Through studying art for a couple of years, I learnt a great deal
about colour and design and worked in different mediums painting,
screen printing, glass and metal. When I left college I started
working with fabric, enjoying its tactile qualities and unlimited
colours. I joined the Northern Ireland Patchwork Guild and the
Irish Patchwork Society and found exciting things happening in
the world of fabric. I also learnt from doing workshops and lectures.
I have taken numerous classes with quilt makers I admire learning
different techniques and see the way they work.
I get inspiration from the world around, taking photographs and
keeping a day journal of magazine collages that stretches the
mind. I need the challenge of working to a deadline. I have exhibited
work in my own country and in Europe, U.S.A and Japan. I belong
to a contemporary group called Quilt Art and sometimes working
for a theme makes me design something I would never have thought
of before.
Recently I started working on a series based on the spiral, an
old Celtic symbol found on ancient stones here in Ireland. It
is a very therapeutic symbol to work with and it has made me develop
and find a method of working which I find very satisfying. This
work is based on layering fabric, cutting and layering again.
I also use fusing as part of the method. This way of working helps
me play with colour and shape in a contemporary way. The other
way I work it is as if I am drawing, by using fused fabric as
free cut collage and machine stitching. There may be a very vague
idea which develops as the work progresses, but nothing is really
planned. Going with the flow is much more exciting.
I travel to Nepal about twice a year to buy my beautiful coloured
fabric and I also teach the local women patchwork.
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