Category: My work
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Family Stories
How I use my own and others’ family histories and and objects in my work Pieces from Tool Shed, my grandad’s tools, stitched onto his handkerchiefs. Family histories, memorials, personal collections and individual stories have been part of my practice for a long time, since I first worked with my grandad’s tools and handkerchiefs in…
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Introducing my new book ‘Tangled’ Textile Stories of Care & Connection
Available for pre-order before publication in August My new book, Tangled; Textile Stories of Care and Connection, is almost ready! It’s taken me a really long time to get to this point, but in the end, it has worked out really well. This summer I celebrate 21 years of self-employment as an artist and writer,…
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Nature connection and colour
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Exploring green in the garden During my first nature-based residency in 2023, I read that humans can see more variations of green than of any other colour. That’s because we evolved to live in green places, needing to identify plants and food. I developed a lovely activity to explore this, using threads in many shades…
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Garden retreats for artists – new dates
Creative reflection days for artists in a tranquil, (almost) secret garden in Leicestershire. Over a year from summer 2024 to summer 2025, I was artist in residence at Mill Field Forest Garden, Leicestershire. Over that time, I hosted some open days for artists to come along and experience immersion in nature and chance to breathe…
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Stitching The Garden
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Nature-inspired embroidery workshop in Mill Field Forest Garden on 8th August I keep saying I am going to stop running workshops but I can’t resist one more in the wonderful community garden I help to run. I was artist in residence here 2024-2025 and I still find it endlessly inspiring and I want to share…
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Cherry Blossom and the power of co-creation
Last weekend I went to see Sara Cook’s Cherry Blossom Project in the Garden Museum, London and it was amazing! I don’t often get to take part in other artists’ projects so it was a real treat for me to be on the other side for a change. At the launch Sara talked about the…
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Making Connections
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My own textile work alongside Mary Linwood’s In August, before the Mary Linwood exhibition opened, I took all the work I had made for the exhibition for a photo shoot in St Margaret’s Church, Leicester. This is the church where Mary Linwood is buried and it seemed like the perfect atmospheric location for me to…
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The Generosity of Makers
A reflection on being a generous artist and being part of generous communities A second essay copied over from Substack, where I am taking part in a summer essay-writing challenge hosted by Beth Kempton. This week’s prompt was Generosity. This is not the writing I planned over the course of this week. This is not…
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Writing the stories of damage
An exploration into the details of my textile collecting This short essay was sparked by a writing challenge on Substack, set by Beth Kempton. It’s may first post there, and I am probably not going to change over to writing on Substack rather than on my own places – this website, my printed publications and…
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Make, share, connect
Join me at Cultures of Care Gathering for workshops, talks, films and much more. Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th July, Woodhouse Eaves, Leicestershire. My weekend showcase of my two-year Cultures of Care project is coming up soon. The gathering runs all weekend 10-4, but there are some scheduled programmes and workshops that are part of…