Textiles inspire my stamp collages

Apart from the most frequently asked question, "Where do you get all your stamps from?", another FAQ is, "Where do you get your inspiration?" . The first question is answered on my website, and the answer to the second can be almost anywhere!
I visit museums and galleries and art and textile exhibitions as much as I can, and the piece below was inspired by a visit to the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford - check their opening times if you want to visit, as I think they may currently be undergoing some renovation work.

The Pitt Rivers museum has a wonderful collection of artefacts from all over the world and my piece was inspired by a hunting bag made by the Ojibwe American Indians.  As well as beads, they used dried seeds and berries to decorate these beautiful but practical bags.  I made a small sketch and took a few notes while I was there and some time later created my own version using stamps to recreate my own design on paper.

 

Ojibwe inspired stamp collage design using stamps and pages
 from an old stamp catalogue. (above)

 A book called, "The Life and Art of the North American Indian also has a photograph of one of these beaded shoulder bags, which is in the Museum of the American Indian, Heyre Foundation, New York.

 Stylised plants and leaves feature in many of the Ojibwe textile designs and there is stron use of pattern and fringed decorations to complete the item.

Cleo Mussi

"There's an article you may be interested in in the Telegraph Magazine - it's called A world in Pieces, and it's about mosaics!"  My mum handed me the open magazine and I immediately recognized Stroud artist Cleo Mussi, whose work has become so well know both locally and internationally. The article mentions Cleo's Stroud studio and forthcoming exhibitions in Edinburgh, but sadly fails to mention the Select Trail preview currently on at The Museum in the Park in Stroud which includes a showcase of her work alongside textile artists and other makers including Ingrid Hesling and Jenni Dutton. Cleo Mussi's  work will also be on show at Frogmarsh Mill, South woodchester, near Stroud soon together with that of other makers.  The Select Trail and Open Studios will be taking place on the week-ends of 11-12 and 18-19 May in and around the Stroud area.  Visit both their websites on www.sitefestival.org.uk and www.sitselect.org     So much to see and do in Stroud during May, it's worth coming here for a whole week-end  or two if you don't actually live here and I have had visitors to my studio who have done just that.!      My own studio will be open to visitors on the two May week-ends mentioned, and is listed on P.14 of the yellow Open Studios brochure.(Venue 15) at The Lawn, 132 Bisley Road, Stroud.

Great Britons on stamps featured in The Lady Magazine

One of my favourite magazines is The Lady. It's a very old established publication going back more than 100 years.My  grandmother used to buy it when it was printed in black and white, with only the title in a different colour. I'd often look at the Classifieds for jobs or holidays, only occasionally reading the articles then as it seemed to be a magazine for the "older reader".  All has changed it would seem and it now aims at a younger readership and covers all manner of interesting topics. This week, I'm pleased to say that its cover stood out for me on the supermarket shelf,  as it has stamps on the front! It carries a very well written feature on the latest stamp issue, Great Britons, issued on 16th April.  The ten 1st class stamps portray Britons famous in various fields whose 100th or 150th birth anniversaries are in 2013.
Those featured on The Lady front cover are: Vivien Leigh, Actress, Peter Cushing, Actor, Norman Parkinson, photographer,  and the cookery writer Elizabeth David. Biographical details are contained in the article in the magazine together with the other stamp portraits of  the Prime Minister David Lloyd George, politician John Archer, Composer Benjamin Britten, anthropologist Mary Leaky, football manager Bill Shankly and the Broadcaster David Dimbleby.

Hollow Horn Bear

Staying with the American Indian theme, I recently came across this wonderful US stamp issued in 1922. It was the first 14c stamp ever issued, and was designed by Clair Aubrey Huston, who was also responsible for the design of other stamps including the 5c blue of 1922 showing Theodore Roosevelt. The link between these two stamps is that Hollow Head Bear (1850-1913) a member of the Brule Sioux tribe was in Washington in 1905 for the inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt.  A photograph was taken of the Indian Chief by the artist and photographer De Lancey Gill, and this  was used as the basis of the stamp design. The photograph is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Both stamps are in the series of Famous Americans and monuments issued in 1922.

