Wednesday, March 21, 2018

March with Bella May Leonard

An interesting title to our talk last night,Sculptured Stitch. I had a pretty good idea what i would see as I had been taight by Bella at Summer school a few years ago.It was lovely to meet up with her again.
Bella is certainly an imaginative and somewhat whackey stitcher, who love perspex. At our summer school we used acetate and a laminator but for her graduate piece, Bella made a life size arch , embellished with unusal "thread" to represent her journey and completion of her degree. It was on display in the Market Place some years ago and no photograph could really do it justice.
However Bella gave us a potted history of her craft so far. She had worked at Gawthorpe Hall and many other interesting places, including the  Slumberland  bed factory. Her view of materials and what can be done with them is amazing. I loved her work for the Orient House in Manchester, combining social and industrial history  and using the jaquard loom as her starting point.
Bella has travelled and learned many new skills, including a variety of local mexican stitches that were really colourful. My photos will not do justice but she can be contacted for presentations/workshops at
bellaleonard@hotmail .com
Thank you Bella for your amazing slant on stitching. I will never really use perspex but love your thought process.
An idea of her work in perspex


Mexico, stitching , braids and back strap weaving.

 India

and Bella CAN use a basic needle and thread!!!!

Our meeting began with Glennys showing us 4 of her pieces that were inspired by Marion Jasmiks workshop.

and finally there was a small display of the work created at the Encaustic Art workshop last weekend. Most pieces need a lot of stitching.


No comments:

Post a Comment