Threads in Sheds: Artists

Anne-Elise Angas

anneelisegray@hotmail.com
www.anne-eliseangas.co.uk

Tapestry weaving provides the opportunity to add sculptural and textural qualities to a story. I do this through incorporating traditional 3d techniques in a contemporary style. Graffiti has always been used as a form of self-expression, sometimes purely as an act of defiance. It interests me to know that I am transforming the hurried impermanent painted word into the historical craft of tapestry. In addition, I represent it with the most time-consuming technique in this tapestry, the tufting.

Jackie Bennett

https://jackietapestry@gmail.com
www.jackietapestry.com

I have been creating in woven form for over 25 years. I aim to capture the essence of thoughts and feelings as a physical, textural expression, through a conscious choice of the yarns used. Japanese and other non- Western art often informs my compositions. Technically, I am inspired by Tadek Beutlich and other artists of the 1970s Fibre Art movement. I undertook the Postgraduate Diploma in Tapestry Weaving at West Dean College in 1996-7, teach and exhibit locally, nationally and internationally.

Jane Brunning

janebrunning1952@gmail.com
www.janebrunningtapestry.co.uk

I walk on West Beach near where I live. I love how the sea and the sand is different everyday. The beach has an area of sand dunes, pebbles and at low tide a long expanse of sand. I love the patterns created on the sand by the tide and I am always photographing and sketching them.

Claire Buckley

clairebuckleytextiles@gmail.com
www.clairebuckleytextiles.com

Living by the sea I am fortunate to forage on the beach for sea treasures most days. Shells are the hard protective outer case of a living creature, broken open revealing beautiful swirling forms of the inner structures and colours. Looking inwards for inspiration finding fragility with strength in a torn state.

Tapestry weaving is often a very solid and strong construction. My work breaks this notion and is soft and gentle with different textures and threads escaping the structure.

Eleonora Budden

eleonora.budden@gmail.com

Creating a narrative in tapestry is the most satisfying task. Long before I discovered tapestry weaving, I read a book in which one of the characters, Becca Weaver, was a tapestry weaver, and the characters she wove came to be in the world as she wove them. That is how tapestry weaving makes me feel. Whether figurative or abstract, it is the challenge of something new that always inspires me.

Elizabeth Chester

artchester@btinternet.com
www.elizabethchester.co.uk
Instagram: @liztheweaver

Landscape and sense of place plays a key part in my work. I am particularly drawn to the meditative peace which can be found in wild landscapes; the sense of a moment in time captured. The local rivers' reed beds produce an endless, shimmering, swirling concoction of greens.

Veronica Collins

vt_collins@btinternet.com
www.culrossyarn.co.uk

Generally, inspiration comes as a reaction to an image or event, triggered by some combination of colour, form, connection and a story worth exploration. Evolving thoughts and ideas during the weaving are vital.

Alastair Duncan

alastair@acmd.co.uk
www.alastair-duncan.com

The focus of my work themes in recent years has been interconnection with the world around us and our perception of different environments both natural and man-made. This has included interactive audio within the tapestries because my specific interest in environmental texture extends to sound. I find the relationship between the tactile nature of weaving and field recording to be very close.

Anne-Kirsti Espenes

anne.espenes@gmail.com
http://www.arakne.no/akespenes/index.htm

Colour is important to me. I love blending. I am driven by the excitement caused by adding a new blend to the previous mixtures. I could never have had somebody else to weave my tapestries. The sketch is just a guidance. Gradually, while weaving, I find that the work in progress is coming alive. I have an idea, but then the material has other ideas. I keep responding, and the work emerges from this process.

Marilyn Eustice

marilyneustice@gmail.com
Instagram: @marilyneustice

I am inspired by my natural surroundings. Having always lived by the sea, I have an instinctive feeling for its movement and colour, which seems to find its way into much of my work.

Irene Evison

irene@nearlywild.org
https://nearlywildweaving.wordpress.com
Facebook / Instagram: @NearlyWildWeaving

Inspired by the natural world, one of my favourite things is sitting outdoors 'weaving the view', distilling key elements of the view to create a tapestry in just a few hours. Afterwards, I'm reminded of the birdsong, breeze and sense of wellbeing that I experienced while weaving. My practice also includes much more in-depth studio-designed pieces.

With a colleague, I run Nearly Wild Weaving. I'm involved with the British Tapestry Group committee and the editorial team for Tapestry Weaver magazine.

