Getting inspiration from Textile arts - the work of Becky Knight

I was pleased to stumble upon this exhibition at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre. It's not an exhibition I would have ventured into because it was entitled Swimming (I cannot swim and feel unsafe in the water). I had spare time to use up so I just went in.

As I entered the empty gallery the first piece that caught my eye was this impressive work by none other than Becky Knight. You can see a detail below:

Here's the full 'blanket size' work entitled 'Under'.

The work is made of beach pebbles sandwiched between the blanket and layers of organza to give the colouring.

I am happy to say that next to the work there was a red circle indicating that the work had been sold. So much work went into that piece. Imagine collecting pebbles of similar size and then sewing them neatly as pixels onto that blanket. I wish there had been some mention of the weight of the piece (that's the sort of question I would ask).

I do not know how many people locally are aware of this artist, but at home we know about her because she used to run a fun art afternoon activity every week for children with long-term health conditions. My children enjoyed these activities a lot despite their shyness at the time.

Another piece of work by the same artist at the exhibition used the same chequerboard technique of pebbles neatly trapped in organza pocket squares, have a look below:

I really liked the shape of the costume and the sea colours used. This work was called 'Heavy' - and it must have been. Look at the detail on the side of the costume though :

An unrelated final piece I would like to show you is entitled 'Cold'; it is made of found plastic rings.

Here's a detail that shows you the artist sewed the rings of plastic together with 'invisible thread' - ie plastic thread, do you know this type of thread ? (I used to have some but lost it - sorry, bad joke).

When I saw 'Cold' I was alone in the gallery and could hardly contain my chuckling... For ages I collected milk bottle tops and exactly that sort of ring to make something. My plan was to just wrap yarn around the circle to cover the rings and make a curtain. I was therefore 'shocked' to see someone had the same inclination to use those rings.

Have you seen any inspiring exhibitions recently ?