior Design, London Tagged With: accessories, art, artist, curation, embroidery, fashion, interior design, interiors, luke edward hall, machine embroidery, stitching

Hawthorne & Heaney in Collaboration with James Burke

February 17, 2020 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Hawthorne & Heaney in Collaboration with James Burke London Hand Embroidery

Over the last couple of weeks we have been working on a special project with visual artist and founder of Acrylicize, James Burke. Working with his multidisiplinary style he was creating a new piece in preparation for the ‘Superstar Showcase’. Burke’s work examines the relationship between us and the digital world, drawing upon our need for approval in form of the 5 stars.  This new piece reimagines some of Burke’s earlier pieces on a similar theme.

 

Hawthorne & Heaney in Collaboration with James Burke London Hand EmbroideryThe Constant Need For Approval, 2018
280 x 53cm, Acrylic, LEDs, powder coated aluminium

 

Burke also likes to challenge the way that we consume art, bringing pieces out of the gallery and into the rest fo the world. He champions art in work places and common space for wider consumption which is one of the objectives of his studio, Acrylicize. This playful, open minded attitude is what makes this new piece a great fit for the upcoming showcase.

 

Hawthorne & Heaney in Collaboration with James Burke London Hand Embroidery

Superstar Showcase is being held by Creative debuts X Adidas Originals. For this event they have gathered 25 artists, of which Burke is one to create a piece which incorporate or is inspired by Adidas’s classic Superstar trainers. This is where we come in, as we provided the embroidered elements of the stars created out to the Superstar’s laces.

 

Hawthorne & Heaney in Collaboration with James Burke London Hand EmbroideryConstellation, 2020

Adidas Superstars & laces on canvas

 

View this post on Instagram

On display now, 'Constellation' 2020 by James Burke featuring embroidery from us @jamesburke__artist @creativedebuts @adidasoriginals . . . #conceptualart #visualarts #embroidery

A post shared by Embroidery Specialists (@hawthorneheaney) on Feb 17, 2020 at 1:47am PST

Hawthorne & Heaney in Collaboration with James Burke London Hand Embroidery

We experimented with using the laces directly and taking a feel for them through the embroidery, but settled on using the laces as directly as possible. The stars are made up by weaving the laces back and forth on themselves to form the legs of the star whilst replicating the fastening process as we are used to seeing it on trainers. The piece has loose laces which join each of the stars to the next in as if formed from one giant lace with the trainers themselves clinging on to what is left of the laces at the end.

 

Hawthorne & Heaney in Collaboration with James Burke London Hand Embroidery  Hawthorne & Heaney in Collaboration with James Burke London Hand Embroidery

With all embroidery pieces, there is always a lot of sampling and preparation before working on the piece itself. This helps is to work out how it is best to approach the piece and achieve a consistent finish. Here are a few behind the scene, making of the piece which might shed a little light on the process.

Hawthorne & Heaney in Collaboration with James Burke London Hand Embroidery  Hawthorne & Heaney in Collaboration with James Burke London Hand Embroidery

To see more of James Burke’s work, check out where else you can see his pieces on his instagram. Also see the 24 other amazing pieces by debut artists in the Superstar Showcase on now at Adidas LDN, Oxford Street.

 

Filed Under: Art, Embroidery, Interior Design, Sport, Tailoring Tagged With: adidas, art, artist, conceptual art, creative debuts, james burke, laces, London, stars, trainers, visual arts

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Bridget Riley at the Hayward

November 20, 2019 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Bridget Riley at the Hayward London Hand EmbroideryOn Thursday we were lucky enough to visit the eagerly anticipated exhibition of Bridget Riley’s most comprehensive body of work (spanning an incredible 70 years), on display at the Haywood Gallery. 

It was quite a unique experience in the way that the concept behind the paintings made you really think about the theory behind colour, art is about looking; and this exhibition really brings that to your attention. It was also unique in the physical way that the paintings made your eyes and brain hurt – (but in a good way of course!)

The following images are from my favorite series of works:

 

Stripes and Diagonals. “At the core of colour is a paradox. It is simultaneously one thing and several things – you can never see colour by itself, it is always affected by other colours.” (Bridget Riley, 2009).

