Nestled into an Artweeks exhibition, in Chipping Norton Town Hall are displays by two textile artists, whose mastery of stitching, colour and fabric is consummate. But while both Anne Griffiths and Judith Gussin use mixed media with a strong emphasis on machine stitching, they both produce very different final outcomes. Judith Gussin uses her professional expertise as a colour chemist to great effect, dyeing silk, cotton, wools, and threads in a spectrum of vibrant colours. Some of her Devore scarves she has dyed twice, creating subtle suites of colour, including one that brings together the hues that play out as the sun sets. Gussin confesses that much of what she makes seems to end up as a handbag or shopping bag! And, indeed, on show there is a wide range of bags. All are gentle and feminine, and eminently useable. Some are of handmade and hand dyed felt, each embellished with a rosette of coloured scraps of fabric and finished with the same as a fringe along their bottoms. Others comprise a series of delicate and dressy bags from pieced cotton, overstitched on to a water-soluble fabric. The whole is then washed, the soluble fabric disappearing in the wash, leaving a complex lacy piece. Gussin then overstitches this with abstract patterns or, in the case of some of the bags, simple flower motifs, whose blues and fuchsias blend with the complexity of colours on which they rest. The whole is then mounted on silk, and the bag is also lined with silk in toning colours. Anne Griffiths’s work is influenced both by Japan and nature. Her overstitching plays well with the range of fabrics she uses as background and as a foundation for her pieces. Her cotton twill shawls in greens, rusts and blues are overstitched with simple flower motifs that pick up the textured nature of the twill, creating a subtle three-dimensional effect. The four miniature kimonos on show, are delightful, with voile sleeves attached to silk gowns, once of which in a glowing cerise is overstitched with stylised chrysanthemums connected to each other by delicately appliquéd sinuous stems. Woman with Cicadas (pictured on the right) is a formal framed piece. The woman in semi profile holding the cicada cage is depicted in a mix of pastel and overstitching, against a background of appliquéd blocks of colour delicately stitched in place. The bottom of the portrait is framed by a bold block of gold, which holds the whole piece together. The exhibitions continue until Sunday and are open daily.
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