2017

We move forward from two successful exhibitions in 2016 in Prague and in the USA to the challenge of an exhibition in the Netherlands in the Autumn. We continue to work on A2 sized pieces in portrait format and will be producing four pieces over the year with the theme of 'Freedom'. An essential part of our art is working in series to a common format which does give us all a framework for our creative endeavours.

Thursday, 2 May 2013

 
 
 
'Indigo and Orange'
 
 
 
  The spiral and wavy lined Indigo in this piece is achieved by sewing the design in small running stitches, then gathering the threads tightly before dying. The beautiful strip cloth on the left is from Daboya in Ghana. I discovered this in 'Safety Line Lodge', down town Nairobi, a place where people from all over West Africa live and sell the most amazing artifacts, fabrics, beads and embellishments!
There is a small strip of Shwe Shwe that Magie gave me. The 'eyes' are cut from a wonderful wax print called 'The First Wife'- they keep an eye on the other wives of a polygamous marriage!
 

 
 
My embellishments are brass spirals I found in Safety Line. There are some ostrich shell beads made in Turkana, Northern Kenya. I discovered the little bone elephants in Mombasa. The others are made by Kenedy from bone. He lives & works in Kibera, the largest slum in Sub Saharan Africa. His workshop is a fog of choking bone dust and a tangle of very dodgy electrical wiring!!
 
 


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1 comment:

  1. Magie Relph20 May 2013 at 22:41

    Excellent work Gretchen. Another lovely piece. I'm enjoying all the different bits and pieces in this one - a real Pan African piece!

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