The story to here; cross stitching and exhibitions

I’ve been cross stitching for decades.

One of my earliest jobs was working in a haberdashery and craft shop; where I returned my pay with purchases. At the start, I stitched what you probably visualise when someone says they do cross stitch, the pieces were cute motifs and images of flowers, animals and houses from patterns.

I started to experiment, with colour and design construction, then creating my own works completely, and maturing my own artistic style. It is contemporary artwork created by improvised cross stitch.

Over the years the works have been shared and presented, particularly at Textured in 2016 and soon in a new solo exhibition Life Activity.

Where you can see my artwork and related products

So far in 2024, I’ve been working towards these:

Coach House Collective 379-385 Bong Bong St Bowral NSW has a selection of prints and cards.

Royal Easter Show competitions – Preview March 20th, Show 22nd-2nd Apr at the Showground.

Blue Square Art Festival – Opening April 19th, Show 20th-28th at Bowral Art Gallery 

Penrose Art Show – Opening May 3rd, Show 4th-5th at Penrose Village Hall

Solo exhibition at Bendigo Bank Darling Square with ArtSHINE. Opening May 1st, Show 2nd-30th.

Past sharing and presenting of cross stitch art

Like any creative, there have been many gifts over the years. I also had Bear design patterns in an etsy shop (no longer available).

Third at Royal Agricultural Society Exhibitor’s Own Design in 2023 for ‘Pulled, folded and stacked‘ (at the time titled ‘Overlay experiments in colour‘)

The 2024 Jayne Wilson Memorial Arts Exhibition and Competition in celebrating its tenth and final year, the theme was ‘Whole’ and I exhibited ‘Being Pulled‘ originally presented at Textured.

Studio open in 2023 Southern Highlands Arts Trail and I’m planning future openings.

Textured – self presented concert and exhibition in 2016

Presented a concert and exhibition, Textured in 2016. Acacia Quartet, Sirius Chamber Ensemble, Duo Blockstix, and Elysian Fields were given works I felt reflected their style and they selected music to perform that they felt reflected the cross stitch. It was a sell-out at the Mosman Art Gallery Grand Hall.

There were seven works in Textured and they represented an autobiographical story from 2010 to 2015.

1. ‘Dark stars‘ are a little dark and crazy as I processed the grief that my grandpa and mentor died. I was also thinking about my legacy.
2. ‘Light stars‘ show some processing of feelings, where the stars still have a dark centre but the background is lighter and placement more ordered.
3. ‘Inverted stars‘ signalled a sense of order returning. It has the same base pattern, but starts with the lightest shade.
4. ‘Bright stars‘ was created with clarity of a way forward.
5. ‘Spiral of Life‘ is how from when we’re born, each year and each experience, we add a layer to our lives, and then those layers seem to disappear, almost as easily. The experience we once thought valuable, isn’t valuable in a new life or when life has turned a corner, and what we’ve built, doesn’t seem to be layers, but history.
6. ‘Corporate Life‘ is made up of many isolated boxes or teams; some are light in the centre, while others dark. The pink line at the top goes all the way from the wider base. Many have also thought of this work as a Christmas Tree.
7. ‘Being pulled‘ is about how when we consider our whole lives, there is a constant tug, or pull, between the different parts that exist for us. When you’re in the moment of part of your life, you wish you had more time there, but another part of your life is demanding your attention.

Life Activity – Solo Exhibition in May

The works in Life Activity has one overlap with Textured, as ‘Being pulled‘ was the first work in the ‘Being pulled and folded’ series. I’ve paired that series with the ‘Commuter Life’ series, as they both represent the activity of life; where we are pulled between the different parts of our lives (work, hobbies, family, friends etc) and the travel required to participate in those events.

Find out more and register to visit here.

Thanks to Huntington Estates Wines for supporting both Textured and Life Activity.