Matthew Williamson

The Matthew Williamson exhibition at the Urbis in Manchester was well worth a visit. Especially because it was free as well. The fashion world always inspires me. I really enjoyed the exhibition and found Williamson’s work a great inspiration. On display was some truly beautiful dresses worn by some of the most glamorous stars such as Sienna Miller, Keira Knightly and Jade Jagger, as well as some of his 2008 Spring/Summer garments.

Matthew Williamson’s designs and approach seemed to strike a chord with some of my own interests. I love the exotic nature of his pieces and the fact that the dresses are so beautiful and sensual. I admire how he uses delicate silk fabrics combined with a bold print, which enhances the movement and flow of the garment. Embellishment with beads and jewels adds a further sense of glamour giving an intricate, feminine feel, another thing that I love. I especially like how he adorns pieces with brooches and jewellery reflecting his collected travel pieces and acting like souvenirs, which give a truly precious feel.


Travel is an important part in Williamson’s designs. India has especially been a huge influence on his design work. His influence of individual craftsmanship from India is apparent in his work. Each garment seems to reflect a travel destination and I find this travelled style inspiring.
His fascination with Chinoiserie motifs became influential. One of his designs originally began as wallpaper, which Williamson hand painted over and embellished with jewels for one of his stores, which was then re-designed as a one of couture garment, one of my favourites from the collection.

Platform Gallery Clitheroe

Here are some of the artists/designers work i admired from the Lancashire and Yorkshire textile open exhibition at the Platform Gallery.

Kerry Mosley'trapped beauty'

This was one of my favourites from the exhibition, it was very effective and stood out to me from a distance. When viewed close up you could see the delicacy of it, suiting the butterfly theme and echoing their precious quality. Created using wire and machine stitch.

Karen Ruanne

http://www.karenruane.blogspot.com/

Elizabeth Darwin

http://www.elizabethdarwin.co.uk/

Inspired by landscapes and the English Countryside. Her work incorporates painting with machine and hand stitch.

Barbara Jepson

http://barbarajepson.com/ " Iris", batik and appliqué50 x 50cms

Mixed Border, batik and appliqué50 x 50cms

"Late Summer", batik and appliqué50 x 50cms

Betty Morris

http://www.bettystitchart.co.uk/

Farfield Mill

Priscilla Jones

This week i visited Farfield Mill where the exhibition covered various crafts. I came across some pieces by Priscilla Jones, whose work i previously admired. I love how she collages various papers and fabrics then adds decoration and detail by machine stitch. Her subjects are usually simple such as tea cups, spoons and cakes, highlighting life's little pleasures and indulgences such as afternoon tea and cake. The combination of media in pastel colours along with choice in various grounds such as polka dots and stripes creates a whimsical, feminine feel.

I also saw the working progress of a in house textile designer, Mary Taylor, Specializing in embroidery. Her work was created by laying sheer fabrics, which were chosen so they could be burnt to reveal the different layers, then they were heavily machine stitched to keep the layers together. Her inspirations are taken from nature; from landscapes, rockfaces and rust and this is reflected in her pieces, through the choice of colour and stitch design.

Another artist whose work i found interesting was Clyde Olliver who used fragments of slate to create a composition, one was a human figure. I liked how he incorporated stitch into the slate, simply by piercing holes and putting a simple stitch through it. I think it was the contrast of materials which i was drawn to the most, the stitch against a hard surface, which also made it unique and reflected cave art where man made his mark on walls.

Gustav Klimt

I visited the Gustav Klimt exhibition in Liverpool recently where there was a beautiful array of Gustav Klimt’s works and masterpieces displayed, which were truly magnificent. I found his work very inspiring and it was great to see some of the paintings I admire, which I have only previously seen in books. The detail and quality was much more amazing than you could imagine.

I love how Klimt combined a naturalistic style with defined, decorative elements to give an ornate quality; how his art created a harmonious balance between the organic and the artificial. I admire how he uses jewel like patterns and shapes to adorn and accentuate the human female form. The females appearing in his work are depicted as beautiful and always look harmonious and elegant, with embellishment and defined patterns complimenting the female beauty.

One of my favourite pieces was ‘The Beethoven Frieze’ and I was amazed by the scale of it, filling three full walls. It progressed almost like a story and symbolised different stages in life with carefully considered spacing, which was encapsulating. I liked how there was floating female figures linked together, almost like angels guiding you through different stages and bringing the piece together as a whole. Sections were embellished with gold giving a luxurious feel and standing out from the pastel backgrounds. Again Klimt works in harmony with pastel and rich colours, suggesting the difference from natural and ornamental, something I also admired in Klimt’s work.

In the exhibition shop some of Gustav Klimt’s designs had been transferred on to silk scarves, which I really liked and worked well. One scarf was black decorated with gold jewel like circular patterns just like those seen often in his work; they progressed up the scarf like a string of varying sized beads. Another scarf more colourful and flowery depicted one of Klimt’s landscape paintings, again working well. I like how these painted designs have been reinterpreted on to scarves and fashion items like bags and purses showing how his work can be diverse.