Category: research
-
Material Histories, Making in the Home with Deborah McGuire: Making Meaning Episode 68
This episode is the second of the occasional mini series Material Histories with Deb McGuire. In this episode we are talking about what it means to work from the home, to work alongside domestic life and how that worked for women makers in the past. We both share our very different experiences of home /…
-
Tangled: Textile Stories of Care & Connection Making Meaning Episode 67
—
by
In August I launched my new self-published book Tangled. It’s been a long journey from idea in 2018 to finally having the books in my hands in 2026. In this episode I’ll read extracts from the book, explain how it came about and respond to some questions asked in my online and in-person book launches…
-
Red clay and faded madder
Following the day’s colour prompt, I looked for a summer orange but what I found was an autumn russet, terracotta, brick. Had it been a sunny day, I might have thought of Tuscan roof tiles, glowing at sunset, but on an overcast, post-heatwave day when everything seems faded, it’s brick I see. Good, solid English…
-
Material Histories, Showing and Sharing Textiles: Making Meaning Episode 66
This episode is the second of the occasional mini series Material Histories with Deb McGuire. In this one we have a wonderful wide-ranging conversation starting with what we look for in quilt shows but covers far more than that. We talk about the power of connecting through making, about showing and sharing textile works and…
-
21 Years of Ruth Singer, artist and writer. Making Meaning Episode 65
—
by
This month, July 2026 marks 21 years since I left a very nice, well-paid job in the museum sector (at the V&A no less) and set off on this journey of second-career self-employment. It’s been varied to say the least and full of successes and failures, risks and rewards. In this new podcast episode I…
-
Where Do I Get My Ideas From? Making Meaning Episode 64
I have been asked about my ideas and where they come from more than anything else in my 21 year career (although “How long did it take to make?” must be a close second). It’s really hard for me to define where each idea came from but I’ve given it a go in this podcast.…
-
Introducing Material Histories with Deb McGuire. Making Meaning Episode 63
Material Histories is a new mini-series of Making Meaning Podcast with special guest co-host Deb McGuire. Deb is a brilliant historian, specialising in emotional histories of quilting, but she’s incredibly knowledgable about all kinds of things. We have so many overlapping interests and things we really want to talk about in the world of textile…
-
Fragments of a whole
—
by
What we lose when we cut things up As I prepare for my annual visit to the Antique Textiles Fair next week, I look back to a visit a couple of years ago and reflect on what I found, and what was missing. I crawled out of bed horribly early, in the dark, to get…
-
Accomplishments and Imagined Mementoes: Making Meaning Podcast Episode 61
This week’s episode is about the new body of work I made for Mary Linwood; Art, Stitch & Life exhibition. Alongside researching, curating and writing the first exhibition of Mary Linwood’s work in 75 year, I also created seven new artworks reflecting elements of Mary Linwood’s life and legacy. These pieces fill in gaps in…
-
How to recognise a Mary Linwood embroidery
Attributions and confusions, Mary Linwood’s Lost Legacy During my research into Mary Linwood, I came across plenty of embroideries that had been attributed to her in the past. There are also some in museums that I am not convinced are actually by Mary Linwood and some that have been auctioned in recent years that look…