Take Three Textile Artists
The three artists I have chosen have influenced the way I have approached my embroidery during the diploma course. They are Maggie Grey, Ruth Issett and Margaret Beal. Each uses different techniques and I have enjoyed studying and experimenting with their methods.
MAGGIE GREY
Maggie discovered embroidery after being given watercolours, good quality paper and drawing pens for Christmas. She was inspired to add texture (threads) and hand stitching to her work and then discovered the versatility of free machine embroidery. When she attended City & Guilds classes, she had little experience of hand stitching but was the only student who could machine embroider.
She has embraced the use of computers to enhance digital design, starting in the 1980s with an Amstrad and a very basic GEM Paint programme and taught digital design with her friend and co-author, Val Campbell-Harding. Maggie then went on to set up Workshop on the Web (WoW) in association with d4d daisy books, which has help many embroiderers develop their skills.
Her designs start in her sketch book with drawings, followed by lots of experimentation. Often the original design/idea develops into something very different.
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| Metaphor by Maggie Grey |
Maggie’s embroidery techniques include the use of soluble fabrics as well as melting and distorting materials, to produce original and eclectic designs. She often incorporates metallic threads and shim with paint, printing and stencilling to enhance her embroidery. She has produced numerous books, many with Val Campbell-Black, describing their work, which are easy to read and understand. She has travelled extensively and taught throughout the UK as well as Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada. She has also exhibited widely including with Wessex Textiles and travelling exhibitions with the Knitting and Stitching Show.
She has influenced me throughout the Diploma course, particularly during Module 2, when I was studying the use of metallics. I often use Photoshop Elements to develop my own designs and sometimes print them onto fabric using an inkjet printer. I have also created motifs, which have evolved into designs. For PAP 1, (Personal Assessment Piece), I hand stitched extensively with metallic threads, to create a bolero and in PAP 2 and PAP 3, I used soluble fabric as a stabiliser to create 3D embroidery. As a result of Maggie’s pioneering work, I will continue to use the techniques I have learnt, in the development of my own work in the future.
RUTH ISSETT
With a BA in Fashion/Textiles-Embroidery, from Birmingham Art College, Ruth has taught textile art, covering embroidery, printed and dyed papers and textiles as well as design and has inspired countless students over many years. She has loved sharing ideas with her students, which in turn has led to the development of new processes in textile art.
Her comprehensive range of techniques include dyeing, using sponge brushes, rollers and paintbrushes, together with glass-plate printing, block printing and the use of masks and stencils. When this is combined with applying acrylic colour to fabric, adding bronze powders to surfaces and over laying with paint sticks, the results are rich, colourful and exciting.
Ruth Issett with Viv Arthur at the Knitting and Stitching Show, Harrogate 2007
Rather than immersing fabrics into dyes, Ruth prefers to paint directly on to a surface using block printing, screen printing, mono-printing and a roller to gradually embellish the surface. By overlaying transparent colours, vibrant contrasts or subtle tones can be created, enriching the overall effect. Ruth works with a limited selection of mainly natural fabrics of varying thicknesses to create texture and interest and then adds additional details with simple hand stitch and machine embroidery.
When working on a new design Ruth often starts by mark-making, often mono-printing or using a roller to make large marks. To add detail to a design, she works in a sketch book, drawing with pastels and coloured pencils. Ruth also uses sketch books to record ideas and and work processes for future reference,
as well as to record dye combinations, detailing the reaction of the dye onto different fibres.
Ruth exhibits widely and recently took part in the Textile Study’s exhibition - Making:50, celebrating 50 years since the group’s formation. The embroidery Ruth created for Making: 50 used 7 fabrics of a variety of fibres combined with 7 different dye colours, these were dyed in mixtures of these 7 colours, thus creating 49 groups of dyed fabrics displayed in squares, the 50th square being a random colour combination! I was lucky enough to see this exhibition in Farnham.
I was attracted to Ruth Issett’s work because of her inspiring use of colour. I prefer to work in vibrant colours, which I have used throughout the diploma course. Her skill at creating nuances of colour with splashes of vibrancy delights me.
MARGARET BEAL
Margaret grew up in the Midlands and moved to Hampshire with her family in the early 80s, where she is still based.
During her studies for City & Guilds Creative Embroidery Course Parts 1 & 2, which she passed with distinction, Margaret had a ‘happy accident’. She was inspired by an article in World of Embroidery magazine on the topic of singeing natural fibres with a soldering iron. Equipped with her husband’s soldering iron, she inadvertently used synthetic fabric by mistake. This resulted in cutting straight through the material, and the rest is history!
Margaret is a pioneer in the use of the fine tipped soldering iron and she has developed her techniques to cut, bond, score and make marks on single and multiple layers of synthetic fabrics. Some pieces are complete and beautiful in their own right but can be developed further with hand and machine stitching.
She has written many articles for magazines including Embroidery, Stitches and WoW (Workshop on the Web) and has led Fusing Fabric workshops for many years across the UK, Europe and America, teaching adults and young people this adaptable and exciting technique. Margaret has also published two books. Fusing Fabric was published by Batsford in 2005, followed by New Ideas in Fusing Fabric, published in 2013.
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| Margaret Beal - inspired by Tapa fabric |
Her work has had a great influence on me, particularly as we are both members of the same stitch group. She has taught, inspired and guided me as I have worked through the C&G certificate and diploma courses. I have often used a soldering iron in my course work and presentation pieces to cut, mark and manipulate the fabric and I’ll always be grateful that Margaret’s ‘happy accident’ has added an extra dimension to contemporary, creative embroidery.
