Tag: artist
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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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Book Launch
Online and in-person launch events for Tangled; Textile Stories of Care & Connection, my new book out very soon Over the weekend of 14th & 15th August, I am celebrating my new book Tangled; Textile Stories of Care & Connection with an online launch on Friday 14th August at 6.30pm and an in-person exhibition and…
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How I accidentally became a writer
And how self-publishing has shaped my career I never expected to call myself a writer. I never expected to call myself an artist, either, but here I am, aged 51 and very much both writer and artist. I started my working life as a museum professional after a couple of academic degrees and from the…
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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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Fragments of a whole
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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…
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Reading & Writing: Making Meaning Podcast Episode 62
A few weeks ago someone told me that she didn’t know I had written several books, so I realised I don’t talk enough about my writing! The podcast is about the writing of those books; three with traditional publishers and three self-published books about my work. The third self-published book is coming very soon, it…
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Stories of Sewing
Why are there so few books about women and their stitches? Where are the stories of sewing women? Where are the memoirs of stitchers and sewers? Thousands of women in this country sew, hundreds of thousands of us sew across the world, millions, surely. Sewing connects women across generations, across continents and cultures and across…