Paulette Furnival

paulette.furnival@outlook.com

After a lifetime of dipping into different craft skills, I met some tapestry weavers at an exhibition and was immediately captivated by their work.

I was brought up in Africa, absorbing vibrant colour, strong pattern and endless vistas, but now live in Devon where the colours are muted and the landscape softer. Whilst trying to reconcile my differing visual experiences, I still find myself drawn towards exuberant colours and have recently been experimenting with three dimensional tapestry.

Lorna C Goldsmith

goldsmithic@gmail.com
https://www.lgoldsmithtextileart.com

Materials can stimulate and challenge new ways of thinking about the traditional expression possible in tapestry weaving. My work often experiments with ways of working with the structure of the woven fabric. Expressive effects are created that can evoke a mood or tempt physical touch.

Trisha Gow

www.dyeingtoweave.co.uk

My inspiration is from nature, landscape and water. I spin and dye and weave natural fibres. I specialise in using fungi dyes. I am currently working with fungi enthusiasts who wish to learn about this dye process. I often weave irregular shapes into the warp and love the textures in the weave. 

Penny Howes

pennyhowes@hotmail

As a weaver, I enjoy working on a floor loom and frame looms, using a wide variety of yarns, and am inspired by colour and texture. I take photographs of details and effects of light on walks in woods nearby.

Maggie Kateley

maggiek0203@yahoo.co.uk

I have been weaving tapestries since my retirement and have been fortunate to learn from inspirational weavers. I have

worked with a wide range of yarns and materials and love using natural fibres such as hemp, nettle, linen and silk to express my designs. I am inspired by the intricate forms of the natural world and the interdependency of all living things. I try to express my emotional responses to situations and experiences, using colour and texture to convey depth of feeling.

Jane Kirby

As a relatively inexperienced weaver, this is the largest piece I have attempted so far. I still have much to learn about translating the ideas in my head into woven tapestries, but I am enjoying the journey!

Robbie La Fleur

lafleur1801@me.com
https://robbielafleur.com/

Robbie LaFleur, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a handweaver of contemporary textiles inspired by Scandinavian folk textiles. She studied weaving in Norway and her tapestries are often inspired by historical Norwegian billedvev (tapestry, or literally 'picture weaving').

Veronica Madden

veronica.madden@hotmail.co.uk
Instagram: @veronicamaddentapestry

Graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 1997 with a degree in Tapestry, I have been a secondary teacher of Art and Design for over twenty years. I am inspired by my students.

The coast of Scotland is the inspiration for my work. I love the contrasts: the power of the sea juxtaposed to the calm feeling when I am there. Exploring natural forms; rhythm and balance in shape, colour and texture emerge subconsciously in my work, whether drawing or weaving.

Lindsey Marshall

lb.marshall@btinternet.com
www.lindseymarshalldesign.com

Textiles have been my main area of practice since 2010, following a career in visual communication. Work encompasses various materials and techniques such as woven tapestry, knotting and wrapping. Concepts usually develop from sketches, either from observation or thoughts. Some need structural planning to make them a reality but there is no fixed methodology and often pieces develop in an organic way, the materials and techniques influencing the interpretation. My work has been exhibited in the UK and internationally.

Sarah McLean

sarah.s.mclean@gmail.com
Instagram: sara.s.mclean

Inspiration strikes unexpectedly, a walk, tv programme, art exhibition, casual conversations....

Try to create work that is best realised as a woven tapestry.

Use a simple colour palette of around half a dozen colours for each work.

Jillian Morris

info@jillianmorris.co.uk
www.jillianmorris.co.uk

Our attic window has a distant view of the coastlines of both Devon and Cornwall. Less wild and rugged than other parts of the SW coast path, it nevertheless satisfies a need to be near the sea, and enjoying the simple pleasure of collecting shells and 'curious finds' from the beach for my studio shelves.

I love weaving with paper yarns, and having recently returned to tapestry. I'm experimenting with less conventional yarns from my stash.

Yoshiko Nakano

yoshiko.tapestry@gmail.com
https://yoshikonakano.com/

Time and memories come into existence in relation to social surroundings and the natural environment. My everyday life is closely related to the people and the nature around me.?

