Felicity has been an exhibitor at from out of the blue studio gallery several times. This time round she is part of the trio that has come together for Three By Two – Ways with A Needle. This exhibition is in the gallery until April 24th 2023. Felicity shares some of her background.
I come from a family of embroiderers stretching back several generations on both sides of the family. Over the years I have dabbled in a variety of crafts but now tend to concentrate on felting and embroidery, often combining the two.
I have been a member of the South Taranaki Stitchcraft Guild since it began almost 40 years ago and am also a long-time member of ANZEG Extensions, Creative Stitches and Taranaki Creative Fibre and always enjoy the camaraderie and stimulus of ideas and creativity to be found in these groups.
I have exhibited in many national and regional Association of NZ Embroiderers’ Guilds embroidery exhibitions and Creative Fibre exhibitions.
Felicity’s Artist’s statement about the work
PERFECT PURPLE PLENTICAT
The word for the month was Nigeria and I became fascinated by the beautiful patterns and shapes of Benin bronzes which celebrated kings and queens and events in the kingdom’s history. I imagined my lilac Burmese Charlie as a Benin bronze and used the patterns from the bronzes to decorate his bountiful 7.5 kgs of cat using patchwork, appliqué, surface embroidery and kantha stitch.
Materials: African cottons, polished cotton, polyester organza, cotton embroidery thread.
Presentation: Wall-mounted.
Care: Avoid direct sunlight. Handle carefully. Occasionally vacuum off dust carefully with pantyhose (or similar) over end of hose.