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INSPIRED BY MACHINERY
Inspired by Machinery was first presented at Forge Mill Needle Museum, Redditch, Worcestershire September to October 2017, followed Edinburgh and Whitchurch (Hampshire) in 2018.
To view work as a slide show, click on an image
 After the Goldrushby Pat Gibson This piece of rusty metal from an old gold mine gave rise to the panel, worked in needlelace using fine dyed merino wool. Aged with metal paint and patinating fluid. 20x50 |  Coal from the cloudsby Pat Gibson This is Pat’s tribute to the harsh conditions of the miners on the Denniston Plateau, New Zealand. Needlelace stitches embellish the photographs. 23x25 (each panel) |  Cogsby Ann Collier Inspired by the open back of a watch and the way the cogs interlocked, Ann experimented with Tenerife lace and found it could produce cog shapes in different sizes. 22 diameter |
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 Cogs IIby Ann Collier Having worked cogs in Tenerife lace, Ann experimented on a larger scale inspired by large clock workings. 45 diameter |  Cogsby Margaret Clark Inspired by the Derbyshire dales where disused water-powered machinery is overgrown by flowers and grasses, the panel hangs over a doorway or window to admit light but exclude insects. 200x90 |  Cogwheelby Anne Dyer People discard things at Westhope College. In one consignment was a cheap plastic-framed mirror. It wasn’t needed but Anne couldn’t throw it away. So it was encased in bobbin lace. 32 diameter |
 Descending Spiralby Ann Wheeler Inspired initially by worm cogs (loved the name) spirals in all their forms then took over. Worked in bobbin lace and paper yarn. 40x40x20 |  Dilemma 1 - Dancersby Gil Dye Turbines are taking over the world, marching across the world. Good or bad? Cleaner and more elegant than coal, safer than nuclear, but what damage is done by their installation? 72x40 (each panel) |  Dilemma 2 - Tracksby Gil Dye Unexpected benefits of marine turbines are the artificial reefs formed around the bases which provide feeding stations for seals and other marine life. 45x30x10 |
 Dilemma 3 - Redundantby Gil Dye Unwanted machinery litters our countryside; what will happen to our turbines when they are no longer viable? [At the centre of Redundant are the unused trials for Dancers and Tracks]. 20x10x6 |  Disarticulated Barmenby Mary Coleman Lace machines cleverly imitated hand-made lace leading to the demise of the industry. In a Luddite gesture, the machine has metaphorically been taken apart and put together randomly. 36x60 (frame) |  'Drumming out time...'by Anne Dyer When time goes out of control, so do men’s thoughts. This is portrayed in Dylan’s play. 28x34 |
 Flightby Alison Tolson Humans took countless years to invent machinery to enable flight. Insects get the thrust to go forward and lift to stay aloft by beating their wings using nature's prime engine - muscle! 24x15x10 |  Lacemakers?by Ann Wheeler Using paper, stitch and antique lace to show how the rapid development of lacemaking machines led to the loss of income for the rural lacemakers. 52x20 |  Machine made by...by Pat Gibson Pat bought a Wilcox and Gibbs chain stitch machine. The history of the sewing machine has been brought up to date showing modern uses including machine made lace. 26x18 (each panel) |
 Machines replace menby Anne Dyer Sitting in a meeting, the bars of the chairs looked like men, turned into husks, jobless and hopeless. 120x35 |  Pearl's a singer and Ruby Tuesdayby Deborah Robinson Twisted swarf machine waste provided the basis for works for Inspired by Machinery − crochet collages representing song titles form the 1960s and 70s, constructed from curly individual shapes. 40x30 (each panel) |  Propellerby Ann Allison One section of Ann’s earlier piece ‘Twirly Whirly’ looked like the blade of a fan; repeating the segment created a propeller. 110 diameter |
 Rust and Renewalby Robina Melville Weeds growing through discarded farm machinery inspired Robina to make a piece celebrating the resilience of the natural world in the face of the destruction wrought by machinery, and mankind. 44x24x21 |  Rust and Renewal, reverseby Robina Melville Weeds growing through discarded farm machinery inspired Robina to make a piece celebrating the resilience of the natural world in the face of the destruction wrought by machinery, and mankind. 44x24x21 |  The Chattering Damselby Margaret Clark The ghost of a ‘damsel’ surrounds the corn-milling device, which took her name and her livelihood. She muses sadly on the fate of those who lose their jobs to machines. 30x14 (figure) |
 Turbineby Anne Dyer Piping threads from the hot glue gun onto coloured paper, the glue absorbs the dye. These threads became lace, inspired by the view into a turbine engine from behind. 29x29 |  Waterwheelby Anne Dyer Anne doesn’t feel that soft textile and hard metal echo each other. So she thought of the soft swirl of water going past a wheel, contrasting with its hard surface. 32x90x47 |  The Unseeing Eyeby Kitty Mason The clockwork mechanism of lighthouses was removed when they were automated and the lighthouse keepers no longer exist. Kitty’s piece is based on someone looking out from the light towards the sea but in fact there is no-one there and the eye is empty and unseeing. Strips of lace represent the waves lit by the lighthouse. In front of them is the unseeing eye. 48cm x 48cm |
 Weaving Shedby Pamela Layzell Inspired by threads on a loom, each component represents the shed, through which the shuttle passes. The repeated components represent industrialisation and the many looms in the weaving sheds. 30x100x25 |  Warpedby Pamela Layzell Pamela was fascinated by the lace-like quality of threads on a warping machine. What if these threads misbehaved and made bits of lace along the way? 103x60x145 |
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