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Here you'll find links to the sites we featured in the Embroidery Webwatch series.
Meg
Andrews buys and sells antique costume and textiles,
from embroidered hangings to corsets. The clear images,
inspirational close-ups, and articles on embroidered
slips, Paisley shawls and Chinese sleeve bands make
this a useful site for research.
ColorMatters is a feast for the colourphile - exploring our physical and psychological relationships with colour, in art, science and commerce. Be inspired by 'Color Travels' or unravel the mysteries of colour on your computer.
Maggie
Grey's vibrant Workshop
on the Web offers exciting textile techniques
to try, news, reviews and artist interviews, in a
quarterly online
magazine. A taster edition, gallery roundup and suppliers'
'mall' are all free; full access is by annual subscription.
We
hear relatively little about contemporary textile
art in South Africa, but Innovative
Threads is working to change that, with exciting
pieces from its annual juried exhibition displayed
on the Web. Celebration, pain, humour, reflection,
colours vivid and muted - these pages make you long
to see the real thing.
ArtLex
defines thousands of art terms - but it's far more
than a dictionary. Using images and cross-references,
it enriches the bare definitions immeasurably. Take
the Yemeni 'Tiraz fragment' on the Textiles page,
for example. You can look at the fragment itself and
its description at the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York. And you can follow the links to materials
and techniques to see how ink and gold leaf are used
in art, learn about weaving and decoration, and explore
other facets of Islamic art. A vast amount of information
in an enticing format.
The
Fiberscene.com
Gallery offers a revolving programme of contemporary
textile art shows featuring invited artists from around
the world. Fiberscene.com, whose mission is to promote
the fibre art of the San Francisco Bay area, also
provides a selling showcase for local individual artists
and researchers.
European
Textile Routes are part of a wider 'Cultural Routes'
project, and include a series of thematic routes linked
to the European Textile Network's internet database.
Following the links will bring up further contacts
in a desired search field. Depending on the theme
selected, thematic routes may be compiled in varying
degrees of detail. For example the Monuments theme
offers ten options for narrowing down a selection,
five of which relate to the original purpose of a
building and five to the date of its construction.
There are also Events, Culture, Heritage, Production
and Education/Research, each subdivided into detailed
categories.
'Both
an art and a craft' and a 'wonderfully expressive
medium' - whether or not you do batik, have a look
at the Batik
Guild's colourful site. Enjoy the gallery of contemporary
work, ranging from Rosi Robinson's intricate realism
and Marina Elphick's vibrant portraits to the taut
restraint of Rita Trefois. History of Batik describes
resist processes in Africa, Java and China, and the
ancient art of pysanky practised in the Ukraine. There's
information about batik books, suppliers, workshops
and exhibitions, and if that doesn't tell you what
you need to know, you may find the answer on the useful
Questions page.
The
Through
the Surface web site (by Direct Design) is central
to a project that links emerging and established textile
artists in Japan and Britain. online work journals
kept by each artist are regularly updated, recording
the development of the collaboration and the creative
processes involved. Photographs and interviews complement
the journal pages. Director Lesley Millar is also
journalling her experience of overseeing the project.
It is an innovative, real-time documentary -
a fascinating and invaluable resource for anyone interested
in the creative process or the nature of artistic
collaboration.
Using Google™
to search the web is now so popular that the verb
'to google' has entered the English language. But
did you know that Google™ also indexes images
on the web? The image
search will, of course, locate websites, but it
is also a rich source of visual imagery in itself.
Single word searches are most effective, returning
endless material for inspiration. Try 'rocks', 'snowflake',
'shibori' or 'purple', but be warned - this can
become addictive! There is something very exciting
about a page of diverse images around a single theme,
sparking new ideas and connections. Now, let's try
'starfish' ...
Design Matters
is the web site of artists Linda and Laura Kemshall.
Their own award-winning quilts are featured alongside
absorbing galleries of work by students of two City
& Guilds courses: the unusual 'Creative Sketchbooks'
and the innovative 'Patchwork & Quilting Online'.
In a fascinating marriage of technology and creativity,
these courses are conducted entirely via email and
the web. Don't miss Linda's inspiration page for an
insight into the influences that shape her work (Laura's
'Inspiration' link tantalises but is not yet 'live'.)
Pour a drink and find a comfortable chair - you may
be here for some time!
For
your own voyages of discovery, good starting points
include the colourful FibreArtsOnline,
The Textile Directory
and my own TextileArts.net.