Christmas Threads & Wishes

This is just a quick post to wish you a merry Christmas and to say thank you for your visits or comments on my blog.
It has been a very busy, exciting, challenging year and I have been stitching more than I have been blogging!
Next year I have workshops at The Herbert which will be exciting as I have a huge array of beautiful threads from Madeira to experiment with. 
I will share my workshops here on my blog in the New Year
Enjoy your festivities.

Michala x

Painting With Threads

One Of My Sketch Books At The Herbert Art Gallery



A few weeks ago Mary Miers the arts editor of Country Life Magazine came to visit me at home.
She was intrigued by my art work, collections of threads and the methods I use to create my landscapes.
Here is the article she wrote.

PAINTING WITH THREADS

Michala Gyetvai’s passion for threads infuses her swirling stitched and felted artworks, which can be seen at the Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry until 24 January. The vibrant pieces express her deep-rooted love of nature, the seeds of which were sown during her childhood in rural Northamptonshire, when she roamed woods and fields collecting wool and other organic fibres. These she transformed with natural dyes and wove into ‘little worlds’ on a homemade loom. Since then she has squirreled away jars and jars of fibres - twisted twines and antique silks, lustred and matt threads shimmery and sheening, crocheted cottons and metallic strands – so that her workroom resembles a Parisian brocante. With no formal training, Mrs Gyetvai developed her craft-based fine art while attending evening classes; she derives particular inspiration from the English Romantics. Working from studies in pastels, she ‘paints with the fibres’ on old dyed blankets, moving around the piece like a dancer as she lays them out and punches them in. Then she draws in the lines and builds up the texture of the composition with her threads, stitching them in by hand and machine. The whole process has an affinity with music and ballet, the results being highly rhythmic and expressive of the physical energy that goes into their making. Trees are a favourite motif, conveying the artist’s own emotions as well as the landscape around her home town of Kenilworth.

By Mary Miers

I feel very privileged to tell you that she has recommended my exhibition at The Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry as one of the best to see in December, in this weeks Country Life Magazine including a small piece about me.

"Seas Of Grass" Is Open!

I can't believe my opening day finally arrived at The Herbert on Saturday, the date had always seemed so far away.
I had spent a very rewarding, educational week at The Herbert as they hung my exhibition, nothing could prepare me for the surreal experience for seeing my work hung collectively.
I was relieved that my largest pieces, that I had stitched onto canvas, looked as I had envisaged.
It was exciting to see how my mark making had become integral to the actual wool blanket.
Now being able to view it from a distance, I was aware of how sculptural my work had become. The more three dimensional aspect revealed patterns and shadows.
The actual opening day was all the more rewarding because I could share it with many of my friends and relatives, I will never forget this day.
I now have my own website which you can see here  http://www.michalagyetvai.co.uk/  this includes lots of information about me and my art (my life history!), including all the work at my exhibition and price list. You will also find my first limited edition prints of some of the paintings. I will be making my postcards and new brooches available to buy through Etsy later this week.

Landscape Exhibitions At The Herbert Art Gallery

This week I attended the opening of the Turner Prize nominee George Shaw's exhibition at the Herbert.
His work depicts all the places he frequented as he was growing up around the area of Tile Hill in Coventry.
This landscape is the urban sprawl of council estates, playing fields and run down pubs and garages.
Interestingly he uses humbrol enamel paints, which are the specialist paints for model making.
How he manages to use this sticky, thick, gloss paint amazes me, especially when you see the smooth surfaces he creates on canvas, which are like old Polaroid photographs.
In some ways his work reminds me of the detailed paintings of Stanley Spencer with nature trying to grow through the rubbish tips and crumbling buildings.
It's refreshing to see a talented painter up for nomination and for someone who can really draw, many of his life drawings are included in this exhibition which are excellent.
You can see him talking about his work  here.
The winner of The Turner prize will be announced on December 5th, fingers crossed for George!!

I feel very privileged to be able to say that my own exhibition Seas Of Grass, will soon be on display in the next gallery!
Today I have been packaging all my work up in preparation for the galley to collect on Friday.
I have also been stitching small landscapes especially for The Herbert to sell in their shop during the exhibition, including a range of my exhibition postcards.
So if you can visit The Herbert in the next few months you will have some very varied exhibitions to see, do try and visit if you can.

Final Preparations!

Only a few weeks until my exhibition opens and you can now find more information on The Herbert Art Gallery website here.
I will also be giving a free tour and talk about my work at the exhibition, you can find out about booking a place by looking here .
I'm also very excited to say I will be running two workshops at the gallery entitled" Landscapes In Threads" starting on Saturday 7th of January.
 This will be an opportunity to develop your own drawings through experimentation in your sketch book, learning how to translate it into stitch by using hand and machine work.
You will be able to play with many different colours, textures, fibres and threads, exploring there endless possibilities!
Booking is essential as places are limited, click here for details on how to book.
Looking forward to seeing you there if you can make it.
Michala x

Mono Printing

On Friday I visited Stratford -Upon-Avon college and was made very welcome by the Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers.
I had been asked to do a talk about my work and it was a great opportunity for me to share my latest stitching, sketch book development and to enthuse about art textiles.
Luckily it's one subject that I am never lost for words!



This week it's half term so I have been experimenting with mono printing, here is one I did today based on some of my sketches.
I have used a water based ink which I have applied onto perspex using a small roller.
I then drew into the ink using cloth, cotton buds and a pencil, the next step is taking a piece of paper and then placing it on top, applying firm pressure and rubbing the paper evenly all over.
You then lift off your paper carefully and you should have a simple print!

Herbert Gallery News

Hello, I'm still here amongst my piles of threads, using them to sketch and paint my own personal memories and observations of nature.

It's less than three months until my exhibition " Seas Of Grass" opens at The Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry.

The Herbert have asked if I would do a talk about my work during the exhibition in December as well as a two day work shop in January which will include creative sketch book work and of course stitching.

When I get more details I will let you know.

If you check out the Herbert Art Gallery website you will notice that there are many other interesting exhibitions coming up, including Turner prize nominee George Shaw, who's childhood memories of urban landscapes, featuring housing estates, bike sheds and playing fields are painted with model making Humbrol enamel paint.