| BORDERLANDS VISUAL ARTS
Open Studios 2023
Many thanks to everyone who took the time in June to come along to BVA's Open Studios, always a lovely, creative event in and around our town. Both weekends drew excellent support (from our local community as well as from visitors who had never even been to Oswestry before), and our artists were very happy to see lots of their work find happy new homes.
Thank you, artists, for your huge array of inspirational art, and to every one of our visitors for your presence and support. | | | Stitch by Stitch Exhibition
1 July - 19 August
Contemporary Fine Art Textiles
An exhibition for established and emerging textile artists working with stitch, fabric and mixed media
Over 100 artworks on display: Exhibitors are part of a growing movement that is bringing fine art textiles to a wider audience Instagram: stitchbystitch_2023
www.alisonholt.co.uk/stitchbystitch | | 1 July
10am-4pm
Opening Event | All welcome, with introduction by
Alison Holt and Suzanne Smart
Meet the Artists/Exhibitors, our Mayor Olly Rose and members of Oswestry Makes | | 8 July
10am-4pm
Little Batik Books | | 15 July
11am-2pm
Meet the Artists |  Catherine Hill and Vivienne Beaumont talk about their work
| | 21 July
11am-2pm
Meet the Artist | Felt artist Jane Mercer
Demonstration in the gallery
Jane will show the wet felting process | | 22 July
10.30-2pm
Meet the Artist
12 noon-3pm
Meet the Artist | Suzette Smart
Demonstration in the gallery, and share the stories behind Suzette's work
Embroiderer and textile artist Marian Jazmik – Q&A in the gallery | | 29 July
10am-4pm each day
Textile Book with Garden Bird | | 5 August
10.30am-2pm
Meet the Artist | Alison Holt
Demonstrations / Q&A in the gallery | | 8-10 August
Machine embroidery
8 August
4pm | Alison Holt course in her Oswestry studio
(This course is now fully booked)
Alison's students visit Willow Gallery for exclusive exhibition tour | | 12 August
11.30am-2.30pm
Meet the Artists | Silvie Millen and Rachel Davies
Talk and demonstrations in the gallery | | 15 August
10am-12 noon
Meet the Artist |  Sylvia Paul
talks about
her work | | 19 August
10.30am-12.30pm
Meet the Artist
2-4pm
Meet the Artist | Eleanor Burkett, paper and textile artist
Talk and demonstration:
Paper as canvas, fabric and thread
Chris Cooper
Mindful Stitching session with hand embroiderer Chris: All welcome | |  | | Alison Holt uses a sewing machine and thread like a painter uses colour to create free-motion machine embroidery | | | How textiles became art Textile art is art that uses fibres from plants and animals to produce decorative, artistic objects. It is one of the oldest forms of art in human civilization – although in its beginnings was not focused on looks but on practical purposes such as clothing, blankets and rugs to provide comfort and protection from the elements. Then increasingly textiles were employed to soften and decorate living spaces and surfaces – and, though there remained practical underpinnings to their origins, textiles quickly developed a secondary function as symbols of status, dominion and beauty.
The oldest textile finds are fragments found in the tombs of Ancient Egypt, preserved thanks to the dry climate and sand. Textile art also reaches far back in Chinese and Peruvian history. The history of African textiles also spans many centuries.
Surviving textile art becomes more prevalent from the Mediæval period onwards (famously, the Bayeux Tapestry, embroidered in coloured woollen yarns, tells the story of the Norman Conquest), and over the years textiles became more and more challenging, exciting and artistic.  Popular techniques today include weaving, felting, knitting and crocheting, embroidery, appliqué, quilting, and stitching with yarn. Some artists use dyes made from plants or minerals that they apply directly onto their fabrics. Textiles can also be used to create three-dimensional objects.
Textile art now is a global phenomenon as artists continue to reinvent the medium, bringing new applications, materials and aesthetics to the textile tradition. Fabric art has become very popular amongst art collectors, and museums are acquiring major works for their permanent collections. | | | | A WAY OF SEEING WITH REG TURRELL POPPY AND BEE I first noticed the red-tailed bumblebees on our poppies as they frantically moved around the pollen-laden anthers. I used tissue paper to create the effect of different layers of translucent colour of the delicate petals. When the paper is wet, it wrinkles, which gives the impression of veins. Watercolour and pastels were used on top of the paper to create more random effects. Whenever the bee stopped moving, it was difficult to spot – so I tried to keep the painting of the bee indistinct from the background. I used blue tissue around the poppy to create contrast and to be more in keeping with the abstract effect of the painting. | | | C R A F T
F A I R
Saturday l5 July ? 10am-4pm
Check out locally-made crafts
Friendly, fun and free to enjoy
Café open throughout the day
| | | | Exhibiting for the first time
at the Willow Gallery
Mike Cooke and Roy Sargent
26 August - 14 October
Walking the Urban & Rural Landscape Mike is fascinated by things 'partly seen' and by ambiguous 'screens' through which we might glimpse a 'beyond'. Roy, for his part, often begins with a fairly literal rendering of his subject, gradually replaced by an abstracted combination of time and place.
 | | CREATIVE WORKSHOPS AT THE WILLOW  Explore your creativity in small groups with practising artists Please see website for details | | | Other Local Events & Information | |  Orchids & Other Flowers Sunday 2 July
A 3-mile guided walk around Llynclys Common and secret Blackbridge Quarry with its dramatic limestone faces and interesting lime-loving flora
Meet at the Dolgoch Layby (SY10 8LN) at 2pm
£3 members, £4 non-members | | |  SHREWSBURY ARTS TRAIL
July and August
Now in its third year, the Shrewsbury Arts Trail continues to grow in scope. The theme this year is 'Movement', in honour of the 350th anniversary of the Salopian choreographer and writer John Weaver, who significantly influenced the development of ballet and pantomime to what it is today.
The town-wide trail includes important Salvador Dalà and Midlands-based Jacob Chandler sculptural artworks. Other events include a special exhibition at Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery featuring some very big names, a glass festival at St Mary's Church, a family treasure trail, a 'Secret Art Sale' at the Soden Collection, a dance photography exhibition and more. [LEFT] Jacob Chandler's Poise and Tension II
[RIGHT] Salvador DalÃ's Homage to Terpsichore | |  Shrewsbury Castle Tues 1 & Wed 2 August, 7pmThe Lord Chamberlain's Men (a modern-day incarnation of Shakespeare's own company of players) present this great play in the open air, with an all-male cast and Elizabethan costumes, music and dance. | | | SUMPTUOUS KLIMT PORTRAIT
FETCHES RECORD SUM AT AUCTION The last-ever portrait Austrian artist Gustav Klimt painted before he died has sold at Sotheby's in London for £85.3 million – a record auction price in Europe for a work of art. Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan) – a portrait of an unnamed woman against a resplendent, China-influenced backdrop of peacocks and lotus blossoms – was still on an easel in Klimt's studio when the painter died, aged 55, in February 1918. | | | | D I V A
V&A, South Kensington
Until April 2024
The exhibition looks at stars of opera, stage, popular music and film, and explores how the meaning of diva (Italian for goddess) has been 'subverted and embraced over time' – even to include men.
The show is in two parts, with Act One focusing on 'the goddesses of stage and screen who have endured and shaped our popular culture today'. Items on show include Callas's onstage costumes and Edith Piaf's little black dress. Film lovers can check out the black fringed dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot, as well as the only known surviving dress worn by silent film star Clara Bow.
Act Two sees how the word diva has been redefined in the modern age, highlighting Rihanna, Shirley Bassey, Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Prince, Elton John and Cher amongst other stars.
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