What I learned from a workshop with Kathryn Harmer Fox.

 

In April, I was very happy to have the chance to participate in  a workshop run by Kathryn Harmer Fox in Ballarat which was organised by Fibre Arts Australia.   Kathryn is  generally  a figurative and representative fibre and mixed media  artist who usually uses free motion machine embroidery  with different coloured threads on top of different fabrics to create her works.  I have long wanted to do a course with Kathryn after meeting her and falling in love with her work  two years ago,  and I'm pleased to say that this workshop was everything I hoped for and more.  Kathryn was a really fantastic teacher, accepting  and encouraging of our individual differences,  and with a positive approach that boosts the confidence of each student.

 

I think I was probably one of the least sewing machine knowledgeable members of the group.  The others seemed to be  professional quilters and experienced free motion machine embroiderers, but everyone was so helpful and supportive, I very quickly got over my self-consciousness and was soon working as confidently, if  not as competently as the others. 

 Like everyone else, I brought along several inspirational  pieces – in my case, some of my sketches of native animals.  Kathryn helped us  to very quickly select the appropriate piece, by encouraging us to act without hesitation and self doubt, quickly ruling out the inappropriate ones and accepting our gut instinct. 

 

This was just the first of many lessons we learned from her about ourselves, our art and being survivors in this world. 

We next tore a piece of heavier cotton fabric, like 12oz cotton canvas, and drew  an outline of our design onto it.  She reminded us to use the negative spaces as well as the positive ones in our pieces.

 

 

After that, it was time to set up our machines. I discovered fairly quickly that it would is easier to do machinery embroidery  with an extension table.  It is now on my shopping list. 

 

 

 We dropped our feed dogs and used a denim or jeans needle and a darning or embroidery foot.   We also used a black or white thread in our bobbins, depending on the fabric being used.  Kathryn tends to use  Metlass Seralene.  She advised us to use ordinary sewing thread in dead colours as the top threads, and change those according to the colour of the fabrics. We found that using several tones of the same colour very effective in "painting" our image.

 

The next step was to  choose our fabrics and cut them into pieces, placing  the fabric pieces on the canvas ( as in appliqué) using pins, or glue, or adhesive fabric, or even just freehand.   This was a demonstration that Kathryn did for us when we begged.

 

 

 

Then, we stitched  the fabric onto the canvas ( this is called embedding) using hatching or scribble stitch, controlling the  direction of the stitching with our hands on the fabric so we were really drawing with the machine using our hands.

 

 

The following  shows some of  the work of my talented companions.

 

 

 

 

 The stitching will be more and more dense as you progress. This is an additive art form so the image is gradually built up.   This artist built up from the background to the focus of the piece.

 This very talented artist incorporated painting and stitching.

 

This artist is a very accomplished quilter, as can be seen from the two images:

 

 

We were taught that the background should empower a piece as it is the platform from which the subject springs.  We also learned that Inktense Pencils, used with textile medium or water,  are great for backgrounds, as well as fabrics. 

 

 

We did the outlines last using straight stitch.

 

  

During the workshop, we also learned to:

 

• Work at our own pace and not compare ourselves to the speed of others.
•  Choose to include elements and methods which are part of our personalities, not the personality of others
• Keep looking at the source to keep the work balanced   
•  Remember that what we want is different to what the work needs and to focus on what the  work needs.  Let it dictate the technique and colour
•  Honour the space where the work will be displayed
•   Learn to look and see carefully, because we usually see what we want to see and gloss over the rest.  Trust ourselves
• Make mistakes without self-berating
•  Always be ready for inspiration
•  Be a problem solver and not be afraid to make the decisions which are needed
•  Not  be embarrassed or accept limitations.  Instead, get joy from creating sand recognise that we are doing something important.
•   Remember that an artist working for an audience or employer
•   Understand that creating is what makes an artist.  The doing is important
• Believe in ourselves
• Make sure that our name or logo is displayed, seen and recognised

  As well as artistic advice, Kathryn also taught us many life lessons, for instance:  

• Perfectionism and procrastination will do you harm.  Doing is everything.
• The only rule to follow is to keep your ethics strong
• Negative self-criticism is likely to become fact
•  If you have dug the hole of doubt,  you can dig your way out of it.
•  Change the language of self talk and stop telling yourself that it is your fault and that you are not good enough.
• Positively reinforce yourself
•  Don't accept limitations and fear.  Play and have fun
• Don't be afraid at getting inspiration from others.  As Picasso said,  all artists copy but a good artist steals. 

I think that in a way, I learned as much from my fellow students as I did from Kathryn, but it was Kathryn's very positive character, sense of fun and sense of humour and her support that brought out the best in all of us.  If you ever have the chance to work with Kathryn, grab it.  She is wonderful!  Whether you are a more figurative artist 

 

 or a more abstract one

 

 

she will help you improve your skills and gain confidence.