A lovely event to visit after Christmas

Two of the Material Girls,  Chris and Helen are members of SDC.

Update

Before the Material Girls finished for the Christmas break we  met today at NT Rainham Hall, sorry we can't share the details only to say that the NT team were happy with the progress of our work, and there are lots of other ideas in the pipeline!

There was also another opportunity to take a look at the progress in the Brew House, this is where the exhibition will hang. It's all very exciting and we are looking forward to the New Year, 2015 is promising to be a very creative year for us.

There is always time for a tea break!

 High viz jackets are a must!

The Material Girls Wish You All A Happy Christmas 

and 

A Creative New Year

So December's here....

and yesterday a small group of The Material Girls spent a few hours at Craft Arena hanging our latest exhibition 'Tales and Textiles'

 
There was moving and re arranging of work.

And finally it was ready....

For the opening today!
photos by permission of  Craft Arena and Me!

So this is where we'll be in December......

At the last.....

two meetings of MG we have been sharing with each other our works in progress. It's always good to get the opinion of the rest of the group on your work, and help if needed.

Julie Chellingsworth

Margaret Lacy

Marie Payne

Vivien Mitchell

Helen Wilson

Jill Birleson

Mary Carter

Beverley Folkard

Christine Spencer

Miriam Weaver

A Look........

at the sketchbook, research and sampling  of work that is going on at the moment by four of the group for the Rainham Hall Project.

Marie Payne

Marie Payne

Helen Wilson

Helen Wilson

Helen Wilson

Miriam Weaver

Vivien Mitchell

Hard Hats

Chris, Mary and Miriam joined a group this morning on a Hard Hat Tour of Rainham Hall, a chance to take a look at the progression of the restoration of the Material Girls exhibition venue! Just use your imagination......

And keep watching this space for more updates.

Research Research..........

On Tuesday eight of the MG's met up with an excellent National Trust 18th century trade expert at the Docklands Museum. And yesterday two of the MG's went to NT Rainham Hall and were shown around the gardens. Lots of research done and lots more to do for our next body of work! 
Images of the gardens at Rainham Hall by Chris Spencer.

Rainham Hall

If you live or work in the area you maybe interested in this?

Website

Good news the website is now up and running still a bit of work to do, but have a look and don't forget to keep checking back for more information on the up and coming exhibitions.
www.the-materialgirls.co.uk

Website the-materialgirls.co.uk

The website is in process of being updated so maybe off line for a while. Please check it out if it's not there check back in a day or so. Sorry if this causes any problems.

New Member and Exhibitions

At todays meeting we were joined by new member Helen Wilson, Helen has been a friend of the group for a long time and participated when the Material Girls held a weekend event at Hordon on the Hill.

If you didn't get a chance to see our previous exhibition 'Tales and Textiles' at Cottenham, you will get another chance  in December. We will be exhibiting the work at Gallery 50 Craft Arena, that's one for the diary!

The group are busy working on a brand new project in collaboration with the National Trust's Rainham Hall, there will be a lot more on this project as we proceed so keep an eye on the blog for more information.

Rainham Hall

Front view of Rainham Hall

Onwards to Next Project…..

Last weekend we were at the Textiles in Focus 2014, it was the first time we'd exhibited there, although we have all been very keen visitors to the event over many years, and Chris demonstrated there in the past.  I can say that we all thoroughly enjoyed it, the work was well received and we have had some very nice comments and reviews about our work, thank you Lynne. As Material Girl Beverley pointed out in her post last weekend she had work in three exhibitions at the same time, that means the rest of the group had work in two places and one of those is in Canada. The Canadian tour of our work 'Articulated Materials, Bridging Waters' finishes on the 10th March and has been on quite an adventure.

We are hoping that the 'Tales and Textiles' will be seen again but more on that another time. The group meets again on the 11th March and watch this space for news about our next project,  we are all ready to start researching and get started on it and maybe other news too…….

Take a look at the Artist pages for more images of Textiles in Focus, the updates should appear soon.

Textiles in Focus

Yesterday three of the Material Girls set up 'Tales and Textiles', when we left it looked like this, and today it looks more like this………… thanks Julie for sending the image.

The Next and Last Chance to see this Exhibition

Update on Articulated Materials and More……...

As I mentioned in a previous post the 'Bridging Waters - Articulated Materials'  is staying on tour in Canada longer than was originally planned, with another exhibition of the work in Saskatchewan. How wonderful when your work is that appreciated and The Material Girls are really appreciative of all the hard work that has been put in by Articulation!

So here's the details of the Gallery.

'Gallery on 3rd"

102 - 3rd St.

Watrous SK

February 19 to March 10/2014
Gallery is open
Thursday - Saturday 1-4 pm
Opening will be Feb 20 @ 7pm

More work for our next exhibition 'Tales and Textiles' which is coming up fast… a snippet of work by two Material Girls.

Mary Carter

Marie Payne

and even more………….. once the Cottenham exhibition is over we will be starting research on our next exhibition which will be in a National Trust Property!

Another…….

…...sample of work that will be at Textiles in Focus 2014 in The Material Girls Exhibition 'Tales and Textiles Exhibition'. This time the work is by Miriam Weaver.

Miriam Weaver

Todays Meeting

The Material Girls met today and it was exciting to see all the work for the 'Tales and Textiles Exhibition' Textiles in Focus 2014 together for the first time.
Here is a piece of work from the newest member of the group Vivien Patricia Mitchell.

Vivien  Mitchell

Just to get your weekend off to a good start……...

Heres a preview of work by Beverley Folkard, you will be able to see the work in full at Textiles in Focus.

Beverley Folkard

Beverley Folkard

Happy New Year…….

……..from the Material Girls, we hope that you have a very Creative 2014.
Just to keep you up to date heres a few snippets from 'Tales and Textiles' you will be able to see the work in full at Textiles in Focus.

Jill Birleson

Chris Spencer

Marie Payne

Theres still more snippets to come so keep checking back.