Highlights Contemporary Craft Tour 2011

Highlights is celebrating its seventh Contemporary Craft Tour during the early summer of 2011. A stunning exhibition of work by three Contemporary Makers inspired by the theme of hay meadows, dovetailing with the Highlights’ tour of the commissioned play: ‘Sward! The Story of a Meadow’.

Ellie Langley is a felt maker living and working in the dramatic landscape of the North Pennines ‘Area of Outstanding Beauty’, on an environmentally award-winning smallholding. Her inspiration, source of material and sense of aesthetic come from the sheep which graze the local meadows. Her work is beautiful yet functional and ranges from the everyday rugs, hats and handbags to the more unusual, coffins and wedding dresses. Ellie blog page www.fleecewithaltitude.co.uk

Sarah Mitchell’s constructed book-works amaze and astound in their complexity. Her books are made by using simple cutting, folding and stitching techniques with subjects close to nature such as grass, birds and snakes, revealed through silhouettes, complex concertina structures and imaginative use of stitch and thread. Mitchell’s bookworks are subtle evocations of personal childhood memories. http://littlepaperbird.blogspot.com

Allyson Gee recently graduated from the Glasgow School of Art. Her work was shown at the New Designers exhibition at the Business Design Centre, London, and features in the Sept/Oct 2010 issue of Crafts Magazine. Using real specimens of butterflies and bees in her jewellery, Gee is inspired by the collections of butterflies in museums. She says: “Collections and the motivation behind them are always present in my work…drawing aesthetic inspiration from this, I create geometric structures that imitate the display cases that the insects and butterflies are held in.” allysongee.blogspot.com

 Dates for the 2011 Contemporary Craft Tour are:

Saturday 30 April – Tuesday 3 May
The Meditation Centre, Flintergill, Dent, South Lakes, Cumbria, LA10 5QR Tel: 015396 25022

In conjunction with Dentdale Walking Festival & Open Studio Weekend

www.discoverdentdale.co.uk

Friday 6 – Sunday 8 May
Barningham Village Hall, Teesdale, County Durham, DL11 7DQ  Tel: 01833 621203

Friday 20 – Sunday 22 May
Pegswood Community Project, Pegswood, Morpeth, Northumberland, NE61 5XG Tel: 01670 512185

Friday 27 – Monday 30 May
Dufton Village Hall, Cumbria, CA16 6DB Tel: 017683 52902

Friday 3 – Sunday 5 June
St Thomas’ Church Hall, Stanhope, Weardale, Co Durham, DL13 2UE Tel: 01388 528673.