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Tuesday 8 December 2015

Happy Christmas

 
 
Today the Material Girls had their Christmas get together, I intended to take a photograph of the merry meeting. But so much chatting and eating food went on I completely forgot so instead an image of a Robin will have to do.
The Girls wish you all 'A Happy Christmas' and thank you for your support over the last year!

Friday 13 November 2015

Just before the exhibition opened at Rainham Hall, Mary decided that it would be her last exhibition with the group. We were sorry to see Mary leave, her work is beautiful, she always came up with the most inspired ideas and her support to the group will be missed, Mary's work will still be on show at the Hall and more of her work will be exhibited when the full exhibition is hung in the 'Brew House'.

Work by Mary Carter
As one door closes another opens as 'they' say, and we welcome a new member in the group, Sally Chinea to find out more about Sally take a look at her website. 

Sally has joined the group just as we start a new project this time with Essex Wildife Trust, we will be exhibiting work at the new Ingrebourne Valley Visitor center in May 2016.

Thursday 8 October 2015

Yesterday Rainham Hall opened it's doors to the public.....

.... so we can reveal that our work is inspired by John Harle, who? He is the man who built the Hall, a shipping merchant who came from South Sheilds and chose Rainham because of its position on the Thames and its closeness to London to base his business.

Our work as I said in the previous post is in the Hall and not in the Brew house which is where it will finally hang. Because of the lack of space the full body of work can't be exhibited at the moment, we each have one or two pieces on display. There is a bit of a climb up a narrow staircase to view most of the work and there is a surprise when you get there ( I won't tell you what that is) but if you can't find the work ask a steward and they will tell you where to find it. Two pieces of the work are displayed in fireplaces it's easier to find them. If you've not realised yet this National Trust property isn't your usual NT house, that makes it all the more interesting.

There is a café which serves delicious cakes, sandwiches and the coffee was good too, much better than the Georgian coffee served in the Lloyds coffee room in the hall ( I did sample it, it is explained how the coffee was made during the period) very interesting but I do prefer a cappuccino.

Here are  images taken in the hall yesterday.

Marie

Mary

Beverley

Chris and Helen


Julie

Viv and Jill

Margaret


Miriam

Creative Partner

Georgian Coffee

Waiting to go up to find our work!

Garden

Click on images to enlarge them.

Wednesday 30 September 2015

It's All Happening

Rainham Hall is opening it's doors next week, for details of times of opening and location you can find details here http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/rainham-hall/visitor-information/ 
the hall has undergone a major conservation project and is opening on 7th October. The Material Girls  full exhibition will not be shown until later in the year when the Brew House is completed, until then a selection of our pieces will be exhibited in the main house, so it's worth going along to visit and see how our work is being displayed its very different!
To celebrate the Hall opening there is a Community Festival on Sunday 11th October, the Material Girls will be launching a Community Project come along say Hello and grab a needle and thread and take part, all skill levels welcome.

Click to enlarge
If your in Hornchurch on Friday 9th October the Material Girls will be at the Library talking about our exhibition at Rainham Hall pop in, we'll be there between 11am and 1pm.

Click to enlarge

Monday 14 September 2015

A Double Image


This time it's two images, above a very tiny and edited section of work by Helen Wilson.
And the image below is a section of Viv Mitchell's work. Keep checking the blog for updates on the upcoming exhibition.


Saturday 29 August 2015

Saturday 22 August 2015

And another taster.....

this time it's by Beverley Folkard. You really need to see this work in person to appreciate it, not long now.......

Friday 7 August 2015

Branded

We have a new Logo, we commissioned Matt Lane-Dixon a graphic designer to do the job for us, a big thank you to Matt for all his help.
http://www.mattlanedixon.co.uk

The logo takes its inspiration from the handmade quality of textile art and reflects the feel of the materials used, as well as the overall creativity in the group. The layout of the logo is contemporary and easy to read but also has a subtle texture to the letterforms and shapes. 

Tuesday 30 June 2015

A Little Preview

The work is done and until the exhibition is open at National Trust Rainham Hall there will be tasters to show you! So heres the first, a tiny section of Julie's work.......

Julie Chellingsworth


Friday 3 April 2015

A Good Friday!

Today despite the threat of rain Helen, Chris and myself spent a few hours each working in shifts at the Easter Egg Hunt held at the National Trust Rainham Hall. We sat in the garden stitching, and occasionally gave out Cadbury's eggs to the children when they had completed the trail. It was a really lovely way to spend a few hours and was far busier than I expected with visitors coming from far and wide, Chris spoke to someone that came from Germany, not just for this event I expect but who knows maybe she'd heard about the Material Girls you never know...... 




Tuesday 31 March 2015

Easter Egg Hunt

Chris, Helen and Me (Miriam) will be at Rainham Hall on Good Friday, stitching etc. in the garden of The Hall and showing some of the work that will be exhibited later in the year in the Brew house. If your in the area pop in and say hello, entrance to the garden is free unless you fancy taking part in the Easter Egg Hunt. Let's hope for no rain and a lot less wind than we have today or you might see us chasing or work around the garden! It'll be fun either way....... For more details see herehttp://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/rainham-hall/

Wednesday 11 March 2015

A play day for the Girls

Yesterday the Material Girls hired a studio at Fairkytes Art Centre and had an enjoyable day playing with paints, printing on papers and fabrics, the session was led by Helen. Even though most of us have done this before Helen gave us lots of tips, so we all came away  having learnt something new.

just getting started

hanging out to dry!

Jill

Chris

Beverley

Viv

Julie

Helen

Miriam

Marie

And this is one Helen prepared earlier