The Rites of Spring

This is a worrying time for many of us, but the natural world carries on regardless.  Our garden is full of mating frogs, singing birds and brave bunches of daffodils.

I do not know what the coming season will hold for me and my little business but, for now, the need and desire in me to keep on making work is strong.  So, as the birds weave their nests, I ply my needle.  Not surprisingly, the images I am making are vignettes of spring daily life in our garden and they keep me smiling as I work away.

So far, the only change to my work arrangements is that the galleries that normally show my work are closed for the foreseeable future. I also have had to delay opening my studio for the season.  I'll try to keep the website up to date on that issue.

With regards to this year's courses, so many of which are fully-booked, I am holding back on changing arrangements until the general picture of the spread of the virus becomes clearer, but my intention is to run as many of the courses as I can.

 In the meantime, I wish you all a safe passage through this challenging time.                   Jan

A Stitch Beyond

This winter has given me plenty of time to reflect on the direction of my teaching and so it seems that 2021 will be my year to offer something a little different alongside a shorter calendar of courses. I am running two sewing retreats – spring and autumn – each to be called “A Stitch Beyond”.

A number of you, I know, have stashes of material from previous courses, along with plans for exciting projects that never quite come to fruition. Time, space, inspiration, group support and gentle guidance from the tutor are all on offer at my studio during these two weeks. All the resources of the studio and garden will be available for use and there may even be one or two group activities, depending on the interests of the members.

But the focus will be on each of you developing your own direction as a textile artist and so, to make sure that I can support you in this, there will be a maximum of 6 participants, all of whom will be familiar with my methods through already having attended, ideally, at least two of my courses. Although there will be the opportunity to make work from scratch, you will come with aspirations, some materials and at least the germ of an idea.

A place on one or both of these retreats is by application only. I sent out this information via a newsletter in February and, within a couple of days, all the places were filled!  So, it looks like there is quite an appetite for this kind of event.

I am still taking names for a reserve list, so let me know if you are interested.  And then, I'm sure, there will be more retreats in 2022.

Digging Deeper

New Work for 2020

The early months of 2020 will see me delving deeper into the techniques of rust printing, eco printing and natural dyeing.  An early example of the direction of the work is this eccentric portrait of a garden fork!  I expect the colours I work with will slowly shift as I become more expert in this field, but they will still follow the colours of the seasons.  And the subject of the work is still the landscape, and the flora and fauna to be observed when I go out for my daily walk (weather permitting!), though the acquisition of a metal detector may lead to more work like this garden fork, depending on what I dig up around our plot, which has beeen the site of a house for hundreds of years.

Although I do not have a solo or joint exhibition this year, I am taking part in two group exhibitions. The first is called "Trees Meet Sea", and is a mixture of visual art and poetry.  Mandy Haggith has recently been Poet in Residence at Inverewe Gardens, Wester Ross and she has invited artists working in a wide range of mediums to respond to one of her many poems on the theme of trees.  The work will then be exhibited, alongside the poems, at the Sawyer Gallery, Inverewe, starting on Wednesday the 29th of April 2020. This is a natural collaboration for me, since native trees already feature strongly in my work.  I am starting on the work now and looking forward to Mandy's response to whatever emerges.  The work might even generate a new poem by Mandy!

The second is called "50 at 50" and is a celebration of 50 years since the opening of The Ceilidh Place, which is at the centre of Ullapool's culture and cafe scene. 50 artists who have exhibited there in the past will submit one piece of work, making for a lively and varied show.  This opens on Friday 23rd of May 2020.

Lastly, I have added another gallery to the outlets that sell my work. The Alchemist Gallery, which is on the High Street in Dingwall, is a beautifully-converted old chemist's shop, with gifts downstairs and a lovely gallery upstairs.  I look forward to working with Hazel in helping to make her new venture a success.  Please do visit if you are in the area.

A Journey Through Elphin is Revealed

What a great day we had at the unveiling! For a tiny village like ours, there was a huge crowd, including folk from Stoer, Lochinver and Ullapool. I think the fact that, only the day before, the Northern Times had given our story the whole of the front page, might just have influenced the numbers.

