Layers of Meaning

Alice Kettle : : Mythscapes

Alice Kettle came to embroidery from a modernist art background. In the early 1980s, she graduated from art school, creating abstract expressionist paintings. When she moved to textiles, she began to explore the possibilities of texture, layering and depth. From a review at Otter Gallery: "Kettle employs machine stitch as it best suits her intuitive approach and uses metal thread to add a glistening effect. She creates three-dimensional surfaces by repeatedly stitching over the same areas forming interesting shadows. Kettle constantly explores new methods, drawing inspiration from various sources, such as medieval church tapestries, Russian icons and the paintings of Giotto."
Kettle has a new body of work which is currently touring Great Britain. The show description reads: "Mythscapes is a major exhibition of a new body of work by Alice Kettle, one of Britain's leading textile artists whose machine embroidered hangings are known for their remarkable painterly quality and poetic resonance. The show features a series of works which explore themes contained within Homer's Odyssey. In these figurative pieces she makes reference to universal ideas of hope, renewal and human concerns of existence. Both large and small scale works illustrate her mastery of the materials and convey depth of emotion through an exceptional use of color, line and composition."
The work is far more painterly and abstract than Kettle's previous works. Unfortunately, there are darned few images available on the web. There is a book available of the show.