Machine Embroidery finds a Voice

In April the guest speaker at our North West Regional Day for members of the Embroiderers Guild, was James Fox, a local textile artist from Lancaster.
James entertained us with amusing anecdotes whilst enlightening us on his inspiration and  reasoning behind each of the pieces he brought with him that day, some of which have a serious message belying the pretty and delicate nature of the fabrics used, many from Liberty and some donated.
Here he is below, posing for a photo with his quilt called Liberty.

The Liberty of the quilt is not just the make of fabric but also signifies 'Freedom of the Press' and Blue was the colour of John Wilkes, an outspoken journalist and London politician of the 18th century who came to be regarded as a champion of liberty.

Here he is below, looking rather dapper, as indeed he was.

Unfortunately for John Wilkes being a Dandy did not stop people calling him the ugliest man in Britain but all was forgotten once he opened his mouth. A very good speaker, he could win many people over with his way with words and became Lord Mayor of London in 1774.

Look carefully at a James Fox quilt and you may be surprised to find an image of a gun or three, appliqued among the flowers.

Here is a lovely green, red and black quilt with quite a busy floral pattern. Can you see the hidden creatures?

 I could not resist a close up of these lovely fellows, above and below.  I have always thought that frogs are rather pretty and they do come in a variety of colours in real life too, though not perhaps in floral designs :-)

Reverse applique and free machine quilting are the mediums that James likes to use.
After redundancy in the 80s he attended Art School which shows in the detail of his drawings. 
After getting a feel for his subject by drawing various versions, the final design is traced and reversed onto a base fabric that has a few layers of patterned and plain materials on top.
A free machined straight stitch sandwiches it all together on the reverse side first (one such WIP he was kind enough to show us) until the details are added and layers can be carefully cut away.  Raw edges are covered over with further stitching.

James' work is constantly changing along with society and its expectations. Several works have come into being whilst he made investigations into the craft and careful workmanship that went into the making of protest and trade union banners of the past.

Here is one such that I was drawn to, called Educate. 

The other two in the series are Organize and Agitate.

These next two works could be considered at first glance to be exploring the theme of clothing, but looking closer and you see the darker message.

Below,  in the piece called Non Uniform Day, policemen are dressed in 'Liberty Print' boiler suits to make the point that 

 Love changes things not Hate. Many of us remember the miners strikes of the mid-eighties and the action taken against them that shocked Britain.

Am not sure of the title of this piece, below,  but this is a new kind of 'Riot Gear' that sends fear into people's hearts. The eyes had a quite disturbing effect on me, even though we are, sadly, used to seeing such images on TV.

In this last work, the face of a homeless man, is less intimidating but again an all too familiar sight on our streets. However, there is a quiet strength and dignity about him, that the monochromatic colour scheme highlights.

If you are eager to see more of  James work and see his latest exhibits, click here to go to his website.
I would like to thank James for his permission to photograph and post his wonderful work and for sharing the stories behind his pieces. Long may he continue to stitch and inspire.