Claire Ketteman on Sculptural Knitting

After a PhD in chemistry & a career in science, Claire revived her passion for knitting and translated her science knowledge in to the threads & 3D images/ artwork she now creates . With a passion for nylon filament and the use of Japanese Haboo her creations are delicate but at the same time amazingly strong. She has also extended her creativity in to jewellery making .
More of her work can be seen at claireketteman.blogspot.co.uk

  

 

 

17 July 2013
Cherrilyn Tyler ' How fashion influenced my work'
Our last meeting of the season was very informative & gave an understanding of what makes an artist create their work. The ladies enjoyed a fun workshop the next day & although they were a little daunted by the title, it was very enjoyable & providing a new skill of transforming photos etc in to pictures with stitch.
It is a shame I was on holiday!

 

 

 19 June - Jayne Huskisson
 'My Journey around the Palette'
Travelling from her home in North Wales,  Jayne gave us an insight into how she transferred her talents from a flourishing fashion student to her passion for the North Wales/ Anglesey landscape through her painted silk medium.
Graduating from art college she then had a successful lingerie period with Charnos in Paris with some additional commercial success. Her subsequent RAF family life led to her own bridal, children's & then soft furnishing business, but it was her community project The Big Picture  which saw her continue her love of silk painting. She loves the simplicity, colour & movement on the silk & her living landscape has enabled her to hold regular exhibitions & win various tourism & craft awards. Sorry I don't have any photos of her popular landscape work!!

 

 

15 May - Maralyn Hepworth

Joining us from Shropshire,  tapestry weaver Maralyn has a keen emphasis on sustainability through a variety of her interests . Shropshire's rich industrial heritage has fuelled her passion for flax & linen & she gave us a fascinating insight in to how the cloth is created from seed to finished material. From her research into buying the actual seed through to growing the fibrous plant in the garden & via friends,she talked us through the various processes including our own  experiment demonstrating the fibre from a dried plant. It was also interesting to learn some of the phrases the industry used, which still have a meaning today- albeit an alternative one! eg 'toe-rag', 'hackling'.

Through her 'Flax to Fabric' project Maralyn is working tirelessly to see the Ditherington Flaxmill & Maltings in Shrewsbury re-opened in the future, for the benefit of the nations industrial heritage.
www.flaxmill-maltings.co.uk

 

      

 

17th April - Marilyn Pipe

Marilyn gave us an interesting & amusing talk about she developed her talent & passion for textiles which have taken her around the country through to recent workshops in Egypt. From innovative early jobs, she spent 11 years at the wonderful Rainbow Silks, combining this with the exhibition circuit leading to current teaching posts including Denman College. With a diverse list of textile interests she calls herself a 'textile junkie' & she demonstrated some of her current works. Would you believe what you can achieve from a cooling rack!

Katie Purson -  March 2013

These photos do not justify the exquisite detail, technique or passion portrayed in Katie's beautiful work. From an initial desire to be an archaeologist, Katie told us how she followed her heart & instead undertook a degree in Costume Design which lead to a career in the theatre & ballet world.

Her continued passion for traditional embroidery hand skills saw her achieve an enviable apprenticeship at The Royal School of Needlework & she guided us through the skills learnt . These included silk shadowing, gold work,black-work, white-work, pull & drawn thread work, cut work, mount mellick work & her favourite of fine white work!

    Katie concluded her talk with details of some of the work opportunities which have followed, from historic conservation work, religious creations to the simple repair of a toybear!

   

 Anne Menary - February 2013



Anne's talk on 'Fabric of the Universe' took us on a journey into Space visiting planets and outer space though her quirky ,hand stitched pictures and postcards. She researched and designed all her work through her sketchbooks and altered books before creating her amusing 'Time Traveling' images. She used a wide variety of fabrics from crimplene to tyvek and hand dyed and painted pieces. Nearly all her work is hand stitched using all the traditional old stitches and , so that they are reasonably commercial , she produces postcard size pieces including a textile print of the postage stamp. This was an amusing and interesting talk.