Wednesday, 6 August 2025

derbyshire makes - dare to dream

Wow! Was totally blown away by the generosity and care the Heanor Library Craft Group and Sewing Group that meet at Infinite Wellbeing in Heanor have focused into their textile patches for the Derbyshire Makes Dare to Dream project.

The textile pieces have taken hours and hours of work and are a stitched love letter to Derbyshire! The groups are so supportive of each other, sharing ideas, skills and encouragement.

These pieces are being uploaded to the digital loom, which is growing day by day. Check out the link for information on how to submit your own artwork to the loom.

Inspired by the past and looking to the future ๐Ÿ’š



Monday, 4 August 2025

cultures of care gathering

A couple of weekends ago I was delighted to travel to Woodhouse Eaves in Leicestershire and attend the Cultures of Care Gathering hosted by artist Ruth Singer.

Cultures of Care is Ruth's ACE funded project. I worked on the Care Collaboration element, alongside Mandeep Dhadialla.

It was so good to reflect upon and revisit what inspired the making of, and experience of wearing my handmade Walking Skirt with attendees. After giving my talk I spent a wonderful hour in the company of lovely humans. Participants bought along a garment and stitched words about walking and shapes representing the landscapes they live in into their clothes.

Image by Ruth Singer

Photo on screen by Clare Logan

Friday, 1 August 2025

do you want to see a fabulous show?

Celebration is showing at the QUAD Gallery in Derby until 29th August 2025!

The exhibition showcases the creative achievements of children and young people from Virtual School and QUAD's Schools in Residence Programme funded by the Paul Hamlin Foundation's Arts-Based Learning Fund.  

I was delighted to work with an amazing group of year 3 pupils from Pear Tree Community Junior School! The group created these fabulous 'Semotion' flags, inspired by semaphore: a visual signalling method to convey information at a distance. 

Visitors are invited to select a flag and share their feelings - the semaphore alphabet is displayed and using two flags messages can be spelled out for others to interpret in the gallery. What would you share?

Big thank you to QUAD and Mandy McKirdy, Schools in Residence Producer.

Expressive mark-making on fabric using pencils, fabric pens & paint

Flags expressing feelings
 •confused •happy •fine •joy •proud •disappointed 
•scared •anger •love •jealous •sad •excited

Do you want to see a fabulous show?

Friday, 9 May 2025

dare to dream pillowcase banners ๐Ÿ™‚

The weekend of the 5th & 6th of April served sunshine in a brilliant blue sky! We were so fortunate!

It was wonderful to share Dare to Dream, the mass participation element of Derbyshire Makes: an opportunity to stitch hopes and dreams for the future in Derbyshire using sustainable fabrics from the Play & Recycling Centre - Derby.

15 participants kindly left their work to be added to the pillowcase banners, shown below - stunning! Some wrote down the motivation and thoughts behind their stitches, and I added these to the work using a wooden typeface set - wise and generous words. There are more textile patches out in the world, taken home to be treasured and worked into - I like to think of these as 'siblings' of the textile patches below, becoming part of everyday life, mementoes of a shared expression of hope in Heanor.

Unity, Derbyshire Makes - Heanor

All Roads Lead to Derbyshire, Derbyshire makes - Heanor




Tuesday, 8 April 2025

make

Photo by Karen at Make/Shift

Dare to Dream
Derbyshire Makes Festival - Heanor
5th/6th April 2025

derbyshire makes festival - Heanor

What a brilliant weekend. Heanor market place was buzzing with fun, connection, creativity and positive energy. 

I had a blast running Dare to Dream, the mass participation element of Derbyshire Makes: a chance to stitch hopes and dreams for the future using sustainable fabrics from the Play & Recycling Centre - Derby.

We were blessed with gorgeous weather, and it was lovely to see Heanor create, play and stitch together. 

A MAKEFESTO!

Young maker

First stitches

All roads lead to Derbyshire

Dare to Dream - tolerant people

Generations

Stitcher from Portugal

Friendship

"Friendship is so important, a smile, a friendly nod can mean so much. Don't be afraid 
to talk to someone, you might be the only person they connect with all day."

Friday, 4 April 2025

derbyshire makes festival - heanor - dare to dream

YESSS! I'm all prepped for the Derbyshire Makes Festival - Heanor this weekend (5th/6th April), programmed by Make/Shift ๐Ÿ–️๐Ÿชก๐Ÿงต

'Dare to Dream - Inspired by Heanor's rich textile and making heritage join artist Karen Logan and create a unique hand stitched textile patch to share your stories and hopes for the future. Pin your precious patch to the Dare to Dream repurposed pillowcases and take a selfie. At the end of the festival the patches will be stitched to the pillowcases to create stunning flags showcasing hope in Heanor. Let's fly the flag for Derbyshire!'

FREE. Drop-in, no booking required. All materials provided.


Cotton reels & threads from my stash & Derby Play & Recycling Centre

Dare to Dream map - research on the manufacturing history of Heanor & Langley Mill - will anyone recognise names & faces?