I thought I would use this post to give you a flavour of the shows and exhibitions that have been happening in my area over the past couple of months.

Last year I was contacted by a guy called Chris who is the lead volunteer at Dogdyke Pumping Station near Tattershall. This is the site of an original, external condensing beam-engine built by Bradley and Craven of Wakefield. It is the only surviving engine by this builder and is possibly the oldest steam-driven scoop wheel land drainage pumping set in the country that is still in steam and in its original position.

Chris and his team organise fund raising events for the site and had the idea of putting on a mini fibre festival. Having found me online and discovered I was only down the road he wondered if I would be interested in attending and asked if I knew of one or two others who might like to come along and, if so, what could they demonstrate? Knowing how enthusiastic the South Lincs Spinners and Weavers are to support this type of event I was confident I could get more than just one or two of our members to turn up! They didn’t let me down and neither did the weather. We had a lovely afternoon with a steady flow of visitors to chat to while we were nallbinding, knitting, spinning, wet felting, needle felting and weaving.

It’s such a nice venue and the volunteers are so friendly, everyone who demonstrated last year was keen to come back in 2024. So a year on, and plenty of plugging on social media, this August we managed to smash their visitor records!! I did feel for the ladies in the kitchen who were rushed off their feet, apparently it was the first time they’d run out of milk and cake on an open day and had to send out for more refreshments!

The Lincolnshire Textiles Exhibition “Water” was also in August, held in the Cathedral Chapter House. It’s a very difficult space for displaying textile work and personally not one I would choose to use. The lighting appears better in the photos than it actually was and hanging your work from ancient walls isn’t easy. Having said all that, the team involved with putting the work up did a very good job considering the limitations they were working with and we got a wonderful response from our visitors. I do feel we would have had more visitors if it hadn’t been for the fact that the public can’t access the exhibition without paying the £12 admission fee to the Cathedral. What a lot of folk don’t realise is that £12 allows you access to the Cathedral for a whole year, and includes the floor tours. Personally I think that’s really good value, and the money goes to conserving this fabulous building, so I will now buy my pass every year.

The main group piece was designed as a whirlpool consisting of about forty individual pieces of work. It was lit by revolving coloured bulbs making quite a dramatic sight as you entered the hall. These are just a few of the pieces on display…..

Last weekend the South Lincs Spinners, Weavers & Dyers held their biennial Fibre Festival in Osbournby Church. I think we have 70+ members with interests spanning all manner of fibre crafts. In the church we had demonstrations of a wide variety of looms (please don’t ask me to name them😱) as well as knitting, nalbinding, crochet, broomstick crochet, wet felting, needle felting, indigo dyeing and spinning, again using different styles of wheel. The main theme this year was scarves and shawls which were strung between the pillars, draped on pews and wrapped around mannequins.

The Felt area showcased work by five members, including wet felting and needle felting, some for sale, some for show.

I was busy chatting most of the time and didn’t think to take many photos. Thankfully we had a photographer called Dean who kept popping up around the Church so most of these are his images…..

Our local TV celebrity, Farmer Joe, also joined us with his Dad, younger brother and some of his sheep. This young boy was diagnosed with autism, dyslexia, memory problems and severe anxiety at the age of seven. He has gone on to be one of the most driven characters, and one of the nicest young people you could wish to meet! Joe’s story is told in this article from LincolnshireLive and it is well worth a read!

Back in the Church many of the items exhibited were for sale although a few were so precious to their creator(s) that they were labelled NFS. Amongst these were my Leafy Seadragon and Octopuses which I couldn’t bring myself to part with, Sallys Owl and Duck which were very popular, and Leah’s wonderful needle felted characters. All of these are needle felted and I suppose it’s the amount of time we had to put in to make them that prohibits us from wanting to sell them!

On my way home from Osbournby on the Friday I called in to the Hub in Sleaford (also known as the national centre for craft and design) to see their latest exhibitions. As well as exhibitions the Hub offers a programme of workshops, talks, classes, competitions, special events and performances for all people, ages and abilities. They also deliver creative activities in schools, community & care settings and online.

As you enter on the ground floor there is a cafe and a shop selling art materials as well as an area dedicated to unique hand made items. In one corner is a small gallery. The space is open plan so feels very light and airy with windows facing on to the river on one side and a grassy tree lined space on the other.

The small ground floor Gallery shines the spotlight on emerging and developing artists. All exhibiting makers are graduates or associate members of Design-Nation and have strong commitment to sustainable practice. Eighteen artists are featured so this is just a small representation of what caught my eye.

Joanne Lamb is an Irish artist based in London specialising in woven textiles, often incorporating basketry techniques to create her artworks. 

Lindsay McDonagh works as a designer and maker based in Bristol, in the South West of England. She specialises in jewellery design, particularly necklaces, earrings and bracelets using a range of silversmithing and goldsmithing and techniques.

Kesinia Semirova is an embroidery artist based in Hove. She has “a particular interest in exploring heritage, aiming to preserve traditions while also seeking alternative contemporary interpretations of historical ideas.”

Suzy Agar’s delicate, embroidered textile work was my favourite of all the displays. She says she aims “to encourage an appreciation and a reconnection with our local environment and the creatures that inhabit it.” I loved the sense of movement she achieved with her pieces which appear to be stitched on to silk organza.

The staircase Window Collection currently displays “Feathered Friends” work by Paper artist Kaper (Kate Kelly) who creates sculptures from hand printed papers, depicting various species of birds among flowers and foliage. Kate has been sculpting with paper for 18 years and owls and songbirds remain her favourite subject, largely because of their expressive poses and delightful hairdos!

At the opposite end of the building, the River Stairwell features 3D paper sculpture by Kate Kato whose work documents different aspects of the natural world and explores how we connect with it. In “Outnumbered” Kate looks at the diversity of the insect kingdom. She uses discarded paper, wire and thread to recreate these creatures and their surroundings, celebrating the scale of their diversity and the vital role insects play in our ecosystem.

The main Gallery upstairs is currently showing “Paperwork” which brings together works from a group of craftspeople who also use paper as a primary medium or as an intrinsic part of their process. All of these artists have developed their practice through specialist craft training and education supported by the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST). “The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) is a charity that transforms the careers of talented and aspiring makers by funding their training and education, creating pathways to excellence and strengthening the future of the UK’s craft sector.”

These were some of my favourite pieces but the stand out work for me was Momentous Insight. Based on tree rings it’s made up of concentric rings of crocheted paper thread (Shifu) and Japanese and Thai mulberry paper. I loved everything about this piece, its scale (very large!) the colour palette, the textures and the depth. The whole thing was mesmerising and really pulled you in.

My next event will be the Big Textile Show at Leicester Racecourse at the end of October. This is my favourite show of the year so if you get the chance to visit I can highly recommend it. For those who can’t make it I’ll report back on that one next time.