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Bridget Riley at the Hayward London Hand EmbroideryBridget Riley, Chant 2, 1967

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Bridget Riley at the Hayward London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Bridget Riley at the Hayward London Hand Embroidery

Finding that colour is unstable and tangible, Riley used stripes and to bring about powerful colour interactions – pairing or grouping colours along horizontal or vertical stripes, mixing and creating an illusion of hues. 

This was one of my favorite series as the work is simple, in the form of perfect clean lines of pigment, but the mixture of colours really make your eyes work and see colours that aren’t there. It isn’t until you go close up to the painting that you can really see what colours the paintings really possess. 

 

Curves “When colours are twisted along the rise and fall of a curve their juxtapositions change continually” (Bridget Riley, 2009).

 

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Bridget Riley at the Hayward London Hand Embroidery

This series really made my head go in a spin – I think that even from the photos that I took, you can see the illusion of the waves moving and swirling. It is amazing to think that the paint is static, yet with the application of line and colour, there is so much movement.

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Bridget Riley at the Hayward London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney visits Bridget Riley at the Hayward London Hand EmbroideryBridget Riley, Drift 2, 1966

 

Studies “The working process is one of discovery and it is worth remembering that the word discovery implies an uncovering of that which is hidden.” (Bridgit Riley, 2019). – I love this quote – it complies the meaning of creative experimentation perfectly.Hawthorne & Heaney visits Bridget Riley at the Hayward London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney visits Bridget Riley at the Hayward London Hand Embroidery
I found this part of the exhibition fascinating as it showed us the ideas and some of the mathematical and theoretical workings behind the pieces. They were in themselves, very much pieces of art – intricately applied and thought out. It also made you really appreciate just how much thought and time goes into creating the final pieces of work. 

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Bridget Riley at the Hayward London Hand Embroidery

Riley produces full-scale preparatory drawings, from which studio assistants under her assistance complete the final work. This gives her the time to solely work on the theory and studies behind the paintings.  

 

Black-and-White “The basis of my paintings is this: that in each of them a particular situation is stated. Certain elements within that situation remain constant. Others precipitate the destruction of themselves by themselves.”(Bridget Riley, 1965).

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Bridget Riley at the Hayward London Hand EmbroideryHawthorne & Heaney visits Bridget Riley at the Hayward London Hand EmbroideryBridget Riley, Fall, 1963

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Bridget Riley at the Hayward London Hand EmbroideryBridget Riley, Blaze 1, 1962

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Bridget Riley at the Hayward London Hand Embroidery

Even with the absolute basic level – simply black and white paint, the illusion is arguably even stronger. Maybe it’s the contrast or the simplicity that draws it back in but it was an amazing way to end the exhibition. 

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Bridget Riley at the Hayward London Hand Embroidery

Overall I was really impressed by the exhibition, I thought it was well laid out and portrayed a real story. The surroundings didn’t take away from the paintings but added something to them – they really made you focus in on the work and allowed space for reflection.

 

“The eye roams and the brain roams with it. You think you get it, and then you don’t”. 

(Guardian, 2019)

 

The exhibition is on until 26th Jan 2020 and I highly recommend a visit if you get the chance.

Filed Under: Art, Embroidery, Interior Design, London Tagged With: art, bridget riley, colour, exhibition, hayward gallery, line, London, optical illusions, painting, visit

Hawthorne & Heaney for FKA Twigs

July 31, 2019 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Hawthorne & Heaney for FKA Twigs London Hand Embroidery

It has been three years since FKA Twigs has given a live performance so when she announced her return to music with new songs and the ‘Magdalene’ tour, it was a safe bet that it was going to be epic. From all accounts, she has not disappoint as many people have been describing  as ‘a masterpiece’ (anothermag.com) ‘feels at times more like an avant-garde dance piece than a pop show’ (NME).

Hawthorne & Heaney for FKA Twigs London Hand Embroidery

Unsurprisingly, when superstar stylists Ed Kay and Matthew Josephs contatcted us, we jumped at the chance to work on the embroidery for the tour costumes. We produced a series of 5 pieces which formed a part of this visual treat and are delighted with how they turned out!Hawthorne & Heaney for FKA Twigs London Hand EmbroideryBandana and head scarf with leopard print sleeved corset

Hawthorne & Heaney for FKA Twigs London Hand Embroidery

Leopard print sleeved corset

Hawthorne & Heaney for FKA Twigs London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney for FKA Twigs London Hand Embroidery

 

Hawthorne & Heaney for FKA Twigs London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney for FKA Twigs London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney for FKA Twigs London Hand EmbroideryMonogram silver corset

Hawthorne & Heaney for FKA Twigs London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney for FKA Twigs London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney for FKA Twigs London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney for FKA Twigs London Hand EmbroideryHawthorne & Heaney for FKA Twigs London Hand Embroidery

Filed Under: Art, Embroidery, Fashion, Film, TV & Theatre Tagged With: art, costume, costume design, ed kay, fka twigs, Hawthorne and Heaney, London, magdalene, matthew josephs, music, pop, stylist, theatrre

Hawthorne & Heaney on the World Illustration Awards 2019

July 15, 2019 by Natasha Searls-Punter

The Association of Illustrators (AOI) have partnered with the Directory of Illustration to bring another year of the World Illustration Awards. With over 3,600 entries, the judges have whittled them down to the final shortlisted 200, showcasing some amazing and diverse up and coming talent. The show has been held annually, in various forms for over 40 years now. Categories range from children’s books to experimental designs. 

 

Full of clever, quirky designs and powerful messages. Important and popular themes such feminism, gender equality, environmental change and the power of technology were all covered throughout the art shown. As well as a broad range of subject matter and mediums, with works in graphics, embroidery and even plasticine! 

 

Hawthorne & Heaney on the World Illustration Awards 2019 London Hand Embroidery

 

If These Walls Could Talk by Astrid Jaekel, 2019.

One of my favourite pieces, shown below, Karolina Miękisz has focused her work based on a New York Times article “CSI: Earth” by Gavin Schmidt, where the idea that fingerprints can be traced to find out who and what is responsible for climate change. In the small but effective little artwork, the image slowly moves to show the finger prints moving and spreading into the sky, like smoke out of a factory chimney. Hopefully this gets more of us thinking about our own environmental fingerprints and encourage us to do something to reduce them and help tackle the huge problem of climate change. 

Hawthorne & Heaney on the World Illustration Awards 2019 London Hand Embroidery

Who is to blame? By Emilia Karolina Miękisz, 2019. 

 

Hawthorne & Heaney on the World Illustration Awards 2019 London Hand Embroidery

Modified Man by Tim Easley, 2019. 

Tim Easley’s brief was to design an album cover for the band Modified Man. Taking into account the bands electronic sound, his vision to create a circuit board visual has come to life. Using plasticine and hand techniques to create the intricate work, piece by piece of plasticine layers,  the overall effect looks quite something. A really original way of creating this circuit board pattern, Easley shows there are other ways to take illustration. 

Hawthorne & Heaney on the World Illustration Awards 2019 London Hand Embroidery

(Left) Stand design for Freda at Stylist Live by Hazel Mead, 2019. (Right) Alphabets: Phenomenal Women by Elen Winata, 2019.

Gender equality and the promoting of female empowerment were other strong themes within this years exhibition. I was especially drawn to these two based on the bright colours, cool layout and little female icons covering both. In Stand for Freda, the message ‘Period products for all.’ as one of the many slogans within promoting a no shame policy when it comes down to the topic of periods and that free sanitary products should be a basic human right. 

 

Alphabets: Phenomenal Women, show a different branch to female empowerment through capturing our most famous and treasured female icons through time in these fun, stylistic illustrations. The idea that this could educate and teach girls to look up to these kind of role models and inspire them to achieve greatness.

 

Hawthorne & Heaney on the World Illustration Awards 2019 London Hand Embroidery

 

Under the Skin of Endangered Animals by Under the Skin (Duo, Ed and James Harrison), 2019. 

