Concepts, processes and techniques
Concepts, processes and techniques
Currently I mainly work collaboratively with partners, including archives, artists, curators and museums. I teach occasional weekend masterclasses in beautiful and intresting places.
Most recently I have been collaborating with the Bradford Textile Archive - drawing inspiration from their collections to make new research informed work.
We and our surroundings are changed and marked by the processes of living. Time and landscape history are significant. My work is often hand stitched, drawing on textile histories including nineteenth century North Country quilts and eighteenth century calico printing around London. Working with the slow and meditative processes of making textiles gives me time to reflect on marks observed, subtleties seen, the changing colours of the seasons, memories made and lives lived.
Influences
I live in Northern England, near the Peak District National Park. The Peak offers a glorious variety of inspiring landscapes shaped and marked by settlement, lead mining, textile production, quarrying and other human activities over millennia. Walking in these landscapes in all weathers has deepened my understanding of their evolution, complexities and subtleties. My book 'Mark making in textile art' (Batsford UK and Interweave USA 2013) shares my creative journey through these landscapes with a wider audience. I am currently working on second book.
Career path
I am a visual artist and writer. Since 1990 I have exhibited my textile work all over the world, often with the international exhibiting group Quilt Art (member 1990-2002), with solo shows in the UK including 'Zen and the art of hand quilting' funded by an Arts Council England Showing grant in London, Dublin, Harrogate 2002. I have worked as a leader and senior manager in the arts, culture and education sectors since the 1990's as a lead artist, in community development, knowledge exchange in Higher Education, graduate enterprise and in partnership and programme development. I currently work as a senior manager at Arts Council England. I have a longstanding interest in and commitment to empowering artists / individuals and organisations, especially in the visual arts, including Open studios, studio groups and artists' professional development.
Solo exhibitions
2002 - Surface, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield by invitation - 3 person show.
2002 - Zen and the art of hand quilting, national touring, London; Dublin; Harrogate
1999 - Cupola Gallery, Sheffield
1993 - Cupola Gallery, Sheffield
Publications
2013 - Mark-making in textile art (Batsford in UK, Interweave in US)
Public commissions
2006 - Here:Now, Weston Park Museum, Sheffield, About Art Gallery
1995 - Cup and Ring, Quilters Guild 90's Collection, Quilters Guild of the British Isles, York or on tour
Competitions, prizes and awards
2008 - Challenging Conversations, Arts Council England , Various locations
2002 - Making and Showing award for Zen show, Arts Council England, Touring London, Dublin, Harrogate
2002 - New Lines Research and Development award , Arts Council England, UK wide
Other activities
2016 Presentation at Enterprising Textiles Yorkshire Chapter Conference on my research and textile art.
2015 Presentation at Infinite and Various Conference on my research and artwork inspired by the Bradford Textile Archive collections
2011 - Weekend Workshop - Stitch, Summer School for Contemporary Quilt Group of Quilters' Guild of British Isles, Ipswich
2008 - Challenging Conversations project - mid career development model, Arts Council England grant funded, Various locations in UK
2006 - Visiting lecturer , Sheffield Hallam University and Galway Institute, Sheffield; Galway, Ireland
2005 - Ambiguous Spaces 2 seminar - speaker/panel member, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, UK
Group exhibitions
2016 Fine Art Quiltmasters Competion NEC 11- 14 August - shortlisted for exhbition
2016 Llangollen Quilt Fest
2015 - Bradford Pick and Mix, Dye House Gallery, Bradford College.
Refabricate, Bradford Cathedral
2013 - Maker's Mark, Beetroot Tree Gallery, Draycott, Derbyshire
2012 - 60 Drawings, Bankley Gallery, Manchester
2012 - acCent! Art quilts of the UK, National Quilt Museum, Paducah, Kentucky, USA
2012 - Festival of Quilts, National Exhibition Centre., Birmingham, UK.
2010 - Festival of Quilts, NEC, Birmingham
2008 - Text Exhibition, Cupola Gallery, Sheffield
2003 - International Quilt Carnival, Nagoya, Japan
2003 - Room to Roam, Fiberarts Gallery, St. Ives, Cornwall
2003 - Tales from the Sewing Room, Nunnington Hall, Yorkshire
2001 - Quilt Art, Moving On, UK and European tour
2000 - Legend and Living Tradition, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham
1999 - Quilt 99, Knitting and Stitching show, London, Dublin, Harrogate
1998 - A Stitch in Time, Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead, England
1998 - Quilt Art, Art Galleries and Museums across Europe, Potsdam, Germany and European tour
1996 - Northern Rock Art, Durham Art Gallery
1995 - Quilt Art 24/60, Various in UK and Europe, National Tour
1994 - Quilters Guild National Exhibition, Edinburgh City Art Centre 1994 - Quiltshow, Town Hall, Leeds City Art Gallery / Dortmund Gallery, Leeds, UK and Dortmund, Germany; 1992 - Quilt Art of Japan, tour of Japan and California; 1992 - The Art of the Quilt, Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead, England
Artist talks
2009 - Circle, line and square, Quilters' Guild, St Anthony's Hall, York
2002 - Celebrity Quilt Lecture, OPUS School of Textile Arts, London
2000 - Annual Celebrity Quilt Lecture, London Quilters, London
2000 - Material Origins Lecture, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham
