We extend a very special welcome to our newest member of Nolitex who exhibited with us for the very first time – Kate Pike.  Her finely wrought and cleverly constructed piece “Abandoned” was much appreciated and very well received by visitors to the stand.

Hanging Liz Welch’s 6.5m necklace “On The Strand” on one of the outside walls was not easy at all, but we managed it in the end.

I wonder how many people would have been able to identify which bits were made using Friendly Plastic.

Joan and Mary sorting out all the labels to put on the pieces.  You can see work by Jean Copsey, Sally Malloy, Christine Westlake and Janet Wain.

Janet’s lovely bits of driftwood lead the eye in to Liz Welch’s “In Suspense” in the corner. 

One of the outside walls with work by Joan Richardson and Mary Whittaker

Another outside wall with work by Sally Malloy, Christine Westlake and Joan Richardson

Mary rummaging for something, possibly the delicious home made lemon curd cake she produced for us all at coffee time.  In the foreground you can see Judith Burnet’s colourful seafront sweetie stall inspired work.

We hope that everyone who managed to come along enjoyed the work, and that you had the opportunity to talk to the members of Nolitex and perhaps buy a card or a CD catalogue.  The CD catalogue contains almost 140 images including artists statements, overall images and close ups of every piece in the original exhibition at the Sam Scorer Gallery in Lincoln July 2010. (£5 each plus £1 P&P) available from lizwelch@rarebird.ltd.uk).    We also have vailable a catalogue CD of “A Question Of Identity” our previous exhibition for £4 plus £1 P&P.

Come and see us and say hello, members will be on hand every day of the show.

 Besides the work, we will have cards and post cards for sale and CD catalogues for the full exhibition, complete with artists statements.

We welcomed hundreds of visitors to the Sam Scorer Gallery in Lincoln over the two week period that the exhibition was open, and the response was overwhelmingly positive; the comments in our visitors book are a delight to read, and all the verbal expressions of appreciation and amazement made it a heart-warming experience stewarding.

My personal experience of stewarding made me acutely aware that what we were showing surprised and far exceeded the expectations of our visitors in terms of quality and variety of work, and the interpretation of the theme. Also many people commented on the general ambience and atmosphere created in the gallery through careful hanging of the work within the space.

The individual interpretations evoked thoughts of seaside and coast that satisfied something cherished within – childhood memories of beach and holidays, personal stories of lives lived in coastal environments, and more recent recollections of reflective interludes by the sea. Something for everyone – thought provoking, stimulating and inspirational.

This exhibition will tour; we are actively seeking new venues to bring our own particular band of sophisticated contemporary textile art to a wider audience.

If you would like a CD catalogue of the exhibition with 94 good quality images of work, plus, in the artists own words, their inspirations and thinking behind the art they have created, then please email me at enquiries@rarebird.ltd.uk The cost is only £5 plus £1 P&P.

We are delighted to announce our brand new exhibition TideLine, full of new and exciting work.  Over the last two years Nolitex members have been taking inspiration from our coastline and expressing our thoughts and reactions in a new body of work that encompasses not only fabric, but mixed media, felt, paper, knitting, and 3D art.

On The Strand by Liz Welch

Approaches are varied; inspiration coming from natural and man-made coastal environments, as well as personal and childhood memories. Political and environmental issues collide with delicate stitching and experimental materials. 

Rip Tide by Mary Whittaker

Sam Scorer Gallery in Drury Lane, Lincoln is a lovely gallery to view an exhibition, and we are pleased to be able to return there to launch our latest body of work.

The gallery is situated very close to the Cathedral and the Castle, which makes it ideal for a day trip venue.  We look forward to welcoming you to the gallery; members of Nolitex will always be on hand to answer any queries you may have.

There will be hand-made cards, postcards and portfolio pieces for sale alongside the artwork.

For those that like a permanent reminder of the wide variety of work on display, we have a CD catalogue with 94 images of work from the exhibition plus statements by the artists explaining the inspiration for their work.  Amazing value at £5.  If you would like one, please email enquiries@rarebird.ltd.uk .

