Carol’s award winning machine embroideries are made by stitching directly onto painter’s canvas using a wide range of rayon, metallic, woollen and cotton threads.
Intensive stitching changes the base fabric from a flat surface to one that moves rhythmically with its own unique quality which allows her to draw in a very direct way. The sewing machine needle provides the marks a pencil would make, and the richly coloured threads offer a sumptuous and exciting palette.
About my work-
My current body of work represents ideas and images explored during the last few years.
Boundaries, edges and borders are created by the coming together of fields and pathways, rivers and mountains, beaches, skies and waves.
These forms, along with qualities of light, pattern and colour observed on my travels provide challenges that I try to meet and resolve through thread and line. My most recent work concentrates on skyscapes and seascapes, with more abstract qualities exploresd
Recent exhibitions include a one person touring show "A Stitched Timeline" that was held in venues in London, Harrogate and Dublin in 2018 and the Sunbury Gallery 2019 and a two person show at the Oxmarket Gallery Chichester in 2017.
Other exhibitions include ArtExpo Milan, 2015. Designer Crafts at the Mall Galleries London 2014, Art in Action 2014, the New Ashgate Gallery Contemporary textiles exhibition 2013, Primavera Gallery, Cambridge, featured artist summer 2013, SOFA Santa Fe and Chicago 2011,, as well as many other galleries in the UK and Europe.
In 2013 I won a silver award in the Craft and Design Selected Awards, with Kaffe Fasset as the specialist judge in textiles.
As I manipulate and change the surface of my base fabric by stitching, the earth’s surface provides me with visual stimuli that I seek not to emulate, but to investigate. For me drawing from source and working from first hand experience are essential parts of the creative process.
I look, I record, I select, I develop. If I can’t draw then I make notes, or take photographs as back up. Sometimes I simply rely on the memory of shapes or colours observed. It can be enough to launch a series of works. I constantly revisit my sketchbooks, and one drawing can be reinterpreted in many ways.
I studied Textiles at Goldsmiths School of Art and then went into teaching. Since 1997 I have been freelance, teaching on or giving occasional workshops, lectures and courses, and undertaking residencies in schools, but my primary occupation is in making art. Exhibitions are an important source of feedback as well as a way of reaching the general public. I have also curated exhibitions for the Society of Designer Craftsmen and I have a particular interest in Art in the Healthcare environment and in Education.
Artworks have been purchased for and commissioned by different hospital collections and education authorities and by private clients. I have taught in the USA and New Zealand as a guest lecturer Purchases/commissions include St Richards Hospital Chicheser, Frimley Park Hospital, Surrey, Broomfield Hospital Chelmsford, Essex, Kent County Council and Leeds Education Authority. Other clients include GlaxoSmithKline who purchased two hangings for their European headquarters in Harlow
Work can also be viewed at Primavera, Cambridge.
I have carried out many artists residencies in primary schools. I was Artist in residence at Storrington Primary school 2008-2010
Solo exhibitions
2019 A Stitched Timeline, Sunbury Gallery, 2018 A Stitched Timeline, Alexandra Palce, Dublin and Harrogate 2014, Sewing the Land, Old Chapel Textiles Gallery, Greenham, 2013 - Carol Naylor Textiles, Primavera Gallery, Cambridge 2011 - The Landscape Revisited, with Adam Aaronson and Zest Gallery, SOFA Santa Fe, USA 2009 - Borderlines at the Forge, Forge Gallery, Walberton, West Sussex 2008 - Borderlines, Knitting and Stitch shows, all venues 2004 - Between the Lines, Otter Gallery University College, Chichester 2002 - Bow House Gallery, Solo Textile Artist 2001 - Riverlines and Waterworks, Plough Arts Centre, Torrington, Devon 2000 - River Lines, Quay Arts, Newport, IoW 2000 - Riverlines 2, Stables Theatre Gallery, Hastings 1999 - Featured Artist, Summer Exhibition, The Jaze Gallery, Winchester 1999 - West Dean Gallery, Edward James Foundation, near Chichester 1998 - Fragments in Time, Sheerness Library Gallery, Kent 1995 - Transformaçoes 2, National Museum of Textiles, Lisbon, Portugal
Group exhibitions
2020, Into the Light, with Society of Designer Craftsmen, Oxmarket Gallery Chichester 2018 Elemental with ARTel Contemporary art group, Chichester 2017 Landlines-Bodylines, two person exhibition Oxmarket Arts,, Textile Textures, Walford Mill 2016 Touring exhibition Capability Brown. 2015 ArtExpo, Milan,Chichester 2013 - Contemporary Textiles Fair, Landmark Arts, Teddington, London 2013 - Designer Crafts at the Mall, Mall Galleries, London 2011 - 21st Century Furniture, Arts and Crafts Legacy, Millinery Works Gallery, Southgate Road Islington London 2011 - Contemporary Textiles exhibition, New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, Surrey 2011 - Designer Crafts at the Mall, Mall Galleries, London 2011 - Landscapes, with Zest Gallery, Adam Aaronson and Peter Layton, SOFA, Chicago 2011 - Parallax Art Fair, La Galleria, Royal Opera Arcade, London 2010 - Cunault Art Trail, Cunault, Loire, France 2010 - Pfaff Embroidery Challenge, Landscape, Bibliotheque Forney, Hotel de Sens, Paris, also touring to other venues , France, Belgium, Holland 2010 - Textiles Exhibition, Arthouse Gallery, Borden, Kent 2009 - Designer Crafts at the Mall, Mall Galleries, London 2009 - Permanent collection, SDC Gallery, London 2008 - Designer Crafts at the Mall 2008, Mall Galleries , London 2008 - Textiles Exhibition, Rye Art Gallery, Rye, East Sussex 2007 - Designer Crafts 2007, Mall Galleries, London 2006 - Christmas Exhibition, Studio Gallery, Midhurst, West Sussex 2006 - June Exhibition, Forge Gallery, Walberton, West Sussex 2005 - 1er Salon d'Art Textile, Salle d'Exposition des Arcades, Chantonnay, France 2005 - Autumn Exhibition, Gallery Schomberg, Colchetser 2004 - Spring Exhibition, Byard Art, Cambridge 2003 - Art in Action, Waterperry House, Oxford 2003 - Fusion, Light Infantry Museum and Art Gallery, Durham; Low Parks Museum and Art Gallery, Hamilton, Scotland; Museum and Art Gallery, Cheltenham; Museum and Art Gallery, Portsmouth; Model House Gallery, Llantrisant, Wales; Bonhoga Gallery, Shetlands, Scotland 2003 - Loose Threads, Rufford Crafts, Ollerton, Nottinghamshire 2002 - Artspace, Barn Galleries, Henley-on-Thames 2001 - Textile Showcase, Beatrice Royal Gallery, Eastleigh, Hants 2000 - By Hand, County Hall Gallery, Maidstone, Kent 2000 - Textiles, Artmonsky Arts, St John's Wood, London 1999 - Christmas Showcase, Maltby Contemporary Arts, Winchester 1999 - Fibres, Rufford Craft Centre Gallery, Ollerton, Nottingham 1999 - Society of Designer Craftsmen, Shire Hall Gallery, Stafford 1998 - Alice Kettle and Carol Naylor, Otter Gallery, Chichester 1998 - Summer Quintet, Pam Schomberg Gallery, Colchester, Essex 1995 - Transformaçoes, Museum of Evora, Portugal 1994 - Galeria dos Escudeiros, Beja, Portugal
Private commissions 2012 - Magenta Fields, Chichester, Private residence, Mr and Mrs K Stedman 1998 - Petworth, Private collection, Surrey Public commissions 2005 - Fields in Summer, Frimley Park Hospital Trust, Frimley, Surrey 2004 - Springfields, Broomfield Hospital Trust, Essex 2000 - Fields of Gold, St Marys Hospital, IOW 1997 - Panoramas, St Richards Hospital Trust, Chichester 1994 - Cathedral Vistas, St Richards Hospital Trust, Chichester Educational experience - primary 2008 - Artists Consultancy-a two year residency working with all age groups and advising teaching staff, Storrington Primary School, West Sussex 2005 - Artist in Residence, Jessie Younghusband School, Chichester 2004 - Artist in Residence, The Glade School, Bognor Regis, West Sussex 2002 - Upper Beeding Primary School Residency Other 2008 - Spanish Lavender, Diana Springall Collection, Kent 2005 - Landfall, GlaxoSmithKline collection, Essex 2005 - Meseta, GlaxoSmithKline collection, Essex 1999 - Ebro, Welburn and Co, Abbotsworthy, Winchester
