• 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

textile art

Hawthorne & Heaney on ‘Threads of Life’ by Clare Hunter

July 17, 2019 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Hawthorne & Heaney on 'Threads of Life' by Clare Hunter London Hand Embroidery

”You cut a length of thread, knot one end and pull the other end through the eye of a needle you take a piece of fabric and push your needle into one side of the cloth, then pull it out on the other until it reaches the knot. You leave a space. You push your needle back through the fabric and pull it out on the other side. You continue until you have made a line, or a curve, or a wave of stitches. That is all there is: thread, needle, fabric and patterns the thread makes. This is sewing.”

(Beginning)

A few months ago, we got a lovely little surprise in the post of a book about embroidery. Whilst we have quite a few books on embroidery in the studio, specific techniques or historical references and so on, this one differed in that it was about embroidery as a cultural vehicle, and so it had our attention. The book is called ‘Threads of Life’ by Clare Hunter who explores embroidery as the chosen method of communication for many great examples of noteworthy people during the course of her book.

 

Whilst we do not want to ruin the book for you should you wish to read it yourself, there are a few parts which we hope might grab your interest as they did ours. The book is split into well defined chapters on particular themes which makes it very easy to dip in and out of as the feeling takes you.

 

Chapter 2: Power, was a particular favourite of mine as it is all about Mary Queen of Scots who was an avid embroiderer, something that I previously had no idea of but can’t help but be captivated by this idea of an embroiderer Queen. Hunter explores her relationship with embroidery from both an external and more personal level where she uses embroidery as her weapon to try and exert some influence over her future:

”Female Monarchs had greater need of the advocacy of textiles than their male counterparts. The public display of their hand crafted emblems and symbols meant that for women, even when physically absent from court through childbirth, banishment or imprisonment, the textiles they had commisioned or sewn remained on display as their representatives, still messaging their lineage, still acting as a presense of sorts.’ (Page 24-5)

”In desperation, she began to woo Elizabeth with embroidered gifts. It was a calculated generosity. Such presents in court etiquette represented a bond or inferred an obligation: used publically, they declared intimacy.” (Page 31)

 

The book is semi-autobiographical as Hunter includes stories from her own past, one of which made for another highlight of the book for me. In the ‘Journey’ chapter, Hunter tell us of a visit she made to Kaili, Southwest China where she shares a non-verbal conversation she has with a Miao woman she met there. It demonstrates the passion that people interested in embroidery all seem to share, which transcends spoken languages:

”I think she is about to leave, but instead she unties its knot and lets it spill out textiles, which she then lays out one by one onto the bed… The bed becomes canopied in encrusted cloth. She beckons me overand we examine the textiles together, her touching and stroking, lifting up this corner and that, willing me to see an intricacy here, wanting me to notice a technique there.”(Page 110-111)

 

I think what is really lovely about this book, as an embroiderer, is that it really examines embroidery as a craft and as an art form. Personally, I felt gratitude to Hunter for shining a light on embroidery and really felt that ‘yeh, i’ve been there’ moment when she talk about sharing a segment of the book with her writing group and the somewhat despondent attitude to the subject prior to reading the piece. Any works like this that seek to re-educate societies attitudes to something which can be perseved as irrelevant, elitist or outdated to the vibrant and ever evolving art form that we know it to be, must be a good thing in my opinion.

All quotations courtesy of ‘Thread of Life’ by Clare Hunter (Hodder & Stoughton)

Filed Under: Art, Embroidery Tagged With: book, book review, clare hunter, embroidery, London, textile art, textiles, threads of life

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

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • +44 (0)20 7886 8574

© Copyright 2018