I am a textile artist with a passion for multimedia and hand-crafted processes. Specialising in free-motion machine embroidery, which I often combine with hand-sewing, quilting and printing techniques to create unique fabric artworks.
Inspired by my creative heritage, Following in Her Footsteps explores the potential of contemporary quilting and patchwork techniques to preserve family narratives and histories. Inspired by my great-grandmother’s hand-sewn quilts, this project presents a series of artworks that pinpoint key moments from her life, and that of her close family, which piece together to reflect the larger story. Designed for a textile art exhibition, the artworks would be exhibited alongside a collection of my great-grandma’s quilts, honouring both my practice and hers.
Many of my family members are creative, from avid oil painters to keen photographers, but in recent years, I discovered my great-grandmother, Liz, was a quilter. Joining the Quilter’s Guild in her older age, she created a vast number of patchwork quilts and cushion covers that remain in my family to this day. The sheer craftsmanship and time dedicated to these hand-sewn treasures inspired me to undertake this project as a celebration of her work, which would otherwise likely get lost to time. Though we never met, these quilts had crafted a connection, from her creative practice to mine, but more simply from me to my great-grandmother.
Drawing on the quilting tradition of commemorating moments across the life’s course, Following in Her Footsteps honours Liz’s life’s story, as well as her creativity. Telling the story of Liz’s family, from the one she was born into to the one she created, through pinpointed moments of her and my great-grandfather Ray’s lives.
Contextual and visual research was conducted from my Family Archive. Contrasting official papers and documentation, with more casual photographs or handwritten notes and objects once used by a loved one. Alongside conversations with my Grandad and visits to nearby places where these stories took place, I gained a deeper understanding of my family history, piecing together and uncovering details of the stories I wished to tell.
Drawing inspiration from traditional quilting practices and their current application as a textile art, this project incorporates contemporary techniques to create mixed-media artworks inspired by the ephemera that informed them. Emphasising hand-crafted techniques or finishes in honour of Liz’s quilting also reflects the closeness we feel to someone through an object we know they’ve touched, made or written. Combining this with free-motion machine embroidery, sublimation, lino and screen printing. Dyes are muted and hand-painted onto various cotton fabrics with soft surfaces and frayed edges, reminiscent of older materials or photographs.
Exhibited alongside my works, my great-grandma’s quilts are as much the inspiration for these artworks as they are the artworks themselves. Thus, my series was designed to complement her original quilts, whilst maintaining their own identity. Each artwork tells a specific story within the family narrative, designed to “fit” together to reflect the interconnectivity of history. The small scale draws the viewer in, with layered elements and details that allow the stories to unfold slowly for the audience. However, much like old photographs or objects in our archives, these artworks speak most intimately to those who know the people and the stories within them.
