Still 3 (Rest)

I have a few things to share. All of them warm my heart.

Firstly, I am delighted to tell you that I have a virtual gallery, called From There to Now, at Beyond the Festival of Quilts from Thursday 30th July to Sunday 2nd August. Because we can’t all meet in person the organisers have put together a collection of online workshops and lectures, virtual galleries and an online shopping hub to entertain us when we would normally be enjoying the biggest quilt show in Europe. The links aren’t live yet but you can check out the workshops and other offerings here.

The gallery features some of my favourite quilts from the last seven years, including Still 3 (Rest) shown above. Some pieces you will have seen before, but some may be new to you. I even recorded an audio track that should play as you look at the quilts. Which was rather terrifying.

Secondly, if you live in Manchester, you can see a few of my smaller pieces at The Oystercatcher restaurant in Chorlton. They contacted me at the beginning of the year to ask if I could lend them some art as they like to show (and hopefully sell) interesting pieces by local artists. I was really rather chuffed … but then lockdown happened. Thankfully things are better and the restaurant is open again. The photo below shows three of my smaller ‘Kilns’ pieces, each displayed in shadow box frames. I miss having them on show in my studio but it is kind of cool to think that lots of people will get to seem them.

And finally, a big thank you to everyone that has brought one of my charity bookmarks. And to Ruth Brown for donating some books to the cause. We have raised another £90 which I have just transferred to The Trussell Trust. Their work is so important. Nobody should go hungry in the UK but sadly many do. Please have a look at their website if you want to know more about their work. Or maybe buy on of my bookmarks. There are still some left. £5 each and I pay the postage. .

A big thank you to Jane Mills and Janet Morsman for being such wonderful students this week and for helping test drive my Covid-19 safe studio. I was a little anxious about starting teaching again but it went well. The way I had laid out the studio worked and we were able to maintain social distancing …. albeit we cheated occasionally to go the wrong way around my one way system! Having to wear masks when walking around the studio wasn’t too bad as we each spent most of our time in our individual workstations where we didn’t need masks. And we were each able to make ourselves cups of tea and coffee in a Covid-19 safe way. There were little bits that need improving but overall I’m a lot more comfortable than I was.

It felt so good to get back to teaching and to be working alongside Jane and Janet. And we got to spend five days breakdown printing! I can’t think of many better ways to spend my time!

My Breakdown Your Palette workshops are full for this year but I still have three places left on workshops next year if you are feeling inspired!

I’ve spent the week getting my studio ready for my first students in over four months. It looks quite a lot different but we live in a different world now and we all have to adjust. I’m grateful that I can start teaching again - I have missed it badly. But it has been a strangely upsetting week. My studio is my favourite place in the world, it is part of my family home and feels like an extension of ‘me’. Putting up screens and taping out the floor space just feels wrong but I’m hoping that once my first couple of students arrive and the space is filled with laughter and creativity it will start to feel more normal.

I know that some of my students are anxious about coming into the studio so I have made a short video. In order to be able to embed the video in this post I have had to set up a YouTube channel (Urban Studio North). Which wasn’t something I was planning on doing but hey, maybe I’ll post more videos in the future!

I’m teaching my five day Breakdown Your Palette workshop so hoping for good weather! I’ll try to remember to post photos on Instagram through the week.

Needless to say that I haven’t made much progress on ‘the book’ …….

On Monday 20th July I will be teaching in my the studio for the first time in over four months. Life has changed in ways we couldn’t have imagined in that space of time and is unlikely to get back to normal for many, many months. So, in order to provide a safe environment for my students, and for me, the studio has to change.

I have made a start. I’ve cleared away most of the clutter and, with son Joes help, rearranged the student benches so that they all face my teaching bench. I’m only teaching two students next week but will be teaching four students at a time from mid-August. I have ordered protective screens and floor tape to mask off walk ways and to ensure safe distancing as we walk around the studio. I am elbow deep in hand gel, masks, anti-bacterial wipes and disinfectant sprays. I have brought extra tea towels and hand towels so nobody has to share. I have enough squeezy bottles so that every student can have their own set of dyes. I have laid awake at night trying to think my way through all the things that could go wrong ….

Over the next few days I will be giving the studio a deep clean. I’m even going to get rid of the cobwebs - a sure sign that these are extraordinary times. I’ll be completing risk assessments and printing appropriate signage.

And, in between, I’ll keep working on what the Higgins household is now calling ‘that difficult second book’. Yes, progress is slow.

