A couple of weeks ago I attended this year’s Dulwich Festival: Artists’ Open House. I mainly focused on the artists in Havelock Walk. 

Artists’ Open House has been running for the last 15 years and there are so many artists to discover during the two weekends. The festival usually take place in the second and third weekends of May.  

The only additional house visit that I did was to visit 6 Tarleton Gardens, which had this delightful yellow pop of colour where there were two artists’ work on show - Emily Jo Gibbs and Bridget Bailey. Both artists were unique in their styles, but they were the ones that really stood out for me from the whole day due to their use of textiles in their work.

Emily Jo Gibbs creates hand-stitched textiles that have a delicate graphic quality. Her inspirations come from observing the quiet beauty of things. The work on display was hand-stitched silk organza appliqué on linen from her portraits and still life collections. On a computer screen it’s hard to tell, but when you stand in front of her work you really notice the fibres of the fabric and the immaculate stitches.

Bridget Bailey exhibited ‘Flora and Fauna’, which is an installation made from tiny individual sculptures inspired by allotment gardening. I really appreciate the intricate detailing shown in her work. Some of the sculptures are strikingly large and others are very delicate in size.

Here are some photos that I took while I wandered around: