My work as a teacher left little time to continue the dressmaking, knitting, crochet and embroidery which I enjoyed so much and it is only since I retired that I have returned to these creative activities and discovered a whole new textile art world.
Although I love words, songs and poetry, my work is usually inspired by pictures - things I have seen or places I have been. I make no attempt to recreate them literally, preferring to work with symbols, texture and, most significantly, with colour to create abstract images, sometimes including metal, but mainly using an embellisher, hand and machine embroidery, felt, fabric, yarn and beads.
Since joining Traverse, I have expanded my practice, through discussion and valuable skill-sharing within the group, and I've particularly enjoyed exploring the use of paint on various surfaces and also working in 3D, which is reflected in some of my work for our most recent exhibitions, 'Revealed' (2019) and 'Please Touch' (2019 & 2020).Please Touch
These pieces were designed specifically to be explored by touch, with a focus on a variety of interesting textures created in different ways. Some of my 'Revealed' pieces were also included in Please Touch (see captions on individual Revealed photos).
Twisting Triangles was included as part of a Please Touch blog post here, where I wrote a little about the design and the process of creating the kaleidocycle. The embellished surface was heavily embroidered by hand and machine, with beads to add to the texture and the movement added another level of interest to the piece. I was very pleased with it.
Weaving Waves
Woven painted card, printed with hand made printing blocks, machine stitched
Mono Media
Layered synthetics, heat treated, mounted on cotton duck, machine stitch, acrylic paint
Tower of Holes
Vessel, wet-felted with resists, decorated with hand stitch
Different layers and surfaces are revealed, having either
been cut or burned away; this creates contrasting textures, reminiscent of contour
lines and the hidden third dimension within them, or archetypal symbols and ancient vessels. These textured surfaces are then decorated with
stitch or sometimes layers of paint, which in turn are rubbed away, showing further
hidden shades of colour beneath.
Spiral Space
Wet felted with spiral resist, yarn, threads & pre-felted shapes, hand & machine stitch
Wet felted with spiral resist, yarn, threads & pre-felted shapes, hand & machine stitch
Spiralscape
Wet felted with multiple resist layers & insertions, needle-felted yarn & simple hand stitch
Rainshine
Wet felted with multiple resist layers and metal insertions
Wet felted with multiple resist layers and metal insertions
Rainbow Totem
Wet felting with resists, nuno-felted with silk chiffon
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Blues Bowl
Modroc, scrim, acrylic paint, hand embroidery (also Please Touch)
Modroc, scrim, acrylic paint, hand embroidery (also Please Touch)
Red Gold Rising (tealight vessel)
Soluble Fabric, machine embroidered with mixed media
inclusions, fabric hardener
Copper Contours
Reverse applique with copper, velvet, organza, silk, hand
& machine embroidery, hand-made beads
Twisted Tower
Layered synthetics, machine stitch, heat treated, central
band of metal foil, acrylic paint
(also Please Touch)
(also Please Touch)
Starshine (lampcover)
Copper shim and mesh, stainless steel fabric, heat treated,
digital imagery, layered synthetics, heat treated, hand & machine stitch,
sequins and beads
Destinations
My work for ‘Destinations’ (2018) was inspired by landscapes – real and imaginary - either memories of favourite places or those in books I’d read. I was also exploring views of the Earth from space and developing work on landscapes which are hidden from conventional viewpoints.
Felt, yarn & velvet, needle felted by hand and an embellisher with free motion machine embroidery and some hand stitching
Peel Street Caves, Nottingham
Reverse appliqué velvet over copper shim on an embellished background with hand embroidery and beads
Zanskar, 'Little Tibet', Northern India
Reverse appliqué, red felt and gold silk symbols on embellished fabric with machine and hand embroidery
Tracks, Australian Desert
Merino wool tops, wet felted with silk fibres and yarn, cut back and stitched by hand
St Ives
Wet felted merino wool tops and silk fibres with free motion embroidery and hand stitch
Giverny
Free motion machine and hand embroidery on soluble fabric mounted on an embellished felt background
Examples of previous work
‘Floating Flowers’ (46cm x 36cm) - mainly using an embellisher, some heat treatment of sheer synthetics, hand and machine embroidery and beads
Mixed Weaving (40cm x 26cm) – yarn warp, woven with fabric strips, yarns, copper strips and wire of varying gauges, a few wooden beads. Handmade beads, using heat on lutradur, Tyvek and cellophane hanging from the warp
