BANKSIDE EXAMPLE

TRANSFORMATIONS THE MAGIC OF MAKING FINE CONTEMPORARY CRAFT

Bankside Gallery, London 15th - 26th June 2022

Transformations – an exhibition of unique contemporary craft from the Society of Designer Craftsmen, masters in the magic of transforming simple materials into superb contemporary craft works.

Combining innovative approach with supreme craftsmanship, over 100 of the Society’s members will be showcasing original work in textiles, ceramics, glass, wood, paper, stone, base and precious metals.

Transformations exemplifies the abundance of talent the Society represents today.

It also features a selection of supreme designer craft works created by Honorary Fellows of the Society along with the stories behind them.

Transformations is curated by Hazel Connors MSDC and Margaret Jones MFA FSDC

Walter Crane Founding President 1887-1891

William Morris Second President 1891-1893

Sir Christopher Frayling Current President

Our History The Voice of Craft since 1887 the purpose of the Society was to give a voice to the growing body of designer-makers.

Formed as the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society in 1887 with Walter Crane as the society's first President, the purpose was to give a voice to, and to organise exhibitions for the growing body of designer-makers. The first of these exhibitions was held at The New Gallery, Regent Street in October 1888.

The Arts and Crafts Movement was one of the most influential, profound and far-reaching design movements of modern times. It began in Britain around 1880 and quickly spread across America and Europe before emerging finally in Japan as the Mingei (Folk Crafts) movement. It was a movement born of ideals. It grew out of a concern for the effects of industrialisation on design, on traditional skills and on the lives of ordinary people. In response, it established a new set of principles for living and working. It advocated the reform of art at every level and across a broad social spectrum. The movement took its name from the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, but it encompassed a very wide range of like-minded societies, workshops and manufacturers. This was a movement unlike any that had gone before. Its pioneering spirit of reform, and the value it placed on the quality of materials and design, as well as life, shaped the world we live in today.

William Morris followed Crane as President of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society in 1891.

The name was changed in 1960 to the Society of Designer Craftsmen, the primary objective remaining, however, one of having a selected membership whose work was based on innovation, originality, excellence of design and quality craftsmanship.This objective remains and is still of paramount importance today.

Currently membership is in excess of 350 artisans and Sir Christopher Frayling is the current President of the Society.

Our Future?

Participating Makers will do two columns in order they are placed in catalogue

Honorary Fellows

Adam Aaronson FSDC

Glass Making & Stained Glass

Spirit of the Forest Blown glass sculptural form inspired by reflected light ??//

I am a full time studio glassmaker. The piece is from a new body of work entitled Spirit of the Forest

Habibe Acikgoz MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Long Dress Made in 100% silk

I have a Turkish background and I always liked working in textiles, I could dress up anything.

My business is established since 2003 in U.K.My first pattern book called Bold and Beautiful published in 2013.

I am a designer of stylish individual and comfortable clothes in natural fabrics for ladies of discerning taste who appreciate originality.

My collection is suitable for all shapes and sizes as a true reflection of the variety of women in the world.At the same time, my customers can express their own originality by choosing garments that are elegant and unusual at the same time without forgetting the need of the busy modern woman for easy-to-wear clothes.

My work is of exceptional quality and unusual flexibility. As designs are my own, I can customize items from my collections for individual customers.

I always think of real people for dress up comfortably and also stylish. The tulip shape dress accenturates your waist and gives a feminine shape at the hips and bust.

Megan Adams MSDC

Ceramics

Blue Skies Tall blue vase form embellished with white ravens and swirls. Blue glaze with crystalline glaze 13.5 x 16 x 38 cm

I am a ceramic artist living and working in London. My work is largely sculptural in that I often had build forms and pots, they are then embellished with sprigs or sculptures relating to the subject of the piece. I often choose themes to explore and then create a suite of pieces that fall within that theme. I created a series of ‘netsukes’ which reinterpreted the small sculptural pieces from Japan’s Edo period used to attach a pouch to the owners sash. Later this morphed into my Plinth series which featured animals (some mythical) perched on elaborate plinths.

My pieces are hand built from stoneware clay. They are embellished with ravens. In some cases the ravens are applied like sprigs molds but more 3 dimensional as they are highly carved after application to the pot. Some pots feature a fully carved raven adorning the lid.

After the piece has been built and the elements added, colored slips and porcelain are applied before biscuit firing. After the biscuit fire, they are further decorated with red, metallic and black glazes before firing at 1240 degrees C. Once cooled some pieces undergo a further lustre firing when gold highlights are added.

THIS NEEDS EDITING - The pieces I am submitting are part of a group entitled The Reckoning.

They all have ravens as a feature of the piece and speak of our fate if we continue to ignore the warning signs of our planet’s degradation. The Raven, in times past, was viewed as a portent of change and/or transformation. In some cultures they were also a warning of impending death. In my pieces they are accompanied by the hands of time – often the 12th hour. The black colour of the ravens is highlighted by the red background. In many cultures red is a sign of rebirth, giving hope despite the warnings from the raven. My one raven pot which is not red, is glazed with a blue glaze and entitled “Blue Skies” as a message of hope.

Elizabeth Ashurst MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Making Waves

Mixed media 100 v 30 cm

Since 1998 I have been a frequent visitor to Eastern Europe and during lockdown in 2020 stayed in Poland with my husband for 8 months. We live in Sanok, situated in the southeastern corner of the country only 50km from the Ukranian and Slovakian borders. This annual disruption to my life in West Sussex where I have been living for the past 8 years, has caused a schism in my working practice but one which I have found immensely rich and stimulating , transporting me to a different culture and view in Britain’s place in Europe. For this reason I have had to travel light with a sketchbook and Ipad and reduce my materials and equipment. Drawing, painting, designing and writing about my experiences have therefore become a more immediate form of expression which have synthesized into collage and stitch.

Making Waves panel is the final piece in a series concerning the fragile borders of Eastern Europe and maritime power of Russia. During my visits to the region I have always kept a sketchbook and diary noting the transformations which have taken place since the fall of the Berlin wall in 1998 and the collapse of communism. I have visited St Petersburg twice and have been awed by the scale, elegance and wealth of its historic buildings. In this work I am using a wave to symbolise the transformation of a beautiful city of culture to one of political corruption overshadowed by its grim history in 1942 in the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II.

Darren Ball MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Clara Machine embroidery and applique on vintage handkerchief 50 x 51 cm

I trained in fashion textiles, specialising in hand knit. A qualified art teacher, I now focus on the development of my embroidered artworks. My pieces are inspired by personal narratives, experiences and my collection of vintage ‘Stitchcraft’ knitting magazines.

