Elizabeth Brimelow

Saturday I went up to London for the Contemporary Quilt AGM. It was good to meet up with some I have met before and to get to know some new members. The discussion about some of the current issues was very stimulating as well. A good majority of the committee members are stepping down (stipulated length of office) and we met new members. It will be interesting to see how the group goes forward from here. It is the 10th year anniversary and we have grown to 657 members!

The speaker in the afternoon was Elizabeth Brimelow. I had not met her, nor was I aware of her work. Although after seeing some photos, I do remember seeing cards at the Quilt museum with images from one of her quilts.

However, I was sooooo inspired by the various things she said about her artistic journey and by the work she has developed and made her own. It was fascinating to see how she developed a way of working in layers and with stitch to create work that is just as much a work of art from the back as from the front.

Here is a composite image of detail from 2 quilts showing the front and back of each.

Elizabeth has also created several works using transparent and translucent fabrics. This was exciting to me as I have several pieces I have done working with similar concepts. I was really taken with some of the techniques of placing cut fabrics between transparent layers to create depth and shadow. I have some ideas in mind for taking my transparent work further and some of Elizabeth's techniques would be just right for getting the look I have been contemplating. While Elizabeth takes inspiration from the landscape around her, I can see how I can use similar concepts with themes that inspire me!

Here is another composite image showing some of the samples of her experiments as she developed the transparent work.

All very exiting!! Now to get the time to begin to put into these ideas.