Wednesday, 9 May 2018

May Meeting - Lynn Haith

The speaker at this month's meeting was Lynn Haith. Normally, at this point, I would add a link to the speaker's website or blog, but she doesn't have one yet. This also meant that we had no idea what to expect about the talk. The title 'The Antithesis of Serendipity' was impressive, but still not very specific.

It turns out we were in for a treat, as Lynn was talking about the box that she made for her City and Guilds Diploma in Design and Craft Stitched Textiles (Embroidery). This wasn't just any old box though. This was an embroidered bookcase more than a metre tall and incorporated the most ingenious techniques. These are just some of the elements which were included.

The roof was made up of stylised digitised peacock feathers.

Lynn Haith - The Antithesis of Serendipity - roof detail

The 'lid' was actually a double door, which was framed with embroidered pillars.

Lynn Haith. One of the doors featuring eminent Victorians

The interior of the box held exquisite hand made books containing all the research which had gone into making the box. It also held some very special treasures which you can see just the start of in the image below

Lynn Haith. Part of the interior of the box

I would hate to spoil the surprise, but it's unlikely that the blancmange curve will ever feature in any other Embroiderers' Guild talk that we have.
Further details can be found from Wikipedia here


The use of conducting fabric to create the final unexpected surprise was just the icing on the cake (or maybe that should be blancmange). This was an inspiring talk, and it was wonderful to be able to view close up such wonderfully inventive work executed to an incredibly high standard.


In other things . . .

Our July meeting will be at Huntington Community Centre from 10:00am to 1:00pm and will form part of the National Day of Stitch. (The June meeting is still at the Methodist Church)

More information about the exhibition has been added to the Exhibition Page.


This is just a taste of some of the works that will be in the exhibition