Window on Weaving: Artists

Margaret Appa

+44 07803 500 279 

I began as a self-taught weaver until meeting up with my now weaving family around ten years ago. I am inspired by colour and the feel of yarns and the variety of materials for weaving, as well as the myriad techniques and possibilities offered to create surfaces and patterns, and translate ideas into a visual form.

Jackie Bennett

www.jackietapestry.com
www.instagram.com/jackietapestry

I love to teach weaving one-to-one and in small groups and run bespoke workshops for organisations. I exhibit locally, nationally and internationally. Recent exhibitions include Talking Sense at the Portico Library, Manchester, and Interface, a tapestry international touring show.

Marion Borthwick

Jane Brunning

+44 0780 5371 871
jane.brunning@virgin.net

I have a studio in Angmering where I create my own work and run workshops for tapestry weavers at all levels.

Claire Buckley

www.clairebuckleytextiles.com
www.instagram.com/clairebuckleytextiles
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As a textile artist, educator and author I am concerned not only with developing my technical skills and the visual qualities of my work but also to share and support the creative development of others. I have an MA Visual Arts from West Dean College, where I specialised in Tapestry and Textile Arts. I work in woven and embroidered textiles where the focus is on colour and pattern.

Eleonora Budden. 

www.instagram.com/ebtapestry
eleonora.budden@gmail.com
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A jewellery-maker in Buenos Aires, my birthplace, later in Ibiza and London. In the 1980s I graduated in computer science, specialising in HCI (how people interact with computers) and accessibility. After retiring I explored several forms of textile crafts, discovering tapestry weaving in 2014. Since then I have attended courses at Morley College given by William Jefferies and Caron Penney.

Gillian Bull

www.bullthreads.co.uk
gillianbull977@gmail.com

I’m now settled into a house with lots of studio spaces in Sandwich, east Kent.

Hilary Charlesworth

www.totallytextiles.co.uk
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I have been weaving for about 35 years, specialising in Tapestry and Rug weaving.

I teach woven tapestry and a variety of tex5le techniques in my studio in West Sussex and elsewhere.

Barb Cove

www.instagram.com/Barbara.Cove

Presently I enjoy this colour palette of yellow, green, white and black, and combinations of all those to create small weavings.  I like to combine other forms of 'making' using wrapping (I use wire and calico as a base to then wrap around)  sisal, fabric stiffener and acrylic paint to create forms to add another dimension to hold weaving.

Julie Davies

www.instagram.com/juliedaviestapestrystudio

I enjoy the process of creating painterly marks and translating them into woven tapestry using cotton, wool and linen to reflect my interest in quantum physics and my love of the natural world

Christine Eborall

christine.eborall@btinternet.com
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Because of long-standing concerns about the environment, all my tapestries are woven in discarded and usually un-reusable materials, predominantly plastic. Packaging of course, but also plastic discarded by industry, notably construction, fishing and shipping.

My designs aim to convey my frustration and concern about the environmental and social challenges of today’s world. I’m inspired partly by the materials themselves and their textures and colours, and partly by the endless images and influences of modern life, particularly graffiti and protest.

Marilyn Eustice

+44 07786 406 730
marilyneustice@gmail.com

I started as a cloth weaver but have moved on to tapestry weaving, as the scope for creativity is endless.

Lesley Frame

lesleyrframe@gmail.com

I’ve been tapestry weaving for several years now and for me this builds on a lifetime’s interest in textiles, wool and knitting.

I particularly enjoy expressing the essence of what I see in the world around me in an abstracted way, and the process of creating something that requires thought, imagination and detail work with my hands.  

I hope I succeed in creating works that bring a little pleasure to those who view them.   

Jill Garrett

My background is as a painter and art teacher. In the 1980s I discovered Tapestry weaving which quickly became my craft of choice. It followed that I should join the Association of Weavers Spinners and Dyers and then the BTG and I have exhibited with these groups ever since. In 2002 I had a show of my own at the Quay Arts Centre on the Isle of Wight where I live. In the past I wove large pieces but I am in my 80s now and weave on a smaller scale but with no less enthusiasm.

Peter Hall

Annabella Harding

annabella.harding@chelaberd.co.uk
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I just love weaving and taking part in exhibitions!

Jenny Hatton

I have always enjoyed the process of weaving: the gradual build-up of a picture, the different textures and techniques one can apply, the mixing of colour using various blends of yarn and threads. The designing and making of a woven tapestry is an interesting mental and physical challenge.

Maggie Kateley

maggiek0203@yahoo.co.uk

My weaving is often inspired by my response to life events and personal experiences. Colour frequently leads my decision making as I use it to express mood and emotional response. I record and develop ideas through sketching, painting, printing, stitching and collage and through descriptive words.

The act of weaving expresses the images in my mind and I often create my tapestry without reference to a detailed cartoon. I enjoy working with a wide range of materials, using their different qualities to suit my tapestry.

Joan Kendall

+44 07778 017 462
joan@soulweaving.co.uk
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'Tell your own story and you will be interesting' 

A dedicated weaver for over 35 years, the inspiration for my work comes out of my own life, out of my own experience and my environment. Born in London to a family from Guyana, South America, my cultural heritage is rich and diverse, and also informs aspects of my work. I weave and stitch, and make: about people and events in my life, to repair the damage inflicted by life, to gain insight into my life, to celebrate Life! My work is characterised by my use of strong colour, texture and form, and by its nontraditional nature. I enjoy combining weaving with other textile crafts.

Jane Kirby

Sarah McLean

sarah.s.mclean@gmail.com

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 usually half a dozen colours for each work.

Marianna Mele

Dianne Miles

dem253@btinternet.com 

The exploration of colour is central to my work which is often inspired by Nature or is an expression of my emotional response to something that I feel strongly about. I enjoy the tactile quality of tapestry weaving which incorporates not only colour but also texture and form and I like to experiment with a variety of different yarns and techniques which sometimes leads me to incorporate the unexpected into my pieces.

Hilary O’Connell

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Pilar O’Prey

pilaroprey@hotmail.co.uk

Before studying tapestry at West Dean I began my weaving work in the coastal mountains of Mallorca and Andalucia. The heat, the vivid colours, the ruggedness of an untamed world outside the window, are powerful memories. In my tapestries I keep coming back to a sense of living in a landscape, making a home amid wildness. This can be the last pomegranate, bright and bursting on the tree in mid-winter, a sense of distance between indoors and outdoors or a shadow in the sea.

Suzanne Osborn

suzosborn10@gmail.com

I find weaving both challenging and relaxing. I enjoy the colours and particularly the textures of weaving, using different yarns and weave effects create a richness either abstract or representational work.

Christine Paine

christine.paine@tideline.net
https://christinepaine.tideline.net
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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 feature strongly in my work. I look for their inner sense to reflect wider concerns and tell a story. Often, they have a hidden sense of playful mischief that coexists within their serious messages.

Carolyn Perry

My work is inspired by my background in printed textiles exploiting pattern rather than texture.

I'm also interested in small ceramic items which are personally precious to me and these frequently appear in my compositions.

I like to experiment with a mix of natural materials such as wool and silk; recently, I have started to combine nettle with these, for a richer quality.

I find collage is a useful way to develop designs, on the scale of the piece to be woven.

Aruna Reddy

+44 07727 759 697

art.arunareddy@gmail.com

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My work is about colour, texture and patterns found in my urban environment. 

I alternate between weaving textural pieces to plain weave abstract imagery. 

Apart from traditional materials I also use hand spun newspapers and other recycled and found materials to add interest and surface texture. 

Matty Smith

mattysmith.smith@gmail.com
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I have been designing and weaving tapestries for over a decade but still, every woven image presents its own difficulties and delights. Starting points for new works are diverse and rarely planned.

Lin Squires

+44 07801 607 286
lin.squires@chisbury.net
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Making has been a part of my whole life. Tapestry weaving is where I have found myself for the last 10 years. My practice is based on my continuing exploration of the medium of weave, my love of technology and its role in design and, like so many people, a passion for the natural world. Out of this melting pot of sketches, digital drawings, photos and artefacts comes a seemly limitless set of options for design. Any that make it as far as my loom tend to be finished 'design-wise ' on the loom with my hands having the final say.

David Stokes

www.instagram.com/davidstokesarts
davidstokesarts@gmail.com

My introduction to all things weaving took place at Morley College, London under the guidance of William Jefferies. I have subsequently studied with Caron Penney, Pat Taylor and Jane Brunning.

I find the creative and practical processes inherent in tapestry weaving endlessly fascinating and stimulating. It is a slow process in which I enjoy the subtle effect that the techniques of hatching and blending can bring to a work and the wonderful tactile quality of the warp and weft materials.

Lucy Sugden

lucy@lucysugden.co.uk
www.lucysugden.co.uk
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I create work using tapestry techniques, capturing the beauty in the small and delicate that catches the eye, on closer inspection more beautiful and intricate than first seen.

Fascinated by light play my fibre of choice is repurposed monofilament fishing line.

Mike Wallace

www.mikewallaceart.co.uk
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I create both tapestry weavings and (often quilted) fabric collages. I also seek to combine my interest in textiles with others in bookbinding and metal. I enjoy experimenting with colour and texture, and textiles are an ideal medium for this. I find real opportunities in combining different media, such as the contrast of hard cold metal with soft threads and fabric or incorporating found objects (from skips, beaches, walking etc). There are special challenges in combining different disciplines.

Jennifer Woolnough

textilemalarkey@gmail.com
https://jenniferwoolnough.com
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I have for some while now been inspired by water, my tapestry designs exploiting pattern, colour and light.

I usually begin by observation and drawing. Initial ideas can be swiftly abandoned or further worked upon, through various stages until I feel that they may make a final textile piece.