Matthew Harris
22nd November 2024
Back to Front and Back Again
A survey of my work over twenty years, looking at process and development of ideas through making.
House of Historical Dress
25th October 2024
The Evolution of Embroidery from the Early modern period to the Machine-made era
Using contextual portraits and images of extant garments along with selected pieces from the School of Historical dress collection, this talk observes the changes through three hundred years of embroidery, looking at styles, methods and techniques, the artisans that worked them and the people that wore them.
Anita Bell
26th July 2024
Finding Inspiration
Talks about her work stitching papers, what has inspired her, different techniques she uses, exhibitions and how it has developed over the years.
Stephanie Smart
House of Embroidered Paper
24th May 2024
Stephanie Smart is a fine artist who works with paper textiles making life-sized garments entirely from paper and thread. They are created using free-machine embroidery, hand-stitching, drawing and applied decoration. Every piece is accompanied by detailed research and is inspired by historical fashion and social and national history from different eras as well as the stories and memories of individuals. Her most recent collection The Regency Wardrobe was shown at Firle Place in the autumn of 2021, at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton in the summer of 2022 and at Chertsey and Worthing Museums where it was seen by approximately 140,000 people. Stephanie’s ambition for every piece of work is that it be: aesthetically beautiful, technically ambitious and intellectually interesting. In this talk Stephanie will describe the background to her work with paper textiles and her establishment of The House of Embroidered Paper, which she describes as part fashion house, part fine art studio. She will show images of particular pieces from The Regency Wardrobe and describe their inspiration and her working practice.
Emily Tull
26th April 2024
A Stitch in Time
An overview of my career as a stitch artist, and what inspires me and my processes.
Bridget Bailey
A Making Safari
22nd March 2024
Bridget talks about her early experiences, her background in textiles and millinery and how these have influenced her current work, which is inspired by encounters with plants and insects on her allotment.
From textiles to fly-tying, and cat whiskers to millinery, her artworks and sculptures grow from the creative compost of her making life and demonstrate how techniques and materials transform when they combine and cross-pollinate.
Elizabeth Ashdown
Passementerie: An endangered yet thoroughly contemporary craft
23rd February 2024
Crete, Galoon, frogging and gimp…the mysterious and arcane world of Passementerie is steeped in rich traditions, yet is hardly known about today.
Join one of the last remaining Passementerie makers, Elizabeth Ashdown, to learn about her fascinating, contemporary approach to this heritage art form and hear about how she is giving Passementerie modern relevance.
Richard McVetis
The Act of Making
26th Jan 2024
British artist Richard McVetis’ installations, drawings, and embroideries span the congruity of macro and micro, often monochromatic and labour-intensive. His meticulously stitched multiples of dots, lines, and crosses record time and map space.
Richard uses making to understand the world, to give material form to abstract ideas, and make the intangible tangible. More recently, he has taken inspiration from his family’s mining heritage to investigate a story of race and class.
Caroline Bartlett
From Here to There and Back Again
24th November 2023
Caroline will share her textile creative practice and how her work has evolved through responding to various museum collections and historic and industrial sites. These include the Whitworth textile collection, Salts Mill and more recent work at Crafts Study Centre in Farnham.
Carole Waddle
July 2018
Sophie Levi-Kallin
Sew the Scene
27th Jan 2023
Sophie will describe her inspiration and method behind her art. This will include: how she chooses which scenes to sew and her compositions, collecting and selecting fabrics, using the sewing machine stitch/embroidery to attach the pieces and add depth, definition and details.
Amanda Cobbett
Stitching the Forest Floor
24th February 2023
Amanda will discuss the basis of her inspiration, which comes from a love of nature and her surroundings in the Surrey Hills. She will outline her working process and materials used to create her sculptures using free machine embroidery and a selection of threads, papers and silks.
Lucy Martin
Hand & Lock Embroideries
24th March 2023
History of Hand & Lock Specialist embroidery techniques (goldwork, tambour beading etc.)
Couture Fashion, Interiors, Military & Ceremonial
The Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery / Embroidered Arts
Linda Miller
In Stitches
28th April 2023
Linda will talk through the joys of being a practicing textile artist, gathering ideas, working with galleries and shops, gaining private and public commissions, and working towards shows and exhibitions. Accompanying her dialog are her images of her machine embroideries whose naiveté and charm will capture all audiences of any age.
Emily Jo Gibbs
The Value of Making
26th May 2023
A tale of Emily’s career from making unusual evening bags, to developing her style of hand stitched layered organza portraits.
Lora Avedian
Stitch in Bloom
28th July 2023
The talk will be about Lora’s education and how she developed her practice and how she has developed it into a career. She will go through some key projects she has done so far and what she has planned for the future.
Tina Pedick
Lace Beginnings to Pinewood Studios
27th October 2023
The talk will cover lace making history with examples. How Tina began lace making and became a teacher, including working at Pinewood Studios.
Janet Jones
Ecclesiastical Embroidery
25th November 2022
A gallop through the development of Clerical Vestments and textiles, especially those of the English Church since Christianity arrived in the British Isles, and how I came to be involved in making some examples.
Kate Findley
Working in Series; Hadron Collider quilts, gardens and landscapes
28th October 2022
This talk encompasses a number of different styles and series of work including highlights from the Hadron Collider Quilt series, the Henley series and more recently work on landscapes and gardens using the confetti technique . Kate Findlay trained in industrial textiles at Kidderminster College and worked in the carpet industry before retraining as a teacher where she taught design and technology. In addition she developed her own practice and after being inspired by the Hadron Collider she spent 5 years making large art quilts to much acclaim. She is currently looking to the natural world for inspiration encompassing wildlife especially birds, landscapes and woodland.
She says Art is a complete passion and is probably the most important thing in her life. She travels extensively giving talks and running workshops.
Joan Matthews
My Route to an Exhibition
29th July 2022
Joan’s route to an exhibition; from design beginnings to the last 3 exhibitions she has shown with textile artist’s group, Fabrications.
Sara Cook
Bojagi: from Ancient Traditions to Contemporary Interpretations
27th May 2022
An introduction to the historical significance and symbolism of Bojagi this ancient craft form Korea and how contemporary textile artists are interpreting these ideas in their work
Rob Jones
An exploration of Japanese Textiles
29th April 2022
An exploration of a number of Japanese textile techniques and the history of Shibori, Katagami stenciling Sashiko and Kogin Embroidery, Boro and Kasuro woven work. Rob will talk about his trips to Japan and present textiles from his extensive collection gathered on his travels in Japan. Rob studied in Japan under the indigo guru Bryan Whitehead and has spent a great deal of time in Japan collecting beautiful pieces as well as authentic supplies for his own practice. His passion is finding the new in the old building on traditions and centuries of skill to take his work in new directions combining techniques and inventing his own forms He loves colour and pattern and he has a keen eye for detail . He starts every day with a meditation to clear his mind to help him focus on the tasks ahead.
Diana Springall
Embroidery as a way of life
25th March 2022
Diana will talk about her long embroidery practice as well as the large collection of
embroidery that she has collected which she has recently given to Sunbury
Embroidery Gallery. Trained as painter but realised the importance of adding craft skills especially embroidery. She is a passionate teacher and has often said ’I will show you’ when asked what do you mean by embroidery. She started collecting contemporary embroidery from graduate students, colleagues and peers so she could show real work to her students, She believes that the fine art world can regard crafts as lower in artistic importance and believes this is an injustice and is mindful and ready to find ways of saying we are all equally ’fine’
Shinjini Thakar
Folk art from India
25th February 2022
Shinjini will talk about various art forms; Madhuran folk art from eastern Bihar; Gond tribal art from central India; Kalamkari art from Andhra Pradesh; Cheriyal folk art from Telangana. Method paints used what they symbolise and how this folk art has become famous in international art society. In addition, she will talk about kantha embroidery – its origins and practices . Shinjini was born in Kolkata India. Her interest in drawing and painting started early in childhood. She studied at Art School and won several state and national prizes. Her work has been shown widely .
Amarjeet K. Nandhra
Finding my visual language
28th January 2022
An illustrative talk of her creative journey, exploring the ideas that inspire her thought processes and work. She will discuss the starting point of an idea, how she uses drawing and sampling to inform the making. Her creative journey allows her to find her personal visual language, create a signature and integrity to her practice. Amarjeet is an artist and educator. Her work explores the narrative of cloth within a social. economic and cultural setting and examines the hidden meaning looking beyond the sensibility of textiles. She has a passion for print.