Nikki Parmenter Textile Artist got our New Year off to a fantastic start when she shared her colourful work with 36 of our members from her home in Cheshire over Zoom this week. Nikki used to teach but since retiring she has exhibited extensively. Mythology and legends feature greatly in her work and she showed us images of mandalas used for meditation, together with work influenced by the Aztecs, Greek mythology and various artists like Klimt, Matisse, Botticelli and Leonardo de Vinci.
Nikki has exhibited at the National Trust property, Gawthorpe Hall near Burnley where they have a large textile collection. She displayed 12 pieces of work including one inspired by May Morris, daughter of William Morris based on an Elizabethan herb pillow showing pea pods, daffodils, poppies and butterflies. She also made a tower like structure similar to tulip boxes showing squirrels, parrots, ladybirds and poppies.
Two pieces entitled Fadeout 1 & 2 were created to show the harm of pollution with the top of the work lacking colour and poor sea life and the bottom showing vibrant colour and lots of healthy creatures. See detail in photos below.
For an exhibition in Chester Cathedral Nikki created a triptych. A swan appeared in each of the three panels, the first being inspired by a poem by W B Yeats, the second measuring 7 ft tall was a conference of 30 birds, hoopo, parrots, ducks, pelicans etc and the third panel was a Persian mythical bird called a Simurgh.
For another event Nikki was inspired by the Della Robbia pottery collection which was founded in 1894 in Birkenhead. She used images from the collection which dated back to 1520. Dream of the Huntsmen measuring 6 x 4 ft shows peacocks, fish and stags.
Nikki generously shared her techniques with us and mentioned using chicken wire, plastic sheeting, cellophane, pipe insulation, pipe cleaners, and funky foam in her work.
In addition to writing various articles for Stitch magazine, Nikki has contributed a workshop for the 6th WOW (Workshop on the Web) book which is published by Maggie Gray.
For more images of Nikki’s finished work and her amazing sketchbook take a look on her website: https://www.nikkiparmenterartworks.com/
Photos by kind permission of Nikki Parmenter
Report by Ros
Vernice has kindly alerted me to the fact that in addition to Nikki’s workshop in the 6th WOW book, Jessica Grady (our March speaker) and Christine Chester who spoke to us in 2018 also have workshops. WOW website is: wowbook.d4daisy.com
Can I remind members of our monthly Stitch & Chat Zoom session on Tuesday 19 January from 10.00 to approx. 12.00? Grab yourself a mug of coffee and something to do and enjoy the company of like-minded friends.