NEWS!

   A Celebration of Rag Rugs - a new national exhibition...

A Celebration of Rag Rugs  is a national exhibition which has just opened in the Millenium Gallery at Nantwich Museum and runs until Saturday 17th July. Read full details...

The dates have been set for the Victoria Mill Open Art Exhibition. The celebration of local creativity will take place from Friday 7th May to Friday 21st May at Victoria Mill Arts Centre, Foundry Bank, Congleton, Cheshire  CW12 1EE.

The exhibition will showcase the creations of artists within three categories- Adult, Student and 16 years and under. There will be prizes for each category and a prize for the Public’s Choice. This is a great opportunity for professional and amateur artists to come together and present a stunning exhibition So, if you're an artist please do consider submitting up to three of your works - including paintings, sculpture, ceramics, Textile Art. We are looking for originality, quality and the unusual. The Victoria Mill Arts Centre will be accepting submissions during the week 26th April 2010 to 4th Tuesday May 2010, so you have plenty of time to create something new.

There will be a grand Private view for selected artists, their families and friends on Friday 7th May 2010.

For conditions of entry and submission form, please contact victoriamillartcentre@googlemail.com or admin@victoriamillartscentre.com, www.victoriamillartscentre.com Or visit Victoria Mill Arts Centre, Foundry Bank, Congleton, Cheshire. CW12 1EE.

Get those creative juices flowing with the annual Textile Holiday Tours Challenge. Textile Holiday Tours are a travel company that offers specialist, small-group textile tours within the UK. A chance to discover and be inspired by the rich variety of textiles, both historic and contemporary, in stately homes, churches, cathedrals, castles, cottages and studios across the UK. If you've been on one of our tours and feel inspired to produce a piece of textile work, then this could be the challenge you're looking for!

This challenge is purely for fun (no Ferrari prizes I'm afraid!), but as a textile maker myself, I know how much we enjoy a challenge (and the motivation!) to make something.

The challenge

The theme for 2010 is 'The Rose'. Using the rose as your starting point, you can produce a piece of work in any textile medium; knitting, crochet, tapestry, embroidery, mixed media, lace, cross-stitch, goldwork, blackwork, patchwork, quilting - the list is endless! There are no restrictions on size. The only thing we do insist on is that you have fun!

Submitting your work

Simply take a photo of your completed work, and if you have a photo of your original inspiration piece, taken on one of our trips, it would be great to display this alongside your finished piece. Then email jpeg(s) together with the name of the work. Don't forget to send us your name and contact details.

Email challenge1@textileholidaytours.co.uk

All entries will be posted on the Textile Holiday Tours web site soon after we receive them. If you are shy about showing your work, then we can post it to the site anonymously, just let us know. Closing date for this challenge is November 30th 2010.
All these jpegs and email beyond you but you would like to submit some work? Then just contact us by telephone, 01621 869089, to discuss options.
Enjoy yourself, and we look forward to seeing the entries - you never know, we might get generous with a small prize!

For more details about Textile Holiday Tours please see - www.textileholidaytours.co.uk

The Macclesfield Loop consists of an online blog and e-guide to ‘What’s On’ in Macclesfield. The Loop e-guide will be sent to your inbox every 6 weeks giving you a round up of exhibitions, workshops, talks, theatre, concerts, farmers markets, gigs and in fact anything that catches the loop’s eye.  More......

We are very pleased that the Silk Museum in Macclesfield will be the venue for the Textile Society's AGM next weekend, 25th-27th September. This will be a great end to the year of the first Three Shires Textile Festival. More......