BOBBY BRITNELL
TEXTILE and ART courses offering unique learning opportunities for all
In beautiful South Shropshire an area of outstanding natural beauty
NEWS FROM MOORHALL
It seems an age since I last wrote to you, perhaps it is! The bad news is that I have been back in hospital for two weeks with kidney failure and I am still struggling with pain from my spinal surgery. Well these things are certainly sent to challenge us, aren't they? The good news is that I have managed to keep courses afloat but not without the help from my husband Martin and son Barney. Next years programme is now on my website, so do pop over there and take a look and maybe book something as a Christmas present to yourself!!!


In this newsletter I will feature the on-line course that has now finished from Mary Sleigh and also studio courses from Sue Brown and Dorothy Tucker. There has been some lovely work completed by students on an on-line course with Dorothy Tucker on Kantha, but students have been given until February to complete their piece, so I will be back with those images in the New Year, along with images from both mine and Sarah Burgess's on-line course. Finally my dear friend Ruth Issett who has been teaching with me and for me at the studio for over 10 years had her final session recently and will be sadly missed. Hopefully I may get her back in the future. There is a message from Ruth below.
MESSAGE FROM RUTH ISSETT
Equal on All 4 Sides, Working Together, Crazy for Colour and
Colour Investigations
 
A thank you from Ruth Issett to Bobby.

In 2007 Chas and I came to live in Shropshire and I was lucky to have my friend, Bobby within easy reach. We quickly began to share ideas, celebrating our different professional practice & our teaching experiences. It has been a wonderful 14 years of exploring new ideas, teaching at her studio and sharing some hilarious moments. Text Link


We presented a series of Working Together courses, - such as ‘Towing the Line’, ‘Fabric Mark and Colour’, and ‘Responding to Location’, to name a few. These attracted students both nationally and internationally giving us the opportunity to engage with a diverse range of skills and experience.

Two particular groups have come to Bobby’s studio to work with me. Firstly the Crazy for Colour group who met once a month, starting in 2009, exploring dyeing, printing, colourful stitch as well as composition and presentation. Rewardingly many of them are now exhibiting and selling work in their own right, but we still keep in touch and we meet quite frequently to share experiences.


Then from 2013, the Colour Investigations group began, coming for two days every six weeks ever since! We have worked with fabric and paper, we have dyed, stitched, screen printed, block printed, used devore, explored collage but all the time focusing on the use of colour through a range of media.
Now in 2021, it is time to for me to wind down a bit, to do less teaching and to have more personal studio time. I shall always want to share and engage with students, learners and enthusiastic ‘textile’ people, but lockdown gave me a special opportunity to have a period of personal studio time, and I found it wonderful and made me consider my future working life!
A really big thank you to Bobby for facilitating these opportunities, firstly Working Together and secondly giving me a wonderful teaching environment at Moor Hall Studio. 

Thank you, Bobby and long may the studio thrive!

Ruth Issett

AND A HUGE THANK-YOU TO RUTH AS WELL.

Bobby
Please note

All of these images above come from Ruth's students from the Crazy for Colour and Colour Investigation groups.

MARY SLEIGH
On-line Course ~ 'Mind the Gap'

Mary and I were due to teach on the Textile Study Group Summer School in 2020 but this was sadly cancelled. We attempted to offer a shorter version at Moor Hall but again this was cancelled, so instead we adapted the courses so that we could offer them via Zoom on-line. Mary offered this course for the first time in May and it was so successful that this is a repeat of the same course.
Mary will be back with me in 2022.
 
‌
‌
DOROTHY TUCKER
Studio Course

Dorothy used both traditional and contemporary examples as sources of inspiration for this course 'Going Around in Circles'. Students began by layering together cotton fabrics to create a cloth which is soft and lovely to handle. Then using three basic ways of building patterns with running stitch, in a voyage of discovery and invention they began stitching around and around in circles!  Finally, to hold everything together the surrounds of these circles were filled with the rippling textures unique to kantha.
Dorothy will be back in the studio in 2022.
‌
SUE BROWN
Studio Course

Working with leaves and petals rolled over a plastic pipe and plunged into a vat of boiling water with added vinegar, some fabulous results immerged. Using these interesting natural backgrounds Sue showed students how to make and print with simply made collagraphs using glue and card. She then added chine-collé, a special print-making technique and blended inking, to the techniques learnt in this busy weekend workshop.

I hope to be back in a couple of weeks time with the remaining images from courses held here or via Zoom, so meanwhile stay creative.