Coral, Coral, and more Coral. That is what is going on in the studio at present.
With a solo show scheduled for later this year, I am madly stitching away at new designs and I am loving the way things are going! The show is going to have a coral focus as I have dived deep into the world of these amazing and beautiful animals.
For this show, I am largely focused on sea fans and have been nerding out learning all that I can about this very specific (but awesome) group of corals. I am getting lost in the little bumps and fronds and branches. I couldn’t be happier.
A few other coral structures will sneak their way into the show as well I am sure. I never seem to be able to staty away from stitching corallite inspired designs (from stony corals). We shall see.
My goal is to produce a series of relatively large studies of coral fans as well as a series of smaller circular works.
I see the large studies as beautiful stitched portraits of coral branches. Stitched specimens that are true to the specific structures you would find in a particular coral genus. So far I have stitched one (see below) but I have plans for many more.
The smaller circular series aligns with my ongoing ‘Nature Studies Series’, which I have been creating for over a decade now. All pieces in this series are around the same size (often stitched in my favorite embroidery hoop), and are all displayed in the same style and size frame so pieces created years apart can be displayed together seamlessly. I have several collectors who have been adding to their series of my nature studies over the years, adding a new piece or two to their collections from every exhibition I have that includes them. I had taken a bit of a break from making pieces from this series for the last few years, but it is nice to be working in this familiar size and style again.
The first Portholes
So far I have stitched a small series of circular designs in the Nature Studies Series size. I plan to have at least a dozen of these at the final exhibition. I am thinking of referring to these pieces as ‘portholes’ for this show. Each a little peek at a coral structure, a tantalising glimpse. A colourful celebration of the beauty of coral.
These pieces will be framed using my signature shadow mounting method so they appear to float off their backing board. They will be framed in white box frames, behind museum glass so you can clearly see every stitch (without reflections).
The first large study
I have also completed my first large study, inspired by Zignisis coral. The soft orange colouring is only a slight exaggeration of how this coral can appear in nature. The colour of corals can differ dramatically even between species and is rarely used as a form of identification, so I plan to have a bit of fun with coral colour in this exhibition. This was a fiddly piece to stitch with all of those bumps, but I just love how it has turned out.
I hope to have this one mounted and ready for framing in the next few weeks.
While I am making slow and steady progress with this new series, I still have a long way to go to be prepared for this show. There are a lot of walls to fill in the gallery and if I am being perfectly honest I’m not sure if I will be able to pull it off this time. There never seem to have enough stitching hours in the day. We shall see. I’m sure it will all come together (i’m praying it will anyway).
Exhibition details
Coral - an exhibition of embroidered art by Meredith Woolnough
Where: The Milk Factory Gallery Bowral, NSW, Australia
When: October 27th - November 30th 2023
All works will be available for purchase at the exhibition
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