Common thread

 

One of my favourite textiles by May Morris is Maids of Honour. Over the past few years the version of her embroidery featured in this post has piqued my imagination to the extent that it became the source of inspiration for a drawing, a small painting (the study for a larger work currently in progress) and most recently, a linocut (pictured top).

Recently I discovered a remarkable connection between Maids of Honour and the artist Marie Spartali Stillman, whose work appears next to mine on the poster for the upcoming exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Ballarat: Pre-Raphaelites Drawings & Watercolours and In the Company of Morris. 

On re-reading the exhibition catalogue, May Morris Arts & Crafts Designer, I noticed for the first time that the embroidery, now in the collection of Kelmscott Manor, was previously owned by Marie Spartali Stillman.

Pictured above, 1-5: 

Deborah Klein, Maid of Honour 2, 2023, linocut with Chine collé, 15 x 10 cm, Ed. 40.

Deborah Klein, Maid of Honour, 2020, ink, gouache watercolour and water soluble graphite, 42 x 30 cm. Private collection.

Deborah Klein, Maid of Honour (study), 2023, acrylic on canvas on board 10 x 10 cm. Currently part of the exhibition One Hundred Faces at Playing in the Attic, running until late May. 

Poster for the joint exhibitions Pre-Raphaelites Drawings & Watercolours and In the Company of Morris at the Art Gallery of Ballarat. The exhibitions open this Saturday, 20 May, and run to 6 August.

Maids of Honour, c. 1890, coloured silks on silk, designed and embroidered by May Morris. Collection: Kelmscott Manor, given by Frances Stillman. (Page view from May Morris Arts & Crafts Designer).

Redback Spider Tattooed Woman

Pictured above and below: selected progress views of Redback Spider Tattooed Woman (2020, pencil, pigmented drawing ink and gouache on Khadi paper).

Even as work on the drawing continued, aided by a well-thumbed reference book and a plastic spider, downstairs in our back garden the real thing, spotted by Shane Jones, scurried into the undergrowth.

Redback Spider Tattooed Woman was the last drawing completed for Backstories, my solo show at  Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne, running from 15 April - 2 May. (See also previous post).

CREATURES

I'm delighted to have had three of my works curated into CREATURES, the exhibition officially opening next Sunday at Queenscliff Gallery & Workshop. Judging by the lineup of artists, it should be a terrific show. 

Exhibiting artists: Kaitlin Beckett, Aileen Brown, Michelle Joy Caithness, Paul Compton, Deborah Klein, Leonie Connellan, Tony Convey, Gordon Craig, Philip Davey, Jole Di Florio, Silvi Glattauer, Rona Green, Callum Jackson, Julie Mia Holmes, Ying Huang, Hyun Ju Kim, Damon Kowarsky, Olivia Mazzone, Graeme Peebles, Catherine Pilgrim, Geoffrey Ricardo, John Ryrie, Lisa Sewards, Spook, Susan Wald, Emilie Walsh, Andrew Weatherill, Deborah Williams, Joel Wolter, and Tin Wong.

Official Opening: Sunday, 9 October, at 3pm

The exhibition runs from October 5 - 31

Queenscliff Gallery & Workshop 

81 Hesse Street 

Queenscliff 3225 

Phone: 03 5258 4927

http://qgw.com.au/

Gallery hours: 10 - 5 daily. (Closed on Tuesday)

My own contributions to CREATURES, three linocuts from the Winged Women series, are directly below:

Blue Tiger Winged Woman, 2010, linocut, 34 x 34 cm. Ed 30 

Great Eggfly Winged Woman, 2010, linocut, 34 x 34 cm. Ed. 30

Macleay's Swallowtail Winged Woman, 2010, linocut, 34 x 34 cm. Ed. 30