If you can make it to the gallery, your journey will be well rewarded with a fascinating diversity of contemporary textile art reflecting some of the aspects of our varied coastline.

There is parking not too far away, and the gallery has disabled access.

The exhibition will tour; dates and venues will be announced when confirmed.

There is no doubt about it, A Question Of Identity certainly hit the mark for many people, they found it easy to identify with the ideas and inspiration behind these most personal of pieces, and they thoroughly enjoyed being able to talk to the artists who created them.  They enjoyed it all so much that they bought every CD catalogue of the exhibition that we had, and we even had to send some out after the event.  It is not in the least surprising as there are 90 images of the work from the whole touring exhibition on the CD, not just images from the selection we had at the NEC.  All this for a mere £4!  So if you missed out and would like a copy then email us at lizwelch@rarebird.ltd.uk and we will send you a copy post haste (P&P 50p).

For the first time we have produced a beautiful digital catalogue filled with 90 images of the work in the exhibition, close up shots and overall pictures so you can see all the work that toured with QI. The images are all on a CD and you can play them as a slide show on your computer. All this for only £4. If you miss seeing the show, then you can contact Liz Welch lizwelch@rarebird.ltd.uk and order a digital catalogue and have it sent to your door.

Below is a small sample of the images on the disc.

Come and say hello on stand ZM02

In the meant time put some dates in your diary – Nolitex announce their new exhibition TideLine, which will be opened on the 12^th July at the Sam Scorer Gallery Lincoln,and will run for two weeks. Judging by the work that has been shown at meetings, it is going to be an interesting and stimulating exhibition.

This is a detail of Judith’s “On The Margins – Hedge 2″

Cinnabar member Julie Williams “Limpets Boulmer Beach”

Detail of Judith’s “On The Margin – Berry”

The group’s work is finely wrought, the theme interpreted with thought,  the workmanship is precise and the colours vibrant where appropriate, but subtle and muted where a more restful approach has been taken.

This exhibition is well worth the trip to Millgate, it is not big but the four members have produced a very pleasing body of work.

Janet Wain has been very busy again and is exhibiting her work along side fellow member Joan Richardson at the Sam Scorer Gallery in Lincoln from 15th June until 28th June.   They are collaborating with another textile artist Maria-Theresa Fernandez  to showcase work under the title “Leaving Traces”.  The exhibition is described as textiles and mixed media developed from issues attached to a specific site with the aim of communicating the spirit of that particular place.

Janet Wain

Joan and Janet’s work compliment each others very well as Janet has a painterly approach, whilst Joan often works in three dimensions using mixed media techniques.  To see more of Joan and Janet’s work check out the members page on this blog.

Maria-Theresa Fernandez

To see more of Maria-Theresa’s work visit http://www.mariatheresafernandes.org/

The exhibition is open from 15th June – 28th June 10am to 4pm daily.  Telephone 01522 589899 or 01636 892884 for further information.  

Sam Scorer  gallery is very close to the cathedral in Lincoln and right by the castle at the top of Steep Hill.  The address is 5 Drury Lane, Lincoln, LN1 3BN

For speeds sake as I have run out of time to post today, rather than repeat what I have posted on my own blog about this very well presented exhibition, please follow the link to Rarelizzie to read and see all the images. 

I would also like to point out that I have missed blogging about Heather Farquhar’s solo exhibitions as I have been away, and I stupidly lost the password to the blog as well!  My apologies Heather, I will do better next time [blogmeister]

This is an intimate exhibition with tactile interactive elements.  The Spotlight Gallery in Newark is a lovely space, right in the heart of Newark, Nottinghamshire, on the market square.  Come and join us for refreshments and meet the members of the group on Wednesday 18th Feb from 11am to 12.30, the Mayor of Newark will be making a visit as well.

The work for this exhibition represents a precursor for a more major event which will be staged in 2010.  To give you a taste of what you might see, take a look at the images below.