About Me
I trained in Embroidered Textiles at Loughborough University and work from my rural studio at The Ferrers Centre for Arts and Crafts, in Staunton Harold on the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border. I exhibit my embroideries from my studio and in a number of galleries in the UK in solo and group exhibitions.
My creative practice is rooted in my love for nature, anthropology and spirituality. I keep sketch books; drawing directly from what I see around me, trees, hedges, birds, deer, sheep, the changing seasons, buildings and people.
I work by repurposing old fabrics full of memories for me to capture a new idea or thought or emotion in a fabric collage. I like to explore the reflective and tactile qualities of natural fibres, silk, linen, wool and cotton. The stitching is a mixture of free machine embroidery made on a domestic sewing machine and hand stitching.
Lately I have created embroideries inspired by spiritual and religious figures and iconography culminating in a exhibition at Launde Abbey (Leicestershire) for its 900th anniversary in 2019.
Influences include: Boro textiles, folk art, seventeenth century English embroidery, samplers, the paintings of Mary Newcombe and Samuel Palmer, folk tales, maps, medieval carvings.
My work is held in private and public collections and has been exhibited extensively throughout the UK, Europe, Taiwan and the USA. In 1994 I won the Best New Exhibitor Prize at the prestigious Chelsea Craft Fair and the Carroll Foundation Award. My work has been featured in numerous publications, including the cover of Embroidery Magazine and in Nina Edwards' book, On the Button. I have undertaken a wide range of commissions including pieces for Nieman Marcus, Habitat, P&O Cruise Ships and the Enjoy England Excellence Awards.
My creative practice is rooted in my love for nature, anthropology and spirituality. I keep sketch books; drawing directly from what I see around me, trees, hedges, birds, deer, sheep, the changing seasons, buildings and people.
I work by repurposing old fabrics full of memories for me to capture a new idea or thought or emotion in a fabric collage. I like to explore the reflective and tactile qualities of natural fibres, silk, linen, wool and cotton. The stitching is a mixture of free machine embroidery made on a domestic sewing machine and hand stitching.
Lately I have created embroideries inspired by spiritual and religious figures and iconography culminating in a exhibition at Launde Abbey (Leicestershire) for its 900th anniversary in 2019.
Influences include: Boro textiles, folk art, seventeenth century English embroidery, samplers, the paintings of Mary Newcombe and Samuel Palmer, folk tales, maps, medieval carvings.
My work is held in private and public collections and has been exhibited extensively throughout the UK, Europe, Taiwan and the USA. In 1994 I won the Best New Exhibitor Prize at the prestigious Chelsea Craft Fair and the Carroll Foundation Award. My work has been featured in numerous publications, including the cover of Embroidery Magazine and in Nina Edwards' book, On the Button. I have undertaken a wide range of commissions including pieces for Nieman Marcus, Habitat, P&O Cruise Ships and the Enjoy England Excellence Awards.