About

Abou

Hello and Welcome to this is me! I am a mixed media stitch artist. I studied and completed my Degree and Masters Degree in Contemporary Crafts at the Hereford College of Arts. I live in Herefordshire and have spent all of my life in and around the area. It is a place that is very much part of who I am. As a child I spent most of my of time outside exploring the fields, woods and barns on my old family farm. Here I would lose myself in make-believe and talking to the birds. Always happy to play in the mud and moss, I would dig up broken pottery or gather feathers to add to my collection of lost things! The storyteller in me would wonder where they came from or imagine who they once belonged to.

My practice is inspired by the broken and disguarded objects I collect. I employ hand stitching, eco dyeing, reclaimed and found materials to create tangible, often quiet textile forms as metaphors. My most recent work has used doll like sculptures to focus on themes of memory, absence and childhood experience. Found metal objects are bundled up with gathered leaves and reclaimed fabrics to stain and capture the essence of a memory. The simple and repetitive hand stitching I use acts as a form of meditation, allowing me to connect with materials whilst working through thoughts and feelings.

My interest in creative doll making as a form of expression is evolving, engaging me in new ways of making. Each doll or piece I make is unique, incorporating the things I collect and find. Piece by piece they come to life to communicate the stories of everyday materials.

When I am not making I enjoy collecting, rumaging in charity shops, exploring forgotten places, foraging for acorns and dye plants, wandering along the river and mudlarking.

I still have a curiosity with found objects and a longing to connect a story to the previous owner. I don’t think that will ever go!