Although I’m a little nervous about opening up I can’t wait to teach again and to have like minded, lovely people in the studio. And the best bit … I’m teaching my five day Breakdown Your Palette workshop which I love!

Bye for now, Leah

I have just updated my website with all the workshops that I will be teaching here at Urban Studio North in 2021. It is going to be a very busy year! Like many textile teachers I have had to cancel or postpone lots of workshops over the last four months and have rescheduled many for the first half of 2021. If you take a peek at my website you’ll see that I’ve put on extra Breakdown Your Palette workshops to accommodate students from 2020 and have 4 places still to fill. I know that a lot of my students are anxious about travelling and about staying in hotels at the moment but I’m keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that life returns to something approaching normality next year.

You’ll also see that I have a few places left on workshops in 2020. Including on workshops that were full a week ago. Life is challenging for all of us and individual circumstances change so I know that odd places are likely to become available at short notice. I guess we are all having to learn to be flexible right now.

And finally, this weeks teaser ….. I love bringing guest tutors into the studio and will soon be sharing the details of three stitch-based workshops with three wonderful tutors that will also run in 2021. So watch this space!

Stay well, Leah

So ‘the book’. Yes it is still too soon for me to reveal all but I can tell you that it is a more complex beast than Breakdown Your Palette. It has a broader subject and, whilst there are lots of ‘instructional’ bits, there are also lots more ‘wordy’ bits. Bits that require me to strung together coherent sentences and even coherent paragraphs. Bits that require a plentiful supply of coffee, biscuits and chocolate. (I save the gin for really bad days). Bits that some days get the better of me. Darn those bits!

There are definitely days when I wonder how I managed to finish my first book and what on earth possessed me to start a second. Let alone one that is about … nope, it is still too soon.

On the plus side though I have the perfect excuse for walking away from my computer. Samples. Dyeing samples. Printing samples. Constructing samples. Photographing samples. Surrounding myself with lovely, lovely colour. I’m just hoping that I can extract all the wordy stuff out of my head and into my computer before I run out of samples to make! There are only so many hours a day that I can bang me head on my desk. I’m also hoping that I can remember how to use InDesign as I haven’t opened the software since I finished the breakdown book 17 months ago. I suspect there will be even more coffee, biscuits and chocolate (and gin) needed.

I love it really. And I think I can tease you with a couple of shots of my studio and my design wall taken this week ….

Although nothing can be certain it looks likely that recreational and leisure businesses, such as Urban Studio North, will be allowed to open up in July provided we comply with strict hygiene and social distancing rules. There are no longer restrictions on lengths of journey in England and local hotels are planning to open from 4th July.

In light of this, and after a great deal of thought, I am currently planning to start running workshops again from 20th July onwards. None of us know when life will return to the old normal. Instead we all need to adjust to a new normal. So, to ensure compliance with social distancing, and to reduce demand on shared facilities such as the bathroom and sinks, I will be restricting class size to a maximum of 4 students for the rest of 2020.  I have already contacted the students affected by this change. I am making lots of other changes in the studio and in how I run the workshops. I have written a detailed COVID-19 UPDATE which I urge students, and prospective students to read. This is, of course, all subject to change should government advice change in the coming weeks and months.

I have had to cancel and reschedule lots of workshops over the last few weeks and months which has meant slotting some additional workshops into 2020. I am continuing to take bookings for workshops this year and have the following spaces left:

Breakdown Your Palette, 7th to 11th September - 1 place left on this 5 day dive into breakdown printing - find out more here.

Introduction to Surface Design, a day a month for 10 months starting on Saturday 26th September - 3 places left. Aimed at absolute beginners and covering a really broad range of surface design techniques. Ideal if you live locally to Manchester, you can find out more here.

Books for Textile Artists with Ruth Brown on 10th to 13th October - 2 places left. Because of the class size we are running two workshops back to back. The original dates are full but there are two places available on the workshop running from Saturday 10th to Tuesday 13th October. Ruth is a great teacher and with a limit of 4 students per class you’ll get lots of her time. You can find out more here.

Simply Screen Printing, 7th and 8th November - 1 place left on this two day introduction to screen printing. You can find out more here.

Print, Stitch, Go!, 9th to 13th November - 1 place left. We spend the first half of this workshop screen printing and dyeing fabric and the second half using that fabric - yes, I will make you cut into your lovely printed and dyed fabrics! Aimed at people who have never printed or dyed fabric before this is a really fun five days. You can read more here.