I draw, paint or stitch daily on my sketchbook instead of writing letters. It often grows into woven pieces. I love this slow procedure of building my internal landscape into a tangible tapestry as it allows me to use a range of textures and colours of materials to give fascinating lights and shadows to express my thoughts.

Hilary O'Connell

hilaryoc2017@icloud.com

Almost ten years ago I was lucky to visit the BTG South East Exhibition at The Mill in Angmering, West Sussex. I was so impressed with the variety of weavings on display, their colour, subject matter, techniques and size! I thought 'I could do that' so immediately booked for a course with Jane Brunning. That was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. I started with representational weavings but then veered towards the more abstract and this is where I am now. Weaving has given me a perfect way of expressing what I feel into a tactile and visual medium, one that I am very proud of.

Suzanne Osborn

suzosborn10@gmail.com

Having trained originally in weaving on Jacquard looms, I was delighted when later in life I discovered the pleasures of experimental tapestry weaving, using simpler equipment but being given a greater scope for textures and colour mixing. I enjoyed exploiting the greater scope of yarns to experiment with a variety of woven effects and textural surfaces.

Christine Paine

christine.paine@tideline.net
https://christinepaine.tideline.net/home/1/

Tapestry weaving is my artistic outlet. I live and weave near the sea in Christchurch, Dorset, observing nature in the rhythms of tides and seasons. My weavings are meditations on colour, space, and perspective. Figures of women reflect wider concerns and tell the story.

Carolyn Perry

carolynperry1947@gmail.com

I have been weaving for 15 years after a background in printed textiles and embroidery; pattern always features in my work. This is my first piece which comprises predominantly silk.

Jane Riley

jane.riley1@virginmedia.com
www.rookwoodandhoot.co.uk

My work reflects a lifelong passion and love of the British coastline. Long walks along cliffs and beaches, collecting, recording and drawing treasures from the strandline, waiting for perfect tides and peering into rockpools. My sketchbooks, photographs and notes are then developed and reimagined as woven tapestries. I particularly enjoy looking at diversity and fragility of seaweeds (macro-algae) and our beautiful marine and coastal wildlife, whose future depends on careful management and protection of habitats.

Jean Roberts

I have always lived in Wales and my work reflects both my heritage and current events. To start a work I make many small sketches, selecting one I then use cut out or torn coloured paper to make a full size design of the tapestry. I find the spinning and natural dyeing of the yarns as creative as the weaving.

Minna Rothman

MZRStudio@comcast.net
https://www.mzrstudio.com
Facebook: Minna Rothman
Instagram: minnarothman

I design and create handwoven tapestries because they make me happy.

As a practice, I use silk extensively in all my weavings to enhance wool colours. Depending on the gauge, sometimes a single strand of silk is used (such as silk boucle), but most often the silk threads are blended with other fibres in a bundle.

Christine Sawyer

christinemsawyer@talktalk.net
www.axisweb.org/p/christinesawyer

The way image and structure are integrated in woven tapestry is the reason I enjoy the process so much. Ideas can come from many sources, but I have been concerned with environmental issues for some time.

Drawing and colour studies lead to a guiding cartoon, I choose materials, format and scale to fit the initial train of thought. A newly strung warp, full of potential, is still a thrill even after so many years

Matty Smith

mattysmith.smith@gmail.com
www.thebritishtapestrygroup.co.uk/showcase/matty-smith

I dream; I watch; I see; I plan; I explore; I experiment.... I weave. Repeat.

Mike Wallace

mikewallaceuk@yahoo.co.uk
www.mikewallaceart.co.uk

Combining my interests in textiles (weaving, quilting, etc.), metal work, book binding etc. is one of the most satisfying aspects of my creative activity.

Monica Ward

anthonyward361@btinternet.com

I have always been interested and enjoyed the work of Naive painters, and like to feel my work shows some of the same qualities, in the use of colour, the lack of perspective and the simplification of the figures in a slightly comic way.

Anna Wetherell

annawtapestry@btinternet.com
https://nearlywildweaving.wordpress.com

Threads in Sheds. Weaving Sheds. Sheds for Threads.

Water powered sheds - fulling mill, silk mill, corn mill, paper mill.

Chalk stream, powering life.

So the mind goes, wanders.

But also - wool from my limestone Dales to yours. Silk from the Mill, returning home.

A life spent with rocks, with water, caring for these rare and precious watery habitats.

Fascination with time, with landscape, with sense of place.

And so, a tapestry is born.