A day of historical and modern embroidery with two brilliant and incredibly skilled embroidery artists – Tanya Bentham and Saima Kaur.

MORNING

Tanya Bentham presents Opus Anglicanum: My Work in Medieval Embroidery

Opus Anglicanum means English Work and it’s a name for English embroidery that was famous all over Europe in the middle ages. One of the most famous examples of Opus Anglicanum is The Bayeux Tapestry.

Tanya is known for her gorgeous, intricate and fun reproductions of medieval designs, and has published several books on the subject.

In Tanya’s own words:

I work entirely with medieval images, materials, and textile techniques, but I like to add a modern twist. It's usually the humour of medieval art that appeals to me most, and that’s clearly reflected in my work - frequently when I meet embroiderers who've read my blog they give me a strange look and say "you do know that embroidery blogs aren't meant to be funny, don't you?". But to be honest I think the world already has enough embroidered flowers, so I'd rather stick to fart ponies, if it's all the same.

I adore the narrative, storytelling aspects

of medieval art, which have far more in

common with modern cartoon strips than

people realise, so I like my images to tell

a story, like the lady and cat with it’s

subversion of the classic Madonna

imagery, or the 3 living and the 3 dead

which incorporates modern designer

fashions to revive an ancient morality

tale for the c21st (3living and 3 dead

won “innovative use of textiles” at the

fine art textiles award). Often my

adaptations take on a life of their own,

Like the lady and unicorn where I

removed the three hunters who were

murdering the poor unicorn, and

replaced them with three animals

musicians gleaned from marginalia, who

are murdering the poor unicorn’s ears

instead.

Afternoon

In the afternoon, Saima Kaur presents Phulkaris: A

source for contemporary storytelling

This talk and workshop will explore how traditional

Phulkari embroideries from Punjab have been re

imagined by textile artist Saima Kaur to create

contemporary stitched artworks that surprise and

delight.

This talk will include traditional and contemporary

Phulkaris and personal artworks before sharing

techniques on how to create such embroideries.

Saima Kaur is a hand embroidery artist who creates

stitched artworks for interiors. She has been featured

in Embroidery Magazine, taught online workshops for

Stitch Club, Making Zen and Selvedge magazine and

sold her work through Glassette and The Shop Floor

Project. She regularly delivers freelance talks and

workshops and creates embroidery collections for

sale.

https://www.saimakaur.com/about

Description supplied by the event organiser.