The Seeds of Collaboration are Shown

Mary and Barbara working together as Artists in Residence at the Lawrence Batley Theatre.We are endeavouring to link our two different ways of working to create a piece of work that uses each of our techniques, whilst maintaining the identity of our work and pushing the boundaries.

Collaboration!

I know that the work I'm doing now will lead into some kind of wire and textile collaboration with Barbara. Don't know exactly how that will be as yet, ideas and thoughts need time to dance about a bit, and settle. The exciting thing is that the work takes on its own life and you just have to follow it. If only there were more days in the week.....

Work for BRI begins!

Feeling warm at last!

On Friday I sat by the window feeling luxuriously warm. I started two new pieces of work, I like to have one or two things on the go.
I started putting in the squiggly bits for the BRI work. It looks like little crawly creatures wending their way over the hessian. So, leave them to settle and then go to the large piece of canvas to work on the stripe theme. It's good to be free but I do like stripes! Carrying on from theLBT compliment strip piece, I'm taking the same stripe proportions but working my own colours. Just can't wait to see colours lying next to each other........just one more row.........

Early days with new material.

Barbara: I am trying to work out how to use this new material. I am in the process of creating 6 faces that will be exhibited at the front of the Lawrence Batley Theatre. It is an exciting challenge, but also a daunting prospect. It's difficult to work with your fingers crossed.

Barbara - a new way of working - with a new material - steel wire mesh.

Exciting days at LBT!

It's fab at LBT. The stimulus of working in that huge space, of looking out of the window and watching life go busily by, as well as all the shapes, patterns, colours and people in the building, all these elements have conspired to push me on an exciting journey.
I didn't foresee quite how much my co-artists would influence me either. My new sqiggly designs, which have come as quite a delightful surprise to me, are a direct influence from Barbara's intricate wire work. I am enjoying the liberation from lines and grids!

New areas of work for us both.

 Mary: I make work for the wall or floor using the locker hook technique. I usually work onto canvas but since being here at the LBT, I have begun to pursue my creativity in different directions. I have found that if I hook onto hessian I have much more freedom. I am moving into a much freer way of working which is very exciting!

Here is Barbara working.

New Ideas

We are both artists resident at Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield.   We can see lots of exciting possibilities for collaborative work.  Watch this space!

Barbara Hellowell



Mary Lane

Design ideas for work to be displayed at Lawrence Batley Theatre and then Bradford Royal Infirmary.