In:Site Festival 2012

 

Amber Wakley

Graduating from Birmingham City University with First Class Honours in Textile Design,Amber Wakley specialises in embroidery and lace making.

Amber is particularly interested in the positive and negative space created by the lines and spaces of lace structures and the opportunity that this creates for light and shadow.

She explores these qualities using traditional lace making techniques and also machine stitch to mimic these qualities.

Amber is interested in building on her basic lace making knowledge to help try and preserve this fascinating, highly skilled technique, so that it can be passed on to future generations.

Harriett Riddell

Graduating from the University of Hertfordshire with a First Class Honours in Contemporary Applied Arts, Harriett is a machine embroiderer extraordinaire.

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InStitchYou

“Stitching in public is my way of breaking the boundaries: my only limitation is finding a plug socket!

I transport my sewing machine to public places to draw in stitch. Observing the surroundings and people, I create a narrative of my experience. Using a sewing machine on a train, in a laundrette or by a bus stop, I become a public installation.

I empathise with the objects and people: they become caricatures of my imagination as I create their story.

The experience I gain from interaction with the environment feeds in to my stitching and enriches the narrative. Snatches of conversation and scraps of material are woven into the piece.

I aim to transform mundane into extraordinary, transient to fixed.

My stitching can become abstract as I only have a few seconds to capture a moment.”

Emma Kerr

Also graduating with First Class Honours in Textile and Surface Design, Emma Kerr attended Grays School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen.

“Absent from society, over 10,000 people go missing every year in the UK. This statistic is a shocking reality affecting the fabric of society in which I call home. As a designer, through my work an opportunity arises and an obligation is felt to raise creative awareness.

Second hand garments which have left their owners lives for many different reasons portray a sense of identity and ownership, which echo from the past to the present.  These garments draw inspiration from conducting interviews with the public, community workers and families of the missing, the work has a strong message and reflection on society.

Combining print and subtle textures directly with the garments, delivers a compelling message and meaning, ranging through isolation to hope. By using laser cut techniques an echo of the once present owner is created, this separation of owner and identity creates a sense of self which can be visualised.”

Samantha Wilson

Specialising in Knit and Crochet, Samantha graduated from Hull School of Art and Design with a BA(hons) in Applied Creative Design: Textiles.

Samantha is very interested in sustainability, sourcing her wool from British suppliers and hand dying the yarns herself. Influenced by the growing trend for yarn bombing,Sam wanted to inject a sense of fun into her intervention.

a young girl stands by a park bench which has been decirated with bright crocheted flowers.

Jill Kirkham & Morvern Odling

Jill and Morvern both graduated from Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh with First Class Honours in Design for Textiles.

Together they created a people trap, drawing people in to reward them with new sights of what they might otherwise not have noticed.

Using strips of recycled cotton they made a fishing net-like structure. Knotted within the construction they suspended viewfinders, objects meant to be looked through, so that visitors could look with new eyes on Cathedral Square, highlighting and elevating the ordinary and everyday.

Fay De Winter

Recently completing her MA in Contemporary Craft: Ceramics at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, Fay chose to create a hanging installation inspired by the concept “Ema”, a Japanese wishing tree which is placed near to a place of worship. It is believed that the tree acts as a “nature” platform to record and reveal individuals wishes.

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Fay chose to pre make porcelain leaves with some having the words ‘I wish’  impressed into them This work will be added to by the public, writing directly onto the ceramic leaves before tying them into the tree. the porcelain leaves created a wonderful chime when the wind blew through the branches.