I make unique machine embroidered artworks, which are framed behind glass. I am particularly interested in the visual qualities of fabric and thread and the exploration of mark-making and colour. I use a found palette of colours derived from my selection of fabric and thread without the use of any paints or dyes. I enjoy the restriction of achieving my images solely through the combination of materials. My work is made on a domestic sewing machine and is domestic in scale. I do not use any digital embroidery but aim to skillfully control the sewing machine to create the effects that I want.

‘Clara’ is a machine embroidery with applique on a vintage silk handkerchief. The original image was found on a vintage tin lid. Its colour and the girl’s character particularly interested me. I chose to use the handkerchief as a base because it reflects the period of the tin. The pattern on it relates to the decoration on the tin and its colour complements the image. I have used a variety of fabrics for the applique and have hand knitted areas to broaden the range of textures available. I knitted a shaped piece to interpret the texture of the straw hat, which plays such a big part in the embroidery. The variety of tones and colours in the face are created with layered tulle and organza. Free embroidery is used to add detail and satin stitch to add accents of colour and variety to the weight of line.

There are several transformations evident in my piece. The transformation of an image from popular culture to that of art. The use of knitted fabric for its visual and tactile qualities rather than its wearabilty and the repurposing of old and vintage fabrics as a metaphor for age and domesticity. A vintage handkerchief becomes the canvas for the piece.

Jan Beaney FSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Ghost Trees Machine embroidery on soluble film creating a new cloth 68 x 55 cm

Drawing and keeping sketchbooks are fundamental to my practice. Over the years, my work has been governed by my observations of landscape here and overseas. To capture the essence of a time and place becomes an essential focus. To emphasise or understate certain elements present challenges to create compositions that are a synthesis of an observed impression rather than a literal image.

The choice of technique depends on the surface envisioned and stitching on soluble materials to create a new cloth has often been the selected choice. However, working on dyed cotton fabric sometimes incorporating machine lace has been more appropriate for particular themes of work. Many layers of hand and machine stitches are then worked to develop the surface.

This work has been inspired by a location that has provided many ideas in the past. Certain light conditions and seasonal variations are continually highlighting aspects not seen before.

In winter, these trees become the stars of their space. Many layers of machine stitching worked on soluble material formed a new cloth depicting trees leading down to the dark wood.

Naomi Beevers MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Morning Chorus French horn with perched songbirds 60 x 30 x 50 cm

I am Surrey based textile and mixed media artist. My work is inspired by the philosophy of celebrating the beauty of throwaway items which I use to create something new and unique.

I work largely with reclaimed items, transforming them into beautiful objects whilst upholding their original workmanship. Many of the items I use are familiar and spark memories of the past. Through the use of everyday objects personal memories are rediscovered, re-imagined and reinvented. Birds are placed looking out on life with a sense of innocence and humour. These are constructed from merino wool tops needle felted into woollen felt, or by painting recycled natural fabrics. They are then embellished with hand and or machine stitching.

With the Bankside Gallery being a stone's throw from The Royal Festival Hall, I thought a retired French horn would make a good platform for familiar songbirds to find a perch. I love how the appearance of the horn shows the passage of time, evoking its transition from a brilliant shiny musical instrument to its current vintage and oxidised form. Likewise, the sugar tongs and forks that make up the birds' feet show similar varying degrees of change in colour, and again the passage of time. Many composers and musicians have used birdsong for inspiration and here I like to think the birds are adding their own musical contribution, thereby giving the instrument a new life!

Anita Bell MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Morning Dress Hand dyed paper using techniques of itajime shibori on sustainable plant papers with embroidery 75 x 118 cm

A series of work based on ideas from the myth of Persephone about femininity and the fragility of nature and exploring more sustainable ways of working using plant papers and recycled materials. Taking further inspiration from the sky, particularly at dawn and dusk, quick sketches and watercolour studies are made to try to capture the atmosphere of a fleeting moment in time and reflecting the light that remains elusive and ever-changing.

With a thin thread as a medium, these ideas are transferred onto paper and the details are drawn out using dense lines of stitch, overlaid like paint, to make memories of momentary experiences of colour more vivid and alive.

My practice is an exploration that moves ahead through working with materials and is an ongoing process of experimentation and transformation.

Morning Sky is a hanging paper sculpture inspired by ideas taken from the myth of Persephone and the colour of a morning sky. A one-off piece created using itajime shibori and stitch to transform the paper into a sculptural wall hanging.

Cally Booker MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Chevron Study Handwoven double cloth wall hanging in organic cotton 46 x 61 cm

Cally Booker weaves on the top floor of a converted jute mill, looking out over Dundee and the Firth of Tay. She is drawn to places at the edge, where land and water meet. In her work she explores lines and boundaries, positive and negative, randomness and rhythm, using multi-layered structures which hide and reveal. She achieves this by combining mark-making with algorithms, and digital design tools with the slow processes of hand-dyeing and handweaving.

Cally is passionate about the value of craft-making, both for its benefits to wellbeing and for the way in which making things by hand can deepen our appreciation of the material world.

She shares her enthusiasm for weaving through Weaving Space, a growing online programme for curious handweavers.

Chevron Study is a wall-hanging handwoven on a 32-shaft computer dobby loom in organic cotton. This piece is part of a series of studies experimenting with positive and negative triangular forms. It arose in the depths of winter out of a desire for saturated colour and clean, crisp lines. The exchange of layers and the juxtaposition of colours are the raw ingredients of the weave, and they are transformed into an exploration of movement and rhythm.

Maria Boyle LSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Dreams

Noil silk, dyed, hand screen printed and painted, with discharge and flock 92 x 62 cm

I am a textile artist that makes one off pieces, usually for the wall. My practice starts with an idea around a subject which I then research and work on in a sketch book. Each colour palette is developed with care as it is very important to help me tell the story. Typically, I hand dye my base cloth, usually natural materials such as silk and wool, and then print, direct dye or paint the image. Stitch, needle felting or flock is sometimes added for emphasis. No two pieces are the same and hopefully the combination of colour, mark and materiality evokes a positive response.

Working with luscious Noil silk, this wall piece uses uniquely mixed dyes and dye pastes with screen printing to create an evocative scene about dreams and what might inhabit them. On a stretch canvas for ease of hanging.

'Dreams’ is an original piece created in response to Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'. Initially I was drawn to the description of Queen Mab made by Romeo’s friend Mercutio that speaks of the mischievous fairy Queen who meddles with our dreams. Mab comes from Celtic folklore and the speech put me in mind of the strange creatures in the corbels at Kilpeck Church in Herefordshire.

This one-off wall piece combines my creature drawings with a careful use of colour and materials that aims to capture a sense of the hyper-reality of our dreams and nightmares, and of the familiar and unfamiliar touched with faerie magic. In discussion with writer Sheila Farrell about the uncanniness of dreams I also incorporated some of her words into the work – 'Sometimes you catch sight of them scuttling away into your dark corners'.

