Maiwa Textile Symposium : Tilleke Schwartz

Maiwa Textile Symposium runs for three months on Granville Island in Vancouver British Columbia. I had the pleasure of attending last week. Vancouver is a wonderful city so easy to get around walking, riding bikes, or using public transportation. The place I found to stay through airbnb was a condo that overlooked the boats, fisherman's wharf and Granville island. 

The workshop I participated in was taught by Tilleke Schwartz an artist from the Netherlands and master at embroidery. It was a three day workshop. And the topic was "Telling Your Own Story". Tilleke's sense of humor was a kick, and she shared what inspires her and showed images of other fiber artist that she admires. A highlight was viewing her work in person which I have to say is far superior to photos. The texture and tiny scale of her stitches are truly incredible. 

We did some drawing exercises to get us thinking about what we might design. Tilleke encouraged us to either go into the project with a plan or work as you go. I am excited to incorporate embroidery in my own work. 

I hope to make this an annual trip, the Textile Symposium runs September, October, and November. Registrations for the courses begin in June and they fill up within days.

My sampler, Tilleke suggests adding her trademark cross-stitched cat.

We flew in a small prop plane from Seattle to Vancouver.

View from the airbnb condo.

Each day the view changed, even in grey skies its pretty.

This is the walk I did each day to class.

Classroom above the Maiwa store.

Textile and book collection is incredible.

The first exercise was to create a collage to tell our story.

Details from my collage.

Couching with silk threads.

Another drawing exercise where you pass along a piece to another student.

Inspiration that Tilleke would use.

Walking to class on the last day.

Fourth floor is where I stayed. 

The Maiwa store filled with treasures for the lover of textiles.

An evening ride on a small ferry to watch the sunset.

Granville Island was at one time an industrial area,
now it is a place for artists and a public market that rivals any I have seen.
There is still a working factory shown above.

Looks like Wizard of Oz and the Emerald City.

So fun to ride on this small ferry.

Condos on the water.

Felted and Sewn Cap

The sewing group I belong to asked each person to make a hat to donate for adult & child cancer patients at Stanford Hospital. I decide to start with natural wool and very fine silk habotai. I created the plain white nuno felt and then hand stitched this skull cap. I added the details and embroidery. Hope it makes its way to a special person.

Thanks to Dana, a super cute model.

  

Silkscreen of Doris Duncan

This is an image I really love. The model is my maternal grandmother Doris Duncan, her maiden name was Urie. Her father was a photographer. There are some wonderful images of her as a child having fun in front of the camera. She was very comfortable and you can sense that she enjoyed having her father's attention, as he used her as his muse. I used this image of her as a young woman for a silkscreen project. It may have ben taken before she was married. I don't know anything about the hat she is wearing, it may have just been a prop and not really something she owned.

I silkscreened the image on cotton muslin, some of my eco dyed fabrics, and bristol board. The ink color is denim blue. Stay tuned to see what these fabric bits morphs into.

Black image before it was printed to film 

P

Ink from overlay

Proof on newsprint

Printing on eco dyed cotton

Indigo Surprise

Just when I thought I would abandon the indigo vat I have been nurturing since June of 2013 it surprises me. The liquid had floating pieces of dust and leaves from the backyard and was not nearly as translucent as I would like, but I gave it one more chance. I refreshed it, set it out in the sun, and waited a day. I did not add any indigo crystals, it seemed like there were enough floating pieces in the liquid that I could see. When I took off the lid I was surprised by this huge bloom. The silk chiffon scarfs below were only dipped once. If you would like to see more images of my textiles, check out my Etsy shop, https://www.etsy.com/shop/kimmeulibrown  . . . and thanks for looking.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/kimmeulibrown

Just posted some new designs on my estsy shop, which you can find here https://www.etsy.com/shop/kimmeulibrown
I have been experimenting with ombre effects and indigo. I almost don't want to part with this ombre indigo scarf that I wore last week to the Counting Crows concert at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. Before the show we had dinner at Cheeseboard. Don't let the line intimidate you, it's worth the wait. And okay I am willing to part with this silk chiffon scarf. Thanks for visiting my shop.