Although I’m a little nervous about opening up again I am really, really looking forward to teaching again. The studio has been too quiet for too long!

My lovely husband is coming home this week after 12 weeks or so shielding with his dad. This feels like such a big step forward for us and we have all our fingers and toes crossed that the situation in the UK continues to improve. Every country has different levels of restrictions right now but I hope that many of you are now able to spend a little more time with family and friends.

Stay well, Leah

Overprinting a piece of breakdown printed fabric using a screen with a soy wax resist (Susan)

My 2020 teaching schedule got off to a flying start over the last two weekends with days with my Introduction to Surface Design and my Creative Surface Design students. On paper these is a difference between the two workshops. Introduction to Surface Design is technique focused and aimed at people with no or little knowledge of dyeing, printing and other ‘wet’ processes. Creative Surface Design is more design focused and is aimed at people who have some experience in a range of surface design techniques but are struggling to know how to apply those techniques to create their own unique pieces. But, of course, there is lots of overlap and I often find myself adapting each days workshop in response to individual needs. Quickly pulling together a demonstration that I wasn’t planning on or having a discussion on a specific element of design or the design process before I had planned. The lesson plan gets thrown out of the window some days but I love it!. I’ve never responded well to being taught in an regimented environment where I’m told to do A followed by B followed by C when I found B absolutely fascinating and wanted to see what happened if I added a bit of Z. So why would I want to teach like that? Thankfully my students seem to enjoy the deviations!

Top two images - paper lamination (Amanda and Sue). Middle two images - using interfacing stencils (Amanda and Pat). Bottom two images - using thermofax screens on top of previously printed fabrics (Michelle and Pat).

Brushing bleach over hand dyed fabric with soy wax and masking tape resists (Tracey)

Soy wax screen used to overprint pre-dyed fabric (Margarita)

Well maybe not quite as busy as 2019! A full teaching schedule, writing and publishing my first book, an absolutely amazing solo gallery at Festival of Quilts and unexpected drama on the home front meant 2019 was a bit of a roller-coaster ride. No wonder that I have spent a lot of the Christmas break sleeping!

However I did get into the studio most days even if only for an hour or two and spent my time working on the first two full pieces in my new series. I have given the series a working title of ‘Democracy’. I could have called the series Brexit but I want to make pieces that express my broader concerns about politics, the proliferation of lies and fake news and the way our political leadership is changing. And although the individual quilts may reference events in the UK I hope they will resonated with people in other countries. Despite the rather gloomy subject matter I am thoroughly enjoying working on a series. And, as per usual, I am spending lots of time machine stitching straight lines!

But the holidays are over and it is back to work for me. 2020 got off to a flying start - yesterday I gave a talk to the Manchester Branch of the Embroiderer’s Guild. This was the first of 8 talks I’ll be giving this year and the first of 4 that I’ll be giving to branches of the Embroiderer’s Guild. I arrived with a car boot full of quilts including some of the pieces I’ve exhibited in recent years. And, as you will already know, most of my pieces are big. Really big. Which means that some are quite heavy. So a big thank you to the ladies and gentleman who volunteered to hold them up! The difference in scale between my work and some of the pieces being worked on in the room could not be greater.

I also took along some older quilts and some sketchbooks from the City & Guild’s Diploma I did with the lovely and talented Linda Kemshall many years ago. Whilst doing my diploma I figured out that if you work onto separate sheets rather than directly into a sketchbook you can choose what you share. And you can back engineer a lovely looking sketchbook after you have finished making a quilt. OK, so I learnt that you could cheat. But much, much more importantly I learnt that I didn’t need to work into sketchbooks to produce art. It might not have been the intention of the course but this learning was an big step forward for me.

As well as talks I have a full teaching schedule this year. Most of my classes for the first half of the year are sold out but I still have odd places on my Simply Screen Printing workshop and my Print Your Palette workshop. I will also be welcoming my first three guest tutors into the studio. The workshops with Alice Fox and Christine Chester are sold out but there is still one place left on Ruth Browns Books for Textile Artists.

I will be demonstrating at The Creative Craft shows in Glasgow and Birmingham in March and will have a stand at this summers Festival of Quilts. And I am delighted to have a gallery at the West Country Quilt and Textile Show in August. Phew! There was me thinking it wouldn’t be as busy as 2019!