If there is one thing that I am certain about, it’s my need to produce work with my hands. The passion of making and the tactile properties of textiles are what inspire me the most; those moments of allowed freedom, when there is just the now. Fabrics, threads and stitches are brought together to transform materials into compositions to develop a unique visual language free from rules and expectat
ions. Before I came to stitching I was a photographer, now photographic images are often used as starting points. For the moment, textiles are what I choose to work with; I am inspired by their tactile properties and the sensuality of the fabrics through the harmony of textured surfaces. Increasingly I include found fabrics layered with information about their past, recorded in haunting marks. Born in the cotton mill town of Preston, Lancashire textiles are intrinsic to my history; I studied Visual Arts (MA) at Bradford School of Arts and Media before moving to the Calder Valley. During the making of my first piece I at once became passionate about textiles and all they stand for.