The afternoon started with a warm welcome speech by Simon Jeffreys, followed by a dramatic unveiling of the wall-hanging by our guest of honour, young Veyatie Venters (who is named after the loch in the village) and her dad John, performed with a flourish, as you can see from the photograph! In fact, the room was packed with photographers, so there was a good choice of exciting photographs to go along with this article.

As you might imagine, lots of people deserve thanks, both for making the panel and for making our celebration a success. But particular thanks must go to the musicians Eireann, Ruth, Ali, Margaret, Russell and Jenny, whose playing made for such a lovely atmosphere; Simon and Jill, for their display of local history and photographs; the tea ladies Linda and Kay, for serving us drinks and delicious cakes, and the bakers themselves, especially Rae Strang, who came up with the goods twice (you can ask her about that yourself!).

One important person who deserves much thanks is local man Dick MacLeod, who has a long memory and without whom we would not have learned the history behind the various features that appear on the panel. In fact, we learned so much history in the process that we felt we needed to make a record. So, to act as a guide, we have created a hand-bound book, with a section on the history of this sewing project and then a page dedicated to each feature, containing a written account by the person who sewed that particular piece of work. On the day, there was quite a queue to read it. In fact, the project has sparked such strong interest in the history of the Elphin area that it looks like a couple of residents plan to set up an on-line archive of local history, open to all to read and/or to make contributions. That would be such a great legacy for this particular community endeavour to leave behind.

Thanks must also go to Coigach and Assynt Living Landscapes Partnership (CALLp) for their financial contribution to this project, which allowed me to purchase materials and to offer some learning workshops without charge. Most of all, though, I want to thank the volunteer sewers, who gave hours and hours of their time to make this fascinating, impressive, and very large piece of textile art.

The wall-hanging itself is now on permanent display in Elphin Community Hall and, along with the lovely guide book, has now passed in to the care of the Craft Circle who, after all, contributed much of the work and who were such a source of encouragement to everyone who came forward to take part. It can be seen any Thursday, between 2 and 4 pm, when the Craft Circle meet, and any Wednesday between May and September, when the Elphin craft and produce market is on. If any local group would like the panel to visit them, please contact alijohnson@hotmail.co.uk .

For more information about the project, please have a look at the Journey Through Elphin page of the website.

Jan

Autumn in Drumrunie

This piece was commissioned to celebrate the birthday of a local resident, whose house nestles beneath Coigach’s famous mountains. I so enjoyed using pink and orange together, with the print marks of local plants adding to the texture and creating a harmony out of the autumn splendour of this part of the world.

To see other commissioned work, go to the Textiles Commissions page.

If you are interested in learning these techniques for yourself, please have a look at the Fabric of the Land course page.

The Healing Garden

Exciting New Course for 2020

For my 2020 calendar of courses I have introduced something a little different: an intriguing range of ways to connect with the plants in your garden.

This week-long journey into the healing powers of plants will be led by qualified medical herbalist Jan Breckenridge, with additional support from me when it comes to the papermaking and print-making that will help you present your herbal recipes in a beautifully illustrated and hand-bound book.

To find out more, have a look at The Healing Garden page.

Two Jans Eco-print Greetings Cards

In celebration of our recent successes in refining the miraculous process of eco-printing onto fabric and paper, the Two Jans - Jan Kilpatrick and Jan Breckenridge - are launching a range of unique, high-quality, eco-print greetings cards,using entirely natural methods and materials.

They are available to buy through my on-line shop, at my studio during Open Studio days and at Ceard in Ullapool.  Why not nurture a love of nature by sending someone you love one of these distinctive cards?  Visit the Card Shop to see them for yourself.

 Open Studio 2020

Open Studio 2020 is suspended for the duration of the Covid 19 outbreak.

Jan's Studio in Elphin is open to visitors between 10.00 am and 4.00 pm on Wednesdays between 1st of April and the 30th of September.

To arrange a private viewing please email Jan or telephone 01854 666279 to arrange a time.

See the Open Studio page for more details.

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