Category: History
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Lines and Places
Landscape history and artist practice After a hedge-hiatus early this year for my Blossom & Thorn project, I’m back to my previous landscape project. I’m slowly walking all of the paths in a 10 square mile-ish area near my home and looking for interesting things like old boundaries, ancient woodlands, good hedges, ridge and furrow…
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Following Paths and Hedges
Paths and boundaries are where I started with the creative journey of making Blossom & Thorn, my project about the stories of hedges in the National Forest.
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Timber Festival and Hedges
My Blossom & Thorn project exploring hedges in the National Forest comes to fruition with a showcase of the artwork at Timber Festival this July. This week is National Hedgerow Week, the perfect time to get out and explore some hedges near you. This project focuses on hedges alongside or near the National Forest Way…
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Hedge walks
Like the hedges, my Blossom & Thorn project is in bloom now! Last weekend I led a guided walk along a section of the National Forest Way in Leicestershire. 14 of us (and one dog) explored several stretches of hedges in really varied condition. Some were closely clipped and others gone semi-wild, while others were…
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Stitches That Speak Symposium
On 20th April I’m giving a talk for a symposium at De Montfort University, Leicester. The programme is full of fascinating talks and presentations about biographies through objects. My presentation description is below. The event is free and all are welcome. Emotional Repair: personal stories in cloth and stitch My artist practice is entirely tied…
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English Smocking
It’s been fascinating recently seeing smocking pop up in my Instagram feed. It feels like there’s been a flurry of new interest in this old technique recently. Traditional English smocking has a very fine history from farming smocks of the mid-19th century to to Aesthetic Liberty gowns of the late 19th century as well as…
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Criminal Quilts Case Study – Fanny and Ada Riddle
Criminal Quilts is my an exhibition, research project and book. The textiles I have created are inspired by the stories of women who were photographed on release from Stafford Prison between 1877 and 1916. I was fascinated when I first saw the photographs from the 1870s where the women have their hands on their chests.…