John Chipperfield Honorary FSDC

Ceramics

Jennifa Chowdhury MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Finding Star

Layered Acrylic and golden illuminations (wooden) 70 x 12 x 70 cm

The work of Winchester-based Textile Artist/Designer/Researcher Jennifa Chowdhury explores contemporary expressions of identity and heritage. Her visual language draws from traditional geometric art and architecture, specifically geometric pattern construction. Light, shadow and movement are fundamental to her process-driven creative practise.

Reimagining the patterns in these craft-forms has allowed for conceptually challenging works that provide an experience for the viewer that is both contemporary and engaging. While pushing production concepts through applied digital technology, unconventional materials and scale. Jennifa holds a BA (Hons) in Textile Design from Nottingham Trent University, and an MA in Textiles from the University for the Creative Arts. She lives and works in Winchester while studying for a PhD at the University for the Creative Arts (Farnham).

A research visit to Japan in November 2019 was a critical point in Jennifa’s practice. In conjunction with the ritual and meditative nature of making and the meticulous precision she observed in the workshops and studios we visited. Jennifa was drawn to the geometric constructions, filtered light and zen like atmosphere of the Miho Museum in Kyoto, specifically the geometric shapes produced by the circular window and aluminium louvres, along with the diverse historical artifacts displayed. Finding Star was inspired by the Japanese philosophical concept of ‘MA’ from an architectural context. The space within which we exist, originate and evolve from, referring to the intimate space between fundamental structures.

Finding Star – is a six layered geometric deconstruction of a 12-fold geometric star pattern, it is focused on the negative space while creating harmony between the fundamental structural lines and the pattern deciphered within.

Helen Colling MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Oradour 1944 - Mariupol 2022 Silk & linen, cotton, silk organza, nylon chiffon and stitch 70 x 40 cm

After a Stitched Textile HE Diploma from Buckinghamshire New University in 2009 I joined the Society, exhibiting regularly at the Mall Galleries. I belong to Oxford Textile Artists, exhibiting with them in 2018 and 2022 at the Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock, and regularly participate in Open Studios. As an active a member of Newbury Creative Stitchers [former branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild] I give talks and lead workshops.

My work is about absence, exploring an intangible echo left behind. I experiment with textiles, to create that sense of a vanished human presence using different techniques of stitch and applique.

The ethereal qualities of the subject are interpreted by layering translucent fabrics with images of my photographs or sketches transferred to cloth by digital printing, disperse dyes or paint to build up a collage. Within these layers, suggestions of figures are stitched. I am inspired by historical or fictional events.

Oradour1944 – Mariupol 2022 is a textile panel printed with photographic images of ruined buildings and echoes of figures stitched, appliqued or cut. This piece was inspired by a horrific massacre of innocent inhabitants, and the destruction of their entire village in France, during the second world war. The few remaining requested the ruins be left as a memorial to that harrowing event. It is an open museum and one has an acute sense of the lives that were once lived in times before. The appalling tragedies happening now on a much larger scale in Ukraine, sadly echo this and other inhumanities that have taken place in so many parts of the world, causing devastating transformations.

Marshall Colman MSDC

Ceramics

New Morning (detail) Ceramic , 37 x 16 x 13cm

I gained my BA in Ceramics from Harrow (University of Westminster) in 2009 after a career in public administration and joined the SDC shortly after. I make individual pieces and tableware. I was awarded the St Albans Museums Trust Prize in 2013 at the University of Hertfordshire Galleries and received the Judge’s Award at the London Potters’ 2017 exhibition at Morley College. I write about the decorative arts and I’m an SDC Trustee.

For my piece, a cylinder was thrown on the wheel, then transformed by cutting and re-shaping to make an oval. Flat handles were added. The flat handles draw on a long ceramic tradition, traceable through 20th-century studio pottery and early modern Italian drug jars through the medieval Gazelle Vase to Cypriot Bronze Age pottery. Marks are always reminiscent of something and the surface decoration suggest the piece’s title.

The item I’m showing is inspired by the Gazelle Vase. It’s huge - about a metre high. It stands on a narrow foot, has a long neck and flat, projecting handles and is richly decorated in gold lustre and blue. It’s one of about half dozen such vases still surviving that were modelled on traditional wine vessels but changed into something monstrous and sculptural. The vessel in the Alhambra is different from the others, immediately identifiable by its missing handle, which makes it a remnant, tense and incomplete. I don’t attempt to copy it but to draw on its irregularity and the contrast of the smooth with the unfinished.

Jane Colquhoun MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Birdsong Free motion machine embroidery 35 x 35 x 5 cm

My work is concerned with people and the patterns they make when they connect as groups in different spaces. I live by the seaside and my imagery is often associated with figures in the sea or on the beach in a coastal location. More recent work examines connections people make in urban spaces, particularly the ‘white cube’ spaces of galleries and other architectural spaces. I create a template based on figures I have seen, photographed and drawn, which is then worked by free motion embroidery. I have been trying to use a mix of organic or recycled and donated ( previously used reels)of polyester thread to aim for greater sustainability in my machine embroideries.

My piece for the exhibition is a machine embroidered birds eye view snapshot developed from digital images of figures, collaged in a formation of different groupings to produce a square composition.

I have had the idea for making pieces about figures in urban white spaces for a while. One of the first pieces I made as I developed my embroidery technique, was inspired by photos taken of figures in the Tate modern and I have amassed many ‘research’ photos on my phone from similar locations, ranging from the Venice Biennale, to more local museums. A few years ago, at an exhibition, I was standing at the top of a stairwell taking photos and became interested in figures in the white space seen from above. Though my work is obviously recognisable as figures, what I am interested in is the formal arrangement of shape and colour that through repetition becomes pattern like. A transformation occurs when the negative space is a single colour enhancing the figure motif and the intervals between offering a new perspective from my other busy figure work

Rebecca Connolly LSDC

Woven Textiles

Upholstered Long Footstool Footstool constructed from recycled components, upholstered in hand-woven, hand-dyed wool from the Cambrian Mountains 120 x 35 x 35 cm

I am a woven textile designer and hand-weaver, working from my rural studio in the Cotswolds. Graduating from Bath Spa University with a BA in Textile Design in 2015, I create designs for woven cloth involving extensive sampling and weaving by hand on heritage looms. Designs are developed for Mill production, handwoven bespoke commissions and a small number of pieces for sale or Exhibition. My signature designs in British Wool generally have bold patterning with natural dyed colour. I’ve recently become a member of Southwest England Fibreshed which reflects the increasing proportion of my work creating designs for woven products using locally grown and rare-breed wools, striving for natural and local production partnerships. I mentor weave students and teach for Art and Craft organisations including West Dean College.

The long footstool (with detachable legs) is upholstered in cloth designed and handwoven in Cambrian Mountains Welsh wool. A unique non repeatable piece. The design is in two bright blues, red and white. The red panel along the front edge is part of the single piece of cloth used to upholster the piece. The handwoven upholstery cloth was created for the Cambrian Mountains Wool Challenge; a design using wool yarn from Welsh cross-bred sheep from the region. I collaborated with a fellow participant ‘The Guerilla Upholsterer’, using recycled materials, to stage the cloth for Exhibition. The woven design was inspired by Icelandic folkloric symbols. The precise placement of each white or colour threads in both warp and weft result in intersections which form the pattern. The colour-way reflects the eclectic colours of domestic architecture in Reykjavik, Iceland, seen on an inspirational textile study trip. This project was the catalyst for considering provenance more in my work. The transformation – yarn spun from sheep’s wool to a unique piece of domestic furniture.

Hazel Connors MSDC

Mixed Media

Thames Totem (detail) Mixed media 21 x 11 x 108 cm

After gaining a degree and doctorate in Chemistry, I spent my early career in R&D and new product development in the food industry – both areas where I could combine creativity with a scientific approach. I’ve always loved texture and surface so, some years later whilst working as an independent consultant, I jumped at the opportunity to study creative stitched textiles part-time – which lasted for 7 years! I’ve never believed in an art/science divide - we live in a continuum - and many people are hugely talented in lots of ways which challenge such crude categorisation.

I’m interested in the properties of lots of stuff, found and natural materials in particular, and enjoy exploring their characteristics and surfaces. I also love the magic of their transformation into a product or object which innately retains echoes of their history.

‘Thames Totem’ is a free-standing mixed media piece created from age-old ship’s timber, 16th-18th century clay pipe stems, 18th century hand-forged nails and 20th century London bricks all reclaimed from the Thames foreshore, bound with linen fibre. The found materials are sanitised, dried and cleaned before sanding or gently working prior to any sealing.

Having been under water twice per day for centuries, the timbers take months to dry out.

I’m a licensed Thames mudlarker and love discovering ‘treasures’ which contain little bits of human history - things which link us to those who trod these places before us. Over the last few years I’ve created works from materials I’ve found on the foreshore near Rotherhithe. It’s important to me that these pieces link to the place’s history and geography. In ‘Thames Totem’, the linen yarn is a material that was traded via the Thames, its twisted structure reminiscent of the maritime ropes which were made locally. The coloured bands signify the eras of London’s people since its founding by the Romans in 43AD through to now. All of the found materials used in this piece were created by the hands of skilled craftspeople long gone. My role has been simply to give them an opportunity to shine and tell their tales.

Euan Cunningham MSDC

Furniture & Boxes

Cube Hand stitched wool cushions. Stainless steel housings and feet. Mild steel welded substructure. 40 x 40 x 558 cm

To initiate my design process I often start with word association, connected with my chosen subject area. This then leads to a design that is appropriate to its particular use eg Knife and Fork Dining chairs. Another process I like to use is to take a shape as the initial inspiration ie Cone Stool/Cube Stool. To start with an unlikely shape, almost inappropriate for its use and make it into a functional object is something that I enjoy. The next stage is to produce sketches and working drawings from which I make an accurate scale model. This would be made in the intended materials and aim to capture the freshness of the original sketch.

Materials selected are important to each design as durability/longevity play an important part. Having successfully completed the scale model, this would give me the information I would need to start the full size piece.

The Cube Stool is a colourful painted cubed seat with storage space with hand stitched wool cushions and stainless steel housings/feet details and welded mild steel sub frame.

I started by constructing a scale model one fifth size. I liked the idea of starting with a simple shape but then to add unexpected elements and detail. The contrast of the square planes of the cube and the detail of the cylindrical cushions I hoped would work well together. I also wanted a contrast in materials with the combination of the wool and the polished stainless steel details. It is important to me to use materials that will last and have longevity. To include a usable space within would hopefully give it another dimension and it is important to me that there is always this idea of combining something that is hopefully eye catching and useful at the same time. Reminiscent of a lego cube and playful in nature, I like to combine an element of humour with practicality in my work.

Natalie D'Arbeloff, Honorary FSDC Paper & Artists Books

Julia Desch MSDC

Feltmaking

Engoldenment (detail) Felted Wensleydale Panel in natural/hand dyed colours mounted on rotating Cedarwood Sensory Wheel 32 x 70 cm

My practice is an expression of an evolving relationship with Nature. Nature in all its forms is the portal to my creativity, to the formless and invisible. Making is the outcome of mystery for me and so is unpredictable, led by my hands and a questing heart. Plants, animals, elements. and minerals are all teachers and illuminations of spirit, reflected in the fine lustre of wensleydale fibre. This approach leads inevitably to Slow Art, to the transformation of fibre into fine design and art, through the alchemy of hand dyed colour, poetic language and a dedication to all the processes involved from Wensleydale fleece “on the hoof” to Felted Artwork “on the wall”, or round a wheel transforming the medium I am working with. Since ancient times wool and wood have been used together serving each other’s needs and this piece brings together 2 exceptional materials which enhance each other.

This piece depicts the evolutionary journey of the mystic’s path which spirals its way through suffering to transfiguration and joy. Recent translations of Kabir’s poetry by Andrew Harvey entitled Engoldenment is a heartfelt interpretation of this way of being. Having recently moved to Wiltshire I have spent many weeks frequenting woodlands and re-walking the same path to listen to and observe its many faces: ferns, Yellow Pimpernel, Yellow Archangel and Bluebells as well as fallen trees allow new golden light to enter ancient woods.

The Cedarwood followed me through moves in East Sussex as planked storm damaged timber and evolved into a Sensory Wheel through Mark Austin. We have worked in happy collaboration several times. Wensleydales are a British Rare Breed and their lustrous, soft fleece lends itself to many transformative uses : spun, woven, dyed and felted.

This is a 3D piece, combining a cedarwood Sensory Wheel made by Mark Austin to my design and based on a traditional Tibetan prayer wheel with a Wensleydale wool semi-felted panel.

The panel is made from home-grown fleeces, both natural and hand dyed colours.

Fleur Design MSDC

Woven Textiles

Eventide Silk and bamboo shawl 80 x 206 cm

I am a designer- maker of woven textiles, having trained at the University of Creative Arts in Farnham. I find inspiration in many places especially in the colours and textures of nature throughout the changing seasons and in the subtle and dynamic changes created by constantly moving sunlight. I use natural yarns which I hand dye to create unique pieces of artwork.