Hollow Horn Bear - Indian Chief - stamp issued 1922

Headdresses of American Indian tribes - issued 1990

Having previously mentioned memories of a postcard showing an American Indian with headdress, made of stamps,  I came across this complete set of US stamps issued in 1990 featuring headdresses of various tribes.
The Smithsonian National Postal Museum has a great website which gives details of many stamps issued by the USA and provides excellent information about the contents.

USA stamp issue from 1990: 5 designs by Lunda Hayle Gill

1. Assinboine headdress circa 1920  - felt and wool, with long strips of ermine hanging from both sides.
2. Comanche headdress mid 1880s - Golden eagle and dyed turkey feathers with rabbit skin and fur.
3. Flathead headdress circa 1905 made from felt and large golden eagle tail feathers, with ermine skin spots and white cow tail hair tied to the end of each feather.
4. Cheyenne headdress circa 1890 has brass tack decoration across the brow and golden eagle feathers, ribbons and hair tassels.
5. Shoshone headdress circa 1900 has a brow band embroidered with porcupine quills, and also uses golden eagle tail feathers.

The headdresses were often made by the warriors themselves and may have been buried with them on their death.

They are also known as war bonnets and are a sign of honour and courage.  

The US law today allows the American Indian people to use eagle feathers exclusively for cultural and religious purposes.  

There's always something interesting to discover on stamps!! 

Stamp Collage Pictures from the 1930s

During the years when my parents were stamp dealers they occasionally came across postcards with pictures composed of postage stamps.I remember a wonderful example which was of a Native American Indian Chief with his headress, or war bonnet,  made entirely of Victorian postage stamps
cut to the shape of the feathers.

I recently came across some more pictures made  from stamps, dating back to the 1930s,  by a Cornish artist named Doram Sibley.   They all show  Victorian Ladies wearing crinoline dresses, shawls and bonnets.  It's not easy to identify all the stamps used, but it looks as though the curtains in the picture bottom right are made from the Newfoundland 1c green stamp of 1923 showing the Twin Hills, Tors Cove. Japanese stamps, I think,  have been used for the chaise longue.

Half penny green George V definitives of Great Britain make up the skirts of the lady in the picture top right looking out of the window, and the oriental style postmarks on the carpet suggest either Chinese or Japanese stamps.  

The two pictures on the left are very similar poses and the beautiful gardens may be partly composed of stamps, but it's quite difficult to tell as the artist has painted part of the scene in watercolours.  I'm able to pick out a Chinese Junk stamp of 1912 in the skirt of the lady in the top left hand corner picture and parts of the words, "United states" also appear.

I haven't been able to find out anything about Doram Sibley, except that she was from St Just in Penwith, Cornwall, and according to an inscription on the back of one of the pictures, "Under the patronage of H.M. the Queen".  Various pictures have come up in auctions in the last few years and some are in private collections.

Just picked up my supply of brochures and programmes for this year's Stroud Site Festival 2013 and Open Studios events.   These will be available in many locations around Stroud and further afield in the next days and weeks leading up to the opening of the events in May.   The Open Studios week-ends are 11th-12th and 18th and 19th May 2013 and there are many interesting events listed on dates throughout May in the Festival brochure too.  
www.sitefestival.org.uk  and click on the Open Studios link to view or download the brochure where you can see pictures and full location details for all the artists taking part.  All contact details are given, so it's also possible to contact the artists if you'd like to visit their studios on dates other than those of the official openings.  Easy to follow routes group the artists in areas so you can visit several studios on one day. It's a public event and artists are very happy to welcome people into their studios and working areas.   My own studio will be open and is on Route 03:Bisley - p.14 of the brochure. As parking is limited, it's best to park in Bisley Road and walk along to my studio.

April Fool (Poisson d'Avril) cards

A few spoof posts on facebook and in the papers today, but I don't think anyone sends postcards in the mail anymore.

Our old postcard collection contains these lovely examples of French postcards sent to loved ones on 1st April.  In France April Fool's day is known as "Poisson d'Avril" (April Fish) and the cards were often sent anonymously, or with a cryptic message.

The beautiful card (top left) is a more romantic design and like the one at the bottom, contains the words, "Devinez qui vous l'envoie - 1er Avril" - Guess who sends you this - 1st April.
The humorous card (top right)also carries a very romantic message on the back from a "fair haired young man"!