Of course, in the current state of the world, issues of the environment, ocean plastics and our endangered species have been another strong topic I’ve seen. Duo Ed and James Harrison are brothers and have teamed as designers to make ‘Under The Skin’, who donate 20% of print sales to charities that specifically work to protect the animal within the print.

 

Under a UV light, the beautiful animal illustrations show the inner skeleton of the animal is seen, “all that remains if a species falls into the darkness of extinction”. This thought provoking and clever way of incorporating design, activism and unusual materials is a fun way of getting across a strong message and a lot of people stopped to have a go with the UV torch! 

 

Overall, the finalists this year have impressed me. A range of entertaining, interesting and thoughtful works. An exciting exhibition and one to definitely have a visit too. 

All images from:

Association of Illustrations, World Illustration Awards 2019: https://theaoi.com/world-illustration-awards/

 

By Abi Tominey-Smith

Filed Under: Art, Embroidery, London Tagged With: art, embroidery, exhibitions, illustration, London, textiles, things to do, visit

Hawthorne & Heaney on Textiles in Art

April 9, 2019 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Embroidery, much like fabric, is not made to last forever. So when we are looking for examples of historical textiles, sometimes, they simply do not exisit anymore as the fabrics disintergrate with age and use. However we do still have a source of what textiles might have looked like in their glory days in the form of painting.

During a recent trip to Amsterdam in the Rijksmuseum, we came across some wonderful examples of historical painting which showed great detail of the textiles that they protrayed.

Hawthorne & Heaney on Textiles in Art London Hand EmbroideryGirl In White Kimono by George Hendrik Breitner

1894

most likely showing a print of Japanese origin

Hawthorne & Heaney on Textiles in Art London Hand EmbroideryPendant portrait of Oopjen Coppit By Rembrandt

1634

Demonstrating the fineness and whiteness of her flat lace collar

 

Hawthorne & Heaney on Textiles in Art London Hand EmbroideryPortrait of Emperor Napoleon I by François-Pascal Simon baron Gérard

1804

Depicting traditional goldwork techniques and bullion fringing

 

We also have had one of our interns, Amy Pickard working on a project for us in house where she chose a painting which featured a beautiful piece of textiles and has been working to recreate it herself.

Hawthorne & Heaney on Textiles in Art London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney on Textiles in Art London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney on Textiles in Art London Hand Embroidery

For the project, she starting point with a visit to the National and National Portrait Galleries. Here she collected primary research of examples of historical textiles. There was a lot of symmetry and geometric shapes as well as a heavy use of floral motifs. It was wonderful to see so many paintings with gorgeous details and being able to name techniques documented.

Hawthorne & Heaney on Textiles in Art London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney on Textiles in Art London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney on Textiles in Art London Hand Embroidery
After the trip, the photos were sorted through and drawing were made of some of the details. For this she used a lot of Ecclesiastical paintings or portraits of past nobels.
Hawthorne & Heaney on Textiles in Art London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney on Textiles in Art London Hand EmbroideryAlong with the photos she assembled a moodboard to help to keep her on track with the aims of the project.
Hawthorne & Heaney on Textiles in Art London Hand Embroidery
Hawthorne & Heaney on Textiles in Art London Hand Embroidery
Having attended a tambour beading class with our partner company, (London Embroidery School) she decided to recreate one of the motifs using this technique.
Hawthorne & Heaney on Textiles in Art London Hand Embroidery
And then followed up with two other samples on velvet in CAD machine embroidery using similar repeats from the isolated motifs.
 Hawthorne & Heaney on Textiles in Art London Hand Embroidery
Hawthorne & Heaney on Textiles in Art London Hand Embroidery
All in all we are really excited by the outcomes of the project and think that Amy should be really please with them too!

