Embroidery
My ‘workbox’ is a
travelling toolkit
by Cas Holmes
M
y work has always been informed by personal experience, places visited, and
and forgotten textiles. I do not drive but travel is in my blood (I have Romany
heritage) and recently I have spent more time away from home running
workshops and in exhibitions in the USA and Europe, than in my studio (which is just
as well as my studio has been jam packed with boxes whilst building work is ongoing).
Time in preparation of any journey not only prepares me for what is to come, but is also
sweet with anticipation. Travel takes place in the mind as much as across land or even
continents. I decided to create works with whatever I could find as I travel. This is not
unusual as I often found myself picking up useful items from the rubbish in the streets,
odd bits of fabric, old labels for my work generally but what I found would by necessity,
dictate the work as I had little or no access to my stored materials at home.
ABOVE: My work kit for demonstrations
RIGHT: Garden of Remembrance
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Textiles
My ‘workbox’ is a travelling toolkit
comprising of two-three small
‘bags’ which I can easily carry in a
small backpack. A small pouch (a
complimentary airline travel kit rescued
from a bin at an airport)and zip purse
contains stitch materials and an old
clutch bag given to me by a friend carries
my paint and glue kit and all that I need
to make mixed media textiles on the go.
None of my pieces are neatly planned,
the sketch books are like a diary, marking
progress and change of things as I
make things. There is a lot of intuition, a
response to materials and referencing my
drawing helps to inform my mark-making
in a process I refer to as ‘stitch-sketching’.
When trying out ideas, I gather a range of
materials I have collected over a period of
days whilst travelling. I use a wide range
of techniques to interact with the surface,
from printmaking to drawing.
Useful items to have to hand in
your minimum kit are:
●
Pair of scissors
●
Assorted threads of your choice
●
Gathered ephemera of your choice
●
Assorted weights of patterned,
and textured fabrics and papers,
include things such as lace,
lightweight fabric scraps,
plastic sheeting
●
Pritt stick
●
Selection of brushes
●
A small pot and drawing media
I may work in my sketchbook or on waste
fabric or paper. When travelling, I tend to
sample and trial things so use mostly hand
stitch. If running a workshop, I will usually
loan the use of a sewing machine. Textile
people are generous in sharing materials,
equipment and ideas.
I draw, make marks and colour some of the
paper and fabrics I have collected. I usually
look at elements which link them together
or triggers an idea such as a spring floral
theme or a bowl and a window.
TOP LEFT: Cas Holmes artwork in progress
LEFT CENTRE: Work in progress
LEFT: Woodland Weed
ABOVE: Red barge sails
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I lay my cut fabrics and paper into a simple
composition onto a larger piece of fabric,
paper or straight into my sketchbook.
This is then pinned or lightly tacked into
place with a glue stick. If time allows, I glue
layers together with dilute cellulose paste
but this can take a couple of days to dry so
is more appropriate for studio based work.
The resulting collage can be left as an
idea in your sketchbook or hand-stitched
to hold the layers together and to add
interest and detail. You can also use a
sewing machine if available.
My work creates a connection between
the domestic interior and outside spaces.
Connecting paint, mark and print with the
found surfaces of fabrics and papers,
I seek the ‘hidden edges’ of our landscape,
the verges of our roadsides, railway cuttings
and field edges, the places where our
gardens meet the outside spaces. I seek
to capture the atmosphere of a place or
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Quilting
Textiles
moment or thing before it is gone. I prefer
to exhibit my work unframed, without
borders, revealing the raw edges and feel
of the textile. This best suits my mode of
expression with the materials.
I recently worked on a project for the
Garden Museum with Age UK Bromley and
Greenwich as part of a commemorative
exhibition to mark the centenary of the
outbreak of World War 1. Reminders of
home and of nature, which helped people
cope with hardship of war were worked
Cas Holmes work is deceptively ‘domestic’, her hangings move
in the slightest current of air like lace curtains at an open, sunny
window looking onto a neglected, pretty garden past a hastily
arranged vase of flowers. Images of tea for two, with teapot and
cups and saucers, hint at women’s eternal rituals of togetherness
and companionship, taking precious time out from busy lives to
exchange gossip and share troubles.
By contrast, Cas’s observation and comment on the natural
suburban environment is intense, detailed and multi layered.
She quietly observes wild spaces thriving in our concrete jungles,
teeming with flowering weeds and herbs, full of insects, birds,
and small mammals and draws from them a rich source of visual
poetry. The stitched, drawn lines suggest rather than define,
communicating the ephemeral, shifting non-permanent natural
world. Soft edged and irregular, casting delicate shapes on the
wall, these evanescent, sensitively observed textile works remind
us to value what we have as there is no permanence in nature.
Veronica Tonge
January 2014
with drawings and stitched observations
onto a foundation of collected
handkerchiefs. I was also commissioned to
create a piece incorporating old floral tea
towels and handkerchiefs, reflecting the
role of the Women’s Land Army, gardening
and nursing (including a reference to
Edith Cavell - the Norfolk born nurse shot
during the war). I was also a guest at the
exhibiton at the 20th European Patchwork
Meeting with an exhibition Spaces-PlacesTraces which featured a collaboration Tea
Flora Tales involving people who I meet
as I travel and marking the environmental
importance of wildflowers in our habitat,
(see the work of Plantlife.org.uk)
My first book ‘The Found Object in Textile
Art’ (Batsford 2010) reflects the approach
to my work, I am currently working and my
third book for Batsford, Stitch Stories, due
out in Autumn 2015. W
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casholmestextiles.co.uk
Garden Museum
www.gardenmuseum.org.uk
Age UK
www.ageuk.org.uk/
bromleyandgreenwich
Tea Flora Tales
www.magpieofthemind.blogspot.co.uk/p/
tea-floratales.html
www.plantlife.org.uk
40 yds Crimson Flower
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