10 women showcase their textile art at Cork exhibition

MANY women of a certain age will have learned how to sew, knit and crochet at school. But now that these handicrafts are no often longer taught as part of the education system, it’s uplifting to see a group of women renewing their expertise in the arts.

It seems working with needles and fabric is still very much the domain of women, given that this year’s qualifying class of a two-year special purpose award in contemporary art textiles are all female, despite the course being open to everyone.

The ten women, whose final year exhibition, ‘Ariadne’s Thread’, takes place from June 4-12 at MTU Crawford Gallery at 46, Grand Parade, are Patsy Atkinson, Áine Sealy, Sarah Buckley, Mary Foster, Marjam Vos, Theresa Connolly, Laurie Manning, Claudia Hernández-Espinosa, Kay Roche and Doreen Fitzmaurice.

As Patsy Atkinson, from Blackrock, says of the class: “We are drawn from all sorts of professional backgrounds and ages. I think the appeal for most of us was to be amongst like-minded supportive women with an interest in textile art.

“Although we have the traditional skills, we’re applying them in a contemporary way. The process saw each of us choosing a theme, something close to our hearts which we researched.”

Patsy, who works part-time in PR, chose nature and our human connection with it as her theme. Her artwork is tied in with nature as she uses natural plants and dyes from them, doing eco-printing and stitching. Although a self described ‘city girl’, Patsy is happiest when close to nature.

“My research led me to Mary Oliver’s poetry and I focused on one line in particular, ‘ The prayers that are made out of grass’ from her poem Mindful. Often described as deceptively simple, Mary Oliver’s lines capture the wonder of nature and her deep reverence for it.

“Using her words as a pattern only, I have pierced paper so it’s like tiny seed-heads to create a form of code for Mary Oliver’s beautiful words and imagery. I chose a spiral as it is a common pattern in nature, found in everything from galaxies and shells to unfurling ferns.”

Patsy has created a book capturing some of the lines of Mary Oliver in stitch and imagery.

“I have placed an eco-print of Meadowsweet in the book’s spine to bring nature back into the heart of the book.”

Doreen Fitzmaurice, from Wexford, is inspired by participants at her workshops that had to flee their country of origin. Detached from their former lives and not yet settled into new lives in Ireland, they suffer the anxiety of being stuck in limbo.

“This echoes the agonising wait I had for a cancer diagnosis and treatment,” says Doreen. “I was stuck in the present and powerless to change it.”

She has used processes such as hand-dyeing, carding, spinning wool, weaving and needle felting.

Doreen’s work includes a felt piece in which she incorporates the letters WCNFS (wounded child no surviving family) that is put on children’s arms to denote their tragic situations.

“Experienced medics working in Palestinian hospitals are using the reporting acronym for the first time in their careers. My work is a response to the horrific meaning of these five letters.”

Mary Foster, from Clonakilty, has a background in psychotherapy. She is interested in how our image-making connects us to a deeper level of ourselves and helps us navigate a deeper relationship with ourselves and the unconscious. Exploring Jung’s ideas around alchemy and individuation and how the creative process can be a bridge to greater levels of awareness, Mary uses mostly natural materials including paper, fabric, charcoal, ash and found objects in nature.

Theresa Connolly, of Midleton, has created a work that seeks to represent the stark difference between the “casual luxury of afternoon tea enjoyed by many in the western world and the lived experiences of those tasked with harvesting that tea for our pleasure.”

Having visited India recently, Theresa noted the appalling conditions and very low pay of women working in the tea plantations in Munnar. For her art piece, she has created a tea setting that includes cups and saucers made out of fabric. While it is beautiful to look at, it has a serious message and is aptly titled The Bitter Taste of Tea. Words are used throughout the artwork to raise awareness of the reality of life for tea pickers.

Sarah Buckley, of Mallow, has created work that is a personal exploration of childhood memory, trauma and identity. Her work delves into the psychological impact of having two benign vascular birthmarks. It has prompted her to look into “psychic wounds and social acceptance of difference and visual impairment.”

Sarah’s images are slightly fractured as her work is about fractured memory and it also echoes the surgery she would have had.

The title of the group exhibition comes from Greek mythology. Ariadne, daughter of King Minos, is associated with problem-solving skills, ingenuity and creativity.

“At the heart of the myth lies a metaphor relating to finding our way through the maze of the creative process – something we can relate to well,” says Patsy.

“I think it is fair to say that we each showed great intuition, creativity and problem-solving skills as we worked through our research and creative challenges over the past two years, culminating in this body of work.”

See https://arts.mtu.ie/