It’s nearly time..

Mary Linwood; Art, Stitch & Life exhibition opens this weekend!

After almost two years of work, the biggest exhibition of my life is almost ready. It’s been a real joy to work with the incredible embroideries of Mary Linwood and to know that they will soon be seen again, some for the first time in 80 years!

The exhibition, at Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, opens on Saturday 13th September. It includes around 14 of Mary Linwood’s works owned by Leicester Museums – the number is up for debate as there are some pieces attributed to her which I think are not by her, you can make up your own mind. There are also loans from the Bowes Museum which is wonderful and it will be the first time both collections will be shown together. There are some other embroideries of the period, various portraits of Mary Linwood, and her incredible scrapbook of prints and drawings collected over her long life. I’ve commissioned a reproduction of this so you can browse the whole thing alongside the original.

Alongside the museum collections, there are seven new pieces of work by me, reflecting on Mary Linwood’s life, story and legacy. I had some of these works photographed in the atmospheric church in Leicester where Mary attended and is buried.

There will also be the two community projects, firstly Connected Threads which is currently a giant ball of wool made of cords made in workshops over the last year and will be wound into a skein at the exhibition opening event (invitations have gone out via my newsletter, drop me an email if you would like to come).

Also on show is Stitching Emotions, a textile book with over 30 contributions from stitchers worldwide sharing their reflections on the emotional experience of stitching. I can’t wait to share all these with you when you visit.

The exhibition is open 7 days a week and it’s free entry. Full details, and the events programme, can be found here.