Exhibiting at Thaxted

The Monday class from The Granary held our second art exhibition at Thaxted.  Liz showed print/collage, Cherry showed textile quilts and acrylic, Lynne watercolours and Margaret prints. I showed my latest 3 samplers, key fob and payroll.

Stitching (In)Significant Women

We had over 100 visitors over the weekend, but only sold one piece, plus many cards.  The rest of the group felt Thaxted was the wrong venue for our work.  I'm the only one not trying to sell my work.  Thaxted is only accessible if people travel by car, although I'm not sure whether people travel to any small exhibition by public transport.  The Guildhall also has a lot of steep stairs and no step-free access.  Nearly all visitors were friends and family of exhibitors.

I worked the Friday/Saturday and spent a fair amount of time talking to people about my work.  Good practice for talking at my Viva on 11 November! I had a poetry class on Sunday, but arrived at 4pm to strike the show.  Show struck quickly and all of us went home.

The following day, at The Granary, Cherry and Liz told me that my work had inspired a lot of comment from visitors on the last day.  It was their view that this body of work needs a bigger audience because of the response it inspires in other women.  They suggested The Festival of Quilts has a new Fine Art Textiles exhibition, expressly for textile work that is not quilting (3 layers joined by stitch).  I looked it up online, and for the 2019 show, the closing date was in May, long-listed by photographic images, then shortlisted by delivering the actual work to the selection panel.  There was nothing online for the 2020 show yet.  Hmmm.  Is my work this good? But if I don't try, I won't know.  And it would give me something to talk about in the Viva to the assessors.