92 Main Street

Saintfield

County Down

BT24 7AB

United Kingdom

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TOP FLOOR ART STUDIO GROUP

 

Mixed Media with an Emphasis on Textiles

 

Meeting regularly at Top Floor Art since 2015, Top Floor Art Studio Group goes from strength to strength! Find out more about our activities and members on this page.

 

The Top Floor Art Studio Group Brings You Fabric Mountain - part of The Great Kit Challenge 2021 Exhibition at Top Floor Art

Back in 2017, the members of the TFA Studio Group decided they wanted to do a fabric swap.
And, as Top Floor Art was putting on a show for August Craft Month, they decided to create an interactive installation, and Fabric Mountain was born.
It was such a good idea we're doing it again!
It's simple; we take in fabric donations, build our mountain and show it this year as part of The Great Kit Challenge exhibition.
Then in the last week of the show (14th - 18th September), we invite you, the public, to come and help us dismantle the mountain by taking away that piece of fabric perfect for your current project. We ask you to leave a donation if you can, which goes to our chosen charity Belfast & Lisburn Women's Aid.
To attend, book your day to come and play!

Find out more and book your place here

 
 

Activities

Recent exhibitions include August Craft Month Exhibitions (Top Floor Art, 2019; Down Arts Centre, 2018; Top Floor Art, 2017), Processions Banner, Belfast, 2018; Passon and Legacy (Top Floor Art, 2015)

The group has also been involved - whether individual members or as a group - in facilitating and training in new skills including Dyeing Day, 2019, Lagan Navigation Trust 'Waterway Storymaking Festival' – linen panels, 2019; Glebe House workshops, Artsekta project work, Get Creative Creatathon (2016, 2017, 2018), The Big Sock, 2018 and WWKIPD 2015. Many in the group share their skills through workshops and demonstration on an individual basis.

 

Membership

The group has nine active members currently – with a wide range of practices and life experiences. Get a glimpse of each below.

 

Emma Whitehead
Emma Whitehead is a textile artist who uses traditional and innovative embroidery techniques to create three dimensional artworks. Emma has had solo exhibitions, most recently at Museum at the Mill, Netwownabbey (2018), Down Arts Centre (2015), Berlin (February 2014).

Janice McHenry
Janice is an artist who enjoys reinventing waste products to create sculptures for indoor or outdoor use. She has always been fascinated by collecting objects which delight or make her think, whether it is from a beach, hedgerows or a skip. Marry this with a reuse, recycle ethos and this leads into another passion - foraging, conservation, waste reduction and a tendency to hoard anything and everything. These elements, and an attraction to the Cubist movement, Art Deco ceramicists and the work of glass artist Dale Chihuly, are a starting point for much of her work of depicting objects in new and hopefully interesting ways.

Jaele Rollins-McColgan
Jaele is a mixed media artist who often uses humour to comment on life's joys and frustrations. She is always hoping to try something new.

Bridget Pullen
Bridget draws, especially family, friends and their animals. She enjoys creating textile pieces from her drawings using batik, embroidery and embellishments. More info on her Facebook Page HERE.

Lynda Kelly
Lynda enjoys working with textiles in many different mediums leading to an eclectic mix of art pieces from small embroidery to larger than life!

Ita McGoldrick
Ita upcycles old furniture into beautiful pieces that tell a story or convey emotion through the use of a variety of fabrics, wood and small details. As well as knitting, she is also currently perfecting her embroidery.

Hazel Bland
Hazel is a textile artist using hand-stitch as her main medium. She also recycles fabric making fantastic rag rugs.

Carolyn MacDougall
Carolyn's chosen medium is stitch using a variety of fabric and threads – which she sometimes combines with hand painted backgrounds and machine stitching. She had a solo exhibition in the John Luke Gallery in 2017 and exhibits every year in both the Northern Ireland Embrodery Guild and the Harmony Hill Craft Group. She was a facilitator on the Port and Docks Tapestry project 2015-2017 and 2018 Artichoke Trust Women's Suffrage Banner.

Pamela Emerson
As an historian, Pamela is interested in traditional craft skills. Her main interest is patchwork although she also enjoys embroidery, beadwork and cross stitch. She was awarded the Heritage Craft Association Volunteer of the Year in 2017 for her work in promoting patchwork and sewing skills in the community through NI Big Sock (a runner up project in Voluntary Arts Epic Awards, 2017). Pamela uses her skills to reuse fabric and likes to give traditional techniques a modern look with bright colours and added detail.

 

Want to know more?

Want to know more about the group and our activities (exhibitions, workshop facilitation)? Are you a mixed media/textile artist in the area and want to get involved? While we don't currently have vacancies for new members, we do open workshops and exhibition opportunities wider than the group. Make contact on info@topfloorart.co.uk - with 'Top Floor Art Studio Group' as email subject.

 
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