Designer
Designer
I am a Designer Maker Researcher and Educator, passionate about creating spaces which enable people to engage with materials directly for themselves, allowing them to explore, experiment and enquire through making. I am fascinated by the embodied process involved when we make and how this opens up opportunities for new understanding, learning and communication. When making with others, I often use traditional craft techniques as a collaborative way to facilitate learning, generating new thoughts and ideas.
I completed my Arts Foundation course in 2006 before then graduating with a First Class Honours degree in Contemporary Applied Arts from Cumbria Institute of the Arts in 2009. In 2014 I returned to study, this time at Goldsmiths, University of London, graduating in 2017 with an MA in Artist Teacher and Contemporary Practices.
I can sometimes be found spinning, felting, rag rugging or sewing however it is not long before I return to my main love; weave. I really enjoy the process of designing, choosing colour, texture and pattern that will result, when warp and weft are interlaced in a new fabric. It still amazes me how cones of thin, individually coloured yarn can result in beautiful lengths of cloth.
I am passionate about learning and continue to develop my practical making skills alongside reading and researching, for me they go hand in hand, each informing and impacting the other.
My research is Practice Based. The process of making allows for new discoveries about the materials and processes that are being used but also importantly allows for investigation into new meaning, ideas, fresh understanding and knowledge.
I have always been inspired by the natural world and frequently find inspiration in those plants and grasses that grow independently, thriving in unlikely places, whether that be at the side of the road or between the cracks in pavements, places which are forgotten and often over-looked, growing without human intervention. The surprising diversity and vitality which can be seen flourishing here, as well as their form and colours, are often the starting point for my work.
On my way to delivering workshops I make detours and stop off in places to take pictures and research. In 2020 I found myself immersed in my garden as a way to escape the challenges around me. I begun growing some fruit and veg and have since become fascinated by the variety and vibrancy of the colours to be found.
