Collected Joy
What an absolute privilege it is to be writing on joy in a moment when our world feels increasingly complicated. It makes the past months work with an incredible group of creatives feel all the more meaningful and relevant. I’m proud to present this exhibition, Collected Joy, with works submitted from our first ever Joyful Embroidery course group. The ethos of the course is strongly aligned with the heart of my work which is to identify and explore the materials, methods and moments that bring you joy and use them as fuel for your creative practice.
Collected Joy represents our collective creative journey and the physical collecting of knowledge, community and inspiration that we have all enjoyed over this magical time. By connecting to the truth of what brings us joy we can connect authentically to our process. The more challenging learnings become gifts instead of failures as we move closer and closer to that mind, heart, hand connection that allows us to fully express our unique creative process. To see this collection of stitched artworks created by some of the many creatives that participated in the course is both humbling and inspiring. It is clear that they committed to a sustained and challenging practice and embraced the brief which was to share work that they have created that represents our theme.
It is endlessly inspiring to see each creative approach their work and mark making in such individual ways, I can feel the essence of their joy in each piece. Sincere thanks to all of the participants of Joyful Embroidery and congratulations to all of the exhibition creatives, it is no small thing to share your work with the world. By doing so you are contributing to further the joy of creativity and that is both a service to yourself and your wider community. In a world that truly needs more joy, you have delivered.
With gratitude,
Fleur Woods
