Seven Woman Artists Exhibition Review

We visited the Seven Woman Artists exhibition in college, where seven local female artists displayed some of their artwork. The art varied from tiny, hand-embroidered pieces to a massive, printed wall hanging and decorative plates.

Lauren Steeper:

I really liked the cross-stitched work displayed by Lauren Steeper because it seems to be very unique and quirky. There were a number of embroidered pieces of fabric, side by side on the wall, in similar sizes and each with six words in a variety of fonts and coloured threads. The art itself didn’t strike me as particularly interesting, but I thought the way she chose the words to stitch onto the fabric was ingenious: she chose 49 random words from the dictionary, then waited for the lottery results and picked out the words which corresponded with the six numbers that had been drawn out.

However, I didn’t think much to the other piece of work she was displaying. It was literally just the back of old order receipt books that she had collected in her job as a waitress, most tatty and crumpled, including scribbles of orders, numbers and other notes. I didn’t really see any reason for it and, although it may have meant something to the artist, I couldn’t find anything to catch the interest of the viewer.

Holly Betton:

I liked the way Holly Betton’s work was displayed as it looked very decorative and reminded me of tradition English galas. The work itself was a mixture of sketchy images and witty phrases, printed onto mugs, cards and bunting, so I assume there would be more than one of each design. I think they are pleasant designs, but they remind me more of souvenirs than art.

Rebecca Hogg:

Rebecca Hogg’s artwork comprised of hand printed images onto ceramics and paper, displayed on the walls and in glass cabinets to protect them. All of the ceramic and paper backgrounds were white and the designs were in either black or blue with grey and gold detailing. One of her biggest inspirations is classic architecture, which works well on the plates and gives them an ornate feel. I think her work is beautiful and elaborate, reminiscent of Blue Willow plates.

Ashley Thomas:

Ashley Thomas was another artist whose work was household items, printed with sketchy, humorous designs of animals, food and tableware. There was a mixture of tea towels, cushions, aprons and some framed pieces, and I would assume there is more than one of each piece due to them being printed. I like the designs because they look quite traditional and vintage, but also have quirky elements (like glasses on some of the animals) which bring them up to date.

Yasmina Hamaidia:

I think Yasmina Hamaidia’s work was the most impressive out of all of the displays, mainly because of the sheer size of her wall hanging. It was a printed piece of fabric, comprising of a theatre stage background with images of tropical fruit, reptiles and old fashioned items layered on top. I loved the contrast of the brightly coloured features with a black and white background, making certain things (like the lizards and some of the fruit) more prominent than the rest. The main reason I like it though is because it makes you think about the meaning behind it and isn’t as easy to decipher as some of the other pieces of artwork in the exhibition.

Katy Aston:

I didn’t like Katy Aston’s work at all, using weaving, tiles and tessellated shapes to create curtains, a table and wall pieces. The art was made out of wood and textiles in bright colours and, although some of the colours worked well together, I thought most of these colours clashed and looked horrible against each other. It was very orderly and mathematical and I found it boring to look at, like very little of the artist’s imagination had been used to think up the work.

Roanna Wells:

I really loved Roanna Wells’ art: three framed pieces of hand stitching to create beautiful monochrome images. I think the tonal qualities that her stitching has created, where the images look almost as if they are dissolving, is fantastic and I would imagine it took a long time and a lot of effort to get them just right.

I enjoyed the Seven Woman Artists exhibition, with Rebecca Hogg, Yasmina Hamaidia and Roanna Well’s displays being my favourites. I found Lauren Steeper’s work the most interesting because of the way she generated the ideas for her artwork. However, I thought some of the displays were quite boring and reminded me more of gift ideas and souvenirs than pieces of art that should be displayed in an exhibition.