Filed Under: Art, Embroidery, London Tagged With: amsterdam, art, beading, bespoke, bespoke embroidery, custom, embellishment, embroidery, embroidery in art, internships, London, project, rijksmuseum, stittching

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Anni Albers at Tate Modern

January 21, 2019 by Intern

 

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Anni Albers at Tate Modern London Hand Embroidery

Six Prayers (1966-7)

 

Anni Albers (1899- 1994) was a leading innovator of 20th Century modernist abstraction. Her work combined the ancient craft of weaving with the ideas and styles of modern art. She was a lady of many trades: an artist; a designer; teacher and a writer. The exhibition explores different aspects of her life: how her work transitions and evolved as she experienced new things as well as the processes she used to develop her ideas about textiles.

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Anni Albers at Tate Modern London Hand Embroidery

Anni Albers’s eight-harness Sructo-Artcraft 750 loom (Date unknown, wood and metal)

Her career and passion for weaving started when she began her studies at the Bauhaus (Weimar, Germany). It was her that she met her husband Josef Albers. They emigrated to the US (after the rise of Nazism in Germany resulted in the closer of the Bauhaus) where they both became teachers at the Black Mountain College in North Carolina.

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Anni Albers at Tate Modern London Hand Embroidery

Development in Rose II (1952- Linen)

 

This piece has a subtle colour palette with black used to creates accents within the weave. Lots of texture is created with small twists and knots throughout. These are achieved using a technique known as leno or gauze weave; the vertical warp threads twist over each other around the horizontal weft threads.

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Anni Albers at Tate Modern London Hand Embroidery

Top left to bottom right: Anni Albers and Alexander Reed: Necklace (c.1940- plastic rings on black grosgrain ribbon), Necklace (c.1940- Bobby pins on metal-plated chain), Necklace (c1940/88 reconstruction of the original made by Mary Emma Harris, Eye hooks and pearls on thread), Necklace (c.1940s- Aluminium washers and red grosgrain ribbon).

 

An interesting section of the exhibit was a glass box filled with wonderful jewellery creations by Anni and a colleague, Alexander Reed. The necklaces shown at the exhibition feature everyday objects such as bobby pins or metal washers. These pieces take items that are mundane and turn them into something unique and sophisticated. Anni Albers was definitely ahead of the times with her inventive ideas, clearly demonstrated here!

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Anni Albers at Tate Modern London Hand Embroidery

Open Letter (1958, cotton)

 

Featuring a wide range a weaving techniques, Open Letter is a striking monochrome piece. Accents of red are dispersed throughout, breaking up the linework that is similar to zentangling that is seen throughout illustration work popular today. Each column of the piece is constructed from little bars, each with their own personality and style.

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Anni Albers at Tate Modern London Hand Embroidery

Dotted (1959, wool)

This piece was among many ‘pictorial weavings’, created as artwork to be hung as opposed to fabric for everyday use. Utilising an ancient technique, Anni was able to create bobbles on the weave surface. The gradient of colour and the scattered placement of the dots results in a highly textured, playful piece of work.

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Anni Albers at Tate Modern London Hand Embroidery

Intersecting (1962, Cotton and rayon)

Using only four colours for the plain weave ground, a floating thread has been used to create a raised brocade effect. The unplanned nature of these threads was very pleasing to view; the organised base with the random thread creates a visual oxymoron. Work similar to this one stemmed from drawings of knots, tangled lines and mark making that Anni Albers created.

 

Overall, the exhibition was an excellent glimpse into the creative-mind and thought process of a lady who was an innovator, ahead of her time. This is not a display to be missed, if you get the chance to see it as it closes soon!

 

By Amy Pickard. All photos by Amy Pickard.

 

Exhibition Details:

Anni Albers Exhibition

11th Oct 2018- 27th Jan 2019

Tate Modern

53 Bankside, London SE1 9TG

Open:

Sundays to Thursdays: 10:00- 18:00

Fridays to Saturdays: 10:00- 22:00

Ticket Pricing:

Adults £18 / Concessions & Student £17

See the Tate Modern website for further discounted tickets and details.

 

Filed Under: Embroidery, London Tagged With: anni albers, art, artist, baubaus, exhibition, London, tate modern, textile art, textiles, visit, weave, weaver

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to Next Page »
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • +44 (0)20 7886 8574

© Copyright 2018