'Eventide' is a hand-dyed, hand-woven shawl in silk and bamboo, woven in a reversing undulating twill pattern.

The inspiration for this shawl came from the amazing colours of a beautiful summer’s evening, just as the sun was beginning to set and daylight turning to dusk. The clouds were a sea of subtle pinks and greys against a fading blue sky.

Angela Dewar MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Extended C18th Tapestry Fragment (detail) Ancient tapestry fragment, reconstructed, with machine embroidery 80 x 206 cm

I have been interested in all forms of textile making since I was a young woman, learning to weave and sew at Epsom School of Art. I studied Fashion and then Embroidery.

I have received many ecclesiastical commissions and have written several 'how to' books, with Gisela Banbury, with whom I worked for many years.

I have a degree in the Philosophy and History of Art. I have major works in Truro cathedral, St Margaret's Church, Westminster, Methodist Central Hall, Westminster and a very large piece in Salisbury Methodist Church, jointly with Gisela Banbury.

My usual technique is machine embroidery but I also love to hand stitch. In recent years I have been using hand made felt, both as a background for hand stitching and also for making clothing. I like to use felt with silk, natural fibres which compliment each other.

'Extended Fragment' is a piece of C18th tapestry fragment, damaged and frayed with missing parts. It has been repaired and extended with machine embroidery. Recent discovery of some old tapestry fragments led me to develop the idea of bringing them to life again.

Repairing these accurately is very specialised work and takes an incredibly long time. I decided not to take that approach. Instead, using the sewing machine, I first mend and then re-embroider them, guided by the parts of the design still visible. Missing areas I recreate , using my imagination to blend the patterns together. I use a free machine stitchery and also, more recently, a very narrow zig-zag stitch, working over the remaining warp threads of the old tapestry to replace missing parts, such as flowers and leaves.

Wendy Dolan FSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Progression An original stitched textile 39 x 67cm

Wendy is a textile artist living and working in Sussex close to the South Downs. Her work is inspired by the landscape, architecture and natural forms. She combines a variety of techniques, creating richly textured surfaces. Fabrics are pieced, patched and stitched together, creating layered backgrounds. Lightfast pigments are then applied, using a number of painting and printing techniques. Surface texture is built up and developed, by applying more fabrics and yarns and embellishing with machine and hand stitchery. The stitching emphasises the detail and further enriches the overall texture. Her designs are developed into pictures and hangings of differing sizes.

‘Progression’ is inspired by architectural elements, patterns and colours of India. It demonstrates the effects created by building up textured surfaces and working into them with stitch, paint and three dimensional mediums.

My work explores textured surfaces which are found in the world around us. I utilise the tactile quality of fabric and thread by piecing and layering different weights of natural fabrics.

Surfaces can then be totally transformed and the textural quality enhanced by working into them with both hand and machine stitching and by applying three dimensional mediums and products. The addition of fabric paint creates variation of tone as colours can be blended. This design shows how an image can evolve from the layered textures of natural fabrics to the richly coloured and embellished surface.

Sarah Drew MSDC

Jewellery

Rewilding Collage necklace Rewilding Collage necklace 60 x 25 cm

I make statement jewellery from found and recycled materials. I collect beach plastic, ghostnet, sea-glass and driftwood from my local beaches in Cornwall, and rusted, worn metal from dog walks on the post industrial clay trails. I combine these found treasures with handmade chunky recycled silver and brass chain, and set found Cornish amethyst, boulder opals, and even recycled gold made into big collage necklace, cuffs and chunky rings which challenge ideas of preciousness.

The necklace I’m submitting for this exhibition was made for our Terramater art group’s Germination exhibition, and it’s a hopeful piece which represents the rewilding of old industrial areas near where I live in St Austell, and also a greener approach to business and politics that is emerging. The front piece is beautifully worn and bent brass, in which plants are growing and taking over.

So it represents the transformation of land that has been overworked by humans by plants growing and rewilding leftover metal from mining, creating an eco-system where animals and insects can live once more.

I’ve drilled the found piece of brass so I can connect it to the rest of the collage necklace and planted it with this self-seeded mossy plant that grows in proliferation in my backyard. The metal piece and some of melted beach plastic, which have been sculpted and patinated by the tides, were sent down to me by Alison Owens from Portknockie near Inverness, as a distance collaboration. I like the connection from one end of the UK to the other, with pieces left over from different industrial histories, shaped by natural forces, then combined into a collage, wearable piece that celebrates new, green starts and eco approaches to making, craft and business.

Alison Dupernex MSDC

Knitted Textiles

Polyanthus Flywheel (detail) Throw wool and cashmere 150 x 127 cm

I always have in mind that when any knitted fabric is worn the wearer enters into a sensual environment of touch, feel and colour which can inspire contemplation, joy, comfort, and warmth. Instantly the wearer is interacting with the piece of art. My current range includes fine cashmere and silk jackets, coats and scarves, all of which are timeless design classics with a contemporary feel. The scarf collection has been extended to include over 50 different designs and colour ways.

My inspirations and motivations derive from the colours and textures I see around me in nature. For me there is an endless fascination that can be gained from exploring how different colours react when juxtaposed with others. Shades overlap other shades to varying degrees and the changing conditions of light when the clothes are worn also greatly affect the way in which the colours are perceived by the viewer.

I have written several books to encourage all ages to take up knitting and most recently Machine Knitting Designing With Colour which covers my life’s practice and how I design, make and retail my fabrics. A new book will be published next year which will detail Creative Machine Knitting and includes new and archive work.

'Polyanthus Flywheel' is a throw knitted with cashmere and wool and using the ends of several cones of yarns to make this a sustainable, thrifty work. The use of traditional and heritage Fairisle stitch patterns such as the centre block Flywheel, were the catalyst for this knitted textile. The juxtaposition of red and gold colours to create squares which appear to recede and add rhythm to a flat piece of work.

Margot Eardley MSDC

Printmaking

Paradox Mixed media print 32 x 33 cm

II am a Fine Art Printmaker. I work in my studio at home. My preferred disciplines are etching and lino print.

Nature is my inspiration. Forms and colours of the flora and fauna encountered are captured in my prints. These are gleamed from photos and sketches gathered from long walks, my garden & snorkeling in the ocean.

'Paradox' is a mixed media and lino print, featuring an original piece cut from a Castrol motor oil can, overlaid with lino printed acetate, showing a shoal of fish swimming though oil polluted ocean.

I wanted to make a statement showing the impact we are having on our planet in a thought provoking way. Initially I was thinking of producing a paper print. However over time I have transformed this idea into printing onto acetate to give a 3D effect allowing the viewer to feel like they are looking though water.

The title Paradox was chosen to underscore the contradiction between having fish and pollutants in the same environment and fish being preserved in oil in a tin can. But I would really like the viewer to draw their own conclusions. The viewer should feel unsettled by my image and be in a quandary over its meaning.

Silke Espinet MSDC

Jewellery

Treasures of the Earth Fossilised barnacle shells, ammonite, Lightning Ridge opal, moon stones, pearls, dichroic glass, glass, Japanese synthetic kyocera opals, copper, cubic zirconia and 18 carat gold plated. 5 x 7cm

My greatest happiness is at the beach and in the countryside (apart from in the theatre and opera!), and looking for interesting treasures. I am a big advocate of sustainability, and I have found a way of incorporating organic materials into my work. I electro form shells and dried flowers, leaves and any interesting shapes in copper, and combine them with precious and semi-precious stones, and/or enamelling. I particularly love fossilised shells and ammonites.

'Treasures of the Earth' pendant is electro formed with copper. It consists of fossilised barnacle shells, ammonite, Lightning Ridge opal, moon stones, pearls, dichroic glass, glass, Japanese synthetic kyocera opals, cubic zirconia.

This piece was inspired by the beautiful ammonite – it has a rainbow patina – and the wonderful fossilised barnacle shells. Put together, they appear like a flower in the sunshine. I added a lovely Australian opal, moonstones and pearls to enhance their appearance. I imagine someone will feel very special by wearing this piece of jewellery. That’s the point of jewellery – to make you feel wonderful.

Fabrizia Bazzo FSDC

Glass Making & Stained Glass

Dancing Angel (detail) Self standing panel on metal stand. Acid etched, sandblasted, enamelled and silver stain on antique flashed glass laminated on toughened carrier. 43 x 144 cm

I am an artist and a maker using glass as the main medium to translate and transform my thoughts. Translating dreams into glass has always been my way of entering a world of wonders and, more recently, a way to escape the reality of the times in which we are currently living. I specialise in architectural glass installations, including commissions for both public and private locations against specific briefs as well as works for exhibitions. Each of my works is unique and I enjoy creating works where my imagination and quiet ambition can be channelled just to satisfy my own curiosity.

'Dancing Angel' is a self-standing glass panel mounted on a reclaimed steel base. It is not a recent work, but is something that I believe truly reflects the ethos behind the concept of 'Transformations'.

The design for this evolved from a sketch I drew of the model at a life-drawing class. I was envious of her lack of any inhibitions as she danced, cavorting up and down, around the class to the rhythm of the music. There was no time to fix the detail or the shades of the flesh, but only the opportunity to capture the feeling and the freedom of movement she exhibited.

I later decided to transform and capture her form and movement into glass, but without losing any of the spontaneity of the original drawing. I wanted to express the fun and freedom but, above all, I wanted to face the fear of working outside of my comfort zone and challenging my own inhibitions. Techniques: Acid etching, sandblasting, enamelling, antique glass laminated on toughened carrier.

Ferri Farahmandi MSDC

Ceramics

Moryana

Torso mounted on a stone, made of earthenware clay and handdecorated with glaze and oxides. 22 x 39 x 75 cm

I was born and raised in Bandar Abbas, a Southern port of Iran. Art is an integral and important part of Persian culture and has always played a big part in my life. My earliest childhood memories are of making miniature pots and dishes for my dolls, with clay that I collected from a big pond behind my house.

I have been working with clay for over 30 years; after raising a family I decided to pursue my love for art and went on to complete a BA Hons degree in ceramics. I make figurative sculptures of the female form, as I feel it allows for greater communication of both physical and emotional nuances. My work is influenced by the dynamics and elegance found in natural forms - the human form for me is most beautiful. My recent works are smoke-fired in sawdust and hand burnished My sculptures demonstrate the boundaries to our freedom within society. Over the last few years, acclimatising to the ongoing turbulence in the world has fostered my own creative expression and inspiration from the natural world. 'Moryana' emulates the transitional qualities and power of the sea through the weathered depiction of the female form. Moreover, my stylistic evolution from shiny, smooth textures pre-pandemic to rougher, more irregular ones reflects the transformational changes to our lifestyles since the pandemic began. I am fond of the symbiotic relationship between the human form and nature, and the glaze, as if oxidised from years of being submerged underwater, highlights the idea that change is a fundamental and ever-present natural force that affects us all.

Geraldine Festenstein MSDC Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Ukraine Intensely stitched three dimensional form 14.5 x 14.5 x 28 cm

Geraldine is a textile artist who works within a range of both materials and techniques.

Cotton, muslin and scrim are favourites, as is wire. Techniques include hand and machine stitch, and wrapping. The inspiration for the work dictates the materials and techniques.The processes of deconstruction, reconstruction and recycling feature in her work as the discovery of residual marks and connections within discarded pieces frequently highlight ways forward. Leftovers and off cuts from old work may be incorporated into a new piece.

Small pieces of previous work have the potential to take on new life and meaning within a fresh context. During lockdown Geraldine worked from photographs to create hand stitched portraits of family members and also completed a collection of sumptuously dressed wire dolls from silk, satin, chiffon and velvet leftovers. She enjoys creating small figures out of scraps.

Geraldine has transformed a collection of largely dark fabric leftovers into a lively, vibrant three dimensional textile by using small stitches for tension and directional pull. At the same time these stitches showered the piece with stabs and shards of colour. However, this project became even more meaningful to her as she as began to stitch four days after the war in Ukraine erupted and horror settled in. She sat for hours every day thereafter stitching tiny marks: stitch after stitch of intense colour, each brilliant pinprick symbolising the courage, the dignity, the resolve of the Ukrainian people to fight their way out of this dark misshapen abyss.

Antonella Figlia MSDC

Jewellery

Regent Street Brooch Sterling Silver, Aquamarines 4.5 x 4.5 cm

Antonello Figlia is a jewellery designer based in London whose work take inspiration by the emotions and narrative captured by his photography in everyday life as much as the surprise can be achieved by Graphic Design when interpolating geometric shapes could lead to special effects.

Working in Sterling Silver and 18kt Gold he uses traditional goldsmithing techniques combined with photoetching allowing deep details and precision on his designs further enhanced by incorporating rich hued coloured gemstone, patinas and textures.

'Regent Street Brooch' is handmade in sterling silver set with aquamarine, metal is finished with a mixture of satin and high polish with some oxidised details and a double pin catch to secure on the back. The design in the brooch is taken from a photo snapped during the first Covid pandemic lockdown in March 2021 in London Regent Street; the city (And world was at standstill segregating at home, the city was deserted, silent and surreal, I was the only human being on a usually chaotic Piccadilly Street and here there was this man directing bus traffic with STOP written on his jacket, symbolising a moment our society was forced to stop and perhaps reflect on the uncertainty that our future faced.

Jan Garside LSDC

Woven Textiles

River (detail) Handwoven, hand dyed triple cloth. Materials: silk and monofilament yarns 60 x 140 cm

Jan worked as a midwife before graduating from Loughborough University in 2002 with a BA in Textile Design. She completed her MA in Fashion and Textiles in 2016, gaining a distinction and winning the Dean’s Prize for textiles in her year. She has maintained her own business since 2003.

Jan works on a traditional loom in her home studio in Nottinghamshire weaving intricate textiles for architectural and interior spaces. Jan uses combinations of silk, paper, monofilament, metallic threads, cotton and wool yarns when weaving the multiple layers that are her most notable trademark. She utilises heritage British yarns in her weaving, thus building sustainability into her practice. She introduces printing, dyeing and unusual objects, as appropriate to the considered themes, of her limited edition and one off pieces in an effort to push the boundaries of woven textiles. Her colour palette consists of soft shadowy neutral tones to create a quiet atmosphere. She is particularly interested in the nature of light, translucency, and surface texture.

'River' was inspired by Jan’s abiding fascination with water in nature. It is a triple cloth hand woven on a dobby loom. The backcloth is hand dyed silk, the middle cloth is hand dyed monofilament, and the top cloth is monofilament. “River” is one of a set of two works that has been a constant source of inspiration to Jan during her journey as a weaver. It is one of those magical pieces that started life as an experiment and during the dyeing, the setting up the loom and the weaving, the yarns began to transform into the exact portrayal of the river that was intended. When the work was on the loom, under tension, the middle cloth appeared to be stripes but when the tension was released the “stripes” became a mass of wavy sinews that released the river within the work. A transformation of materials that met the mind of the maker.

Hannah Gibson MSDC

Glass Making & Stained Glass

Recycling Narratives, Whispering Sweet Nothings, Casting Call I (detail) Cast Glass Figure 27 x 16.6 x 4.5 cm

Hannah Gibson is an internationally renowned glass artist; and geologist, based near London. Capturing the nostalgic imagery of childhood, exposing hidden narratives, through cast sculptural glass stands at the core of her work.

Studying for an MA in glass at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, Hannah began working on her current body of work, Recycling Narratives, Whispering Sweet Nothings.

Returning as Artist in Residence, the focus of her research was on materiality. Constantly pushing the boundaries of glass.

Hannah’s work has been collected and widely exhibited internationally including SOFA Chicago, COLLECT, Venice, Northlands Creative, The Habatat Galleries, The Chesterfield Gallery, The Imagine Museum, The National Liberty Museum, The Royal Scottish Academy, Rhodes University, Kyoto, The Pyramid Gallery and London Glassblowing.

Passionate about sustainability and recycling, using predominantly recycled glass and found objects, Sweet Nothings are a series of cast glass figures whispering sweet nothings to one another. The rise of fast fashion has had devastating consequences on the environment. The clothing industry produces around 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually, much of which is burnt or finds its way to landfill. Some of this waste consists of items that have never reached the customer, destroyed instead of sold. Casting Call reflects on this. The textile inclusions were found washed ashore at Dungeness. Pushing the boundaries of the two materials, these textiles then cast inside recycled glass . Their remnants a faint reminder of a previous life. The figures ready for their new Casting Call.

Charlotte Grierson FSDC

Woven Textiles

Material: buckle (detail) Handwoven in wire, silk and polyester 27 x 36 x 5 cm

As a handweaver I have to consider the characteristics and behaviour of the materials I use.

When weaving, some yarns have qualities that can be further exploited after weaving in the finishing process. I am interested in the way in which using weaving structures in carefully selected materials I can cause the forces within the yarns to mould and control each other into sculptural forms and shapes.

My inspiration for this comes from geological forms and the way in which apparently solid substances such as rocks can be twisted, distorted and folded into the rock formations we can see particularly in coastal landscape around Britain.

I am interested in how I can use the behavioural qualities of materials to distort and create sculptural forms through weaving. This work is about the transformation of materials.

Working with copper wire and silk in separate warps. Woven flat on the loom the weft shrinks with the finishing process and forces a reaction within the weave structure, and between the two other warp materials. The inspiration of this work comes from rock formations and the way in which layers of rock have been made buckle and twist by the forces of the earth.

This wall mounted piece has been woven on a silk and wire warp in two layers. The weft is a polyester yarn that shrinks with steam. This shrinks the background silk warp widthways causing the wire to buckle, creating a series of nine, thee-dimensional blocks in the wire, each responding in it own way.

Melanie Guy, Honorary FSDC

Metal Work

Foreshore Wall work series for interior 90 x 4 x 42 cm As an artist/designer working with a most beautiful metal, pewter, I make sculptural wall panels to commission, for private or corporate environments. These reliefs are often contoured and have surface textures which reflect light and create a contemporary ambience in any interior.

Pewter is the main material, but I may use metal powders to bring in colour and chemicals to introduce tone.

My subject matter is around natural forms and energy observed in the sea or the human condition and current concerns.

‘Foreshore’ is a contemporary wall in relief, made up of progressive strips of pewter sheet, each contoured and supported on board with plaster and then mounted onto acrylic.

Wall sculpture – an abstract interior panel stimulated by memories of time spent living in nature. Remembering the view from a dinghy coming to shore and of waves breaking on a steep sandy beach. A fresh wave breaks on the sandy shore overlapping the position of the previous. Each previous one had a 'fingerprint' of tiny bubbles which forms an arc. The bubbles pop as the wave breaks, drops back and in receding, it fades. Light animates the undulating surfaces of the metal in a minimalist expression.

The stimulation comes from memories when, for several years, I lived on a boat and sailed a life entirely within the elements and the natural world. I interpret these experiences in this wall installation that catches the light from different directions and has subtle tonal depths and colour.

Clara Hancock MSDC

Surface Patterned Textiles

Pond Nuanced Balanced composition of colour and line inspired by a garden 180 x 90 cm

I studied philosophy and asthetics in Colombia and History of Art at the L’Ecole du Louvre, Paris. In London, I took to practical art working in sculpture, ceramics, printing with lino, woodblocks, silk screen and monoprint and painting on silk. I use silk most frequently as my means of expression. Silk in particular is my favourite media because it is versatile and I can achieve rich and vibrant effects.

The piece I am proposing to show is a composition of shapes of colours which in some ways contrast and others, relate to each other in a way that balance the piece. The black lines move around combining and linking the shapes helping to create a rich and vibrant piece.

My inspiration began in my garden observing the colours and shapes of plants and trees surrounding the pond and moving on a step when reflected in the water and then another step as breeze ruffled the water and moved and broke lines and transposed and mixed colours.

Julie Harper MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Downtown Buenos Aires Digitally printed, appliquéd artwork with hand/machine stitch 50 x 50 cm

My artwork is generally inspired by my travels, drawing on imagery from around the world.

Machine stitched outlines are intricately hand stitched in a meditative process, resulting in vibrant, colourful pieces. Recently, I have begun using digital imagery of my stitched works in an innovative new direction, which will open up endless possibilities for my practice.

A digitally printed, appliquéd cushion cover, hand/machine stitched and piped with gold braid.

Inspired by a street art tour of Buenos Aires, in 2019 my original drawings were refined into simplified outlines, collaged together and stitched onto silk backed wool felt. This work was demonstrated at the SDC RBSA Exhibition in 2021. The resulting piece was scanned and digitally printed onto soft velvet however, I was disappointed with the quality of the transferred background, so I made the decision to appliqué each image onto black velvet.

Hand stitch was then applied in certain areas, which makes the colours ‘pop’

Sophie Harrison MSDC

Feltmaking

The Cloud jacket Hand made, textile of Nuno felted Sheep’s wool and plant fibers 66 x 76 cm

Sophie Harrison felt maker, working from her Somerset studio. Using the process of wet felting with sheep’s wool onto fabric to create “Nuno Felt” a fine textile combining wool and plant fibers on a base of Cotton to create wearable art. In Sophies work you can see her Inspiration comes from the textures and colours found in nature and her surrounding landscape. Combining the ancient craft of felt making with the love of textiles Sophie create unique garments , Wearable Art. Felt making is physical work of creating each piece of felt by laying the brushed and dyed wool out in layers and then wetting it with water, rolling and manipulating the fibers until they shrink together to create and textile.

This piece is a jacket made from hand felted panels of Nuno felt. made from carded British wool ( Blue faced Leicester , Shetland and Gotland and plant fibers such as Hemp , nettle and Flax all combined and then wet felted onto cotton so the fibers of the wool attach and shrink onto the fine Cotton muslin. I have then stitched the panels to create this garment.

The Cloud jacket is inspired by winter skies. The moving ever changing clouds, the transformation of clouds into rain. I feel this is reflected in the transformational process of felt making where raw wool is taken from sheep , washed and then using movement and water it is transformed into a beautiful un woven textile of Felt and then again is transformed into a thing of beauty and function by stitching. Like the transformation of clouds in the sky that give us water to live, wool from the sheep transforms to give us warmth. Life is an ever evolving process of transformation and change.

Samantha Harvey MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Mujigea and Jigu The kelp garden is hand cut and welded from steel. The dragon and urchin eggs are created from scrap, waste fabrics, tacks and various threads. 62 x 38 x 52 cm

I am an Australian artist living and working in London where I create mixed media sculptures and drawings, usually incorporating stitch. The fascinating diversity, beauty and quirkiness of the world are a constant source of inspiration; especially the colour, movement and incredible shapes found in the fragile gardens of shallow seas. Sea Urchins and Sea Dragons regularly feature in my work where I explore their shape, movement and susceptibility to environmental change using recycled and waste materials.

Each unique piece evolves through the tactile process of combining materials with contrasting textures and origins. It begins with looking and, as the media is manipulated and stitches are added, the individual personality of each piece emerges. Recently I have been experimenting with steel: manipulating this rigid medium is challenging me to reconsider my process.

Mujigea is Korean for Rainbow and Jigu is Korean for Earth. This dragon and her eggs fly within a steel kelp garden. The dragon is largely made using waste and scrap fabrics which are transformed using stitch. For example, the body is created from brightly coloured waste fabric from a local community project with a spiral binding backbone. Her face is richly embellished with french knots, buttons from my mum’s vintage collection and a rusty screw beak. The urchin eggs are made from wool scraps, embroidered and embellished with tacks.

This piece has recently been transformed with my new love of working with steel and the creation of a kelp garden for it to float within.

The most important part of my practice is the process: a constant exploration involving manipulating and juxtaposing different media and texture. The tactility of stitch and construction is vital. My process has recently broadened to include working with steel which is challenging and transforming my practice.

Zoe Hillyard MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Breathe Deep Hand-stitched vintage kimono silks and ceramic vessel 30 x 22 cm

I am a Birmingham-based textile artist who creates sculptural statements out of a combination of materials which can range from highly sentimental possessions to the flawed and discarded. In all cases, the ceramics and fabrics I combine are transformed through a process of trauma and rebuilding. Saved from obscurity and revived through careful handstitching, I play with colour, pattern and form to build survivors with new narratives.

In 'Breathe Deep' small fragments of fashion fabrics from both countries are held within its form. It was sent out to be exhibited in Japan with an invitation to use the vase for ikebana – flower arranging. Placing flowers in a vessel has strong symbolic meaning in both cultures and linked to moments of both joy and sorrow. I was interested to see how fellow artists would respond to a form that didn’t naturally hold water. Without water, the freshness of any natural elements would be extra fleeting. I like the idea that falling petals and leaves could add further fragments of colour to the piece.

'Breathe Deep' transforms a mass-produced second-had vase into a unique statement through a process of destruction and rebuilding. Vintage kimono fabrics and hand-stitch have been used to wrap individual shards and slowly rebuild the broken vessel, achieving strength but retaining vulnerability. The piece references the exquisite tending of gardens in Japan. The micro-geometric textile design provides a neutral ground for floral feature elements – much in the same way that pale stones encircle natural elements within Japanese dry gardens. It also references Kintsugi – the Japanese art of mending ceramics that uses golden seams to honour rather than avoid evidence of trauma – and Yobitsugi, a version where missing fragments are often patched with dramatically different shards. Breathe Deep has a distinctive shape, embodying the feel of lungs expanding with an inhalation of breath.

The piece is contemplative, intended as a focal point for reflection on the extraordinary times we are living through.

Antonia Hockton MSDC

Stone Work & Letter Carving

Siren’s Song Hand-carved limestone with earth pigments 18 x 15 x 30 cm

I am a trained artist and stone conservator, who has combined combination the two disciplines to forge a career in all things stone. My two passions are birds and human behaviour or a combination of the two. The ancient buildings I have been lucky enough to work on in Britain and France, tell stories of how humans struggle with emotions to find the ultimate goal of tranquillity and happiness.

These days I can mostly be found in my Suffolk studio working on commissions or pieces for exhibition. My days of being on the road going from one historic building to another are now few, but I retain a few key clients like New College, Oxford.

The subjects that appeal to me are often rooted in history. My work as a conservator on ancient buildings has given me privileged access to antiquarian sculpture. I like to transform an ancient image into a modern piece of artwork. Sirens are part woman, part bird with a dangerous edge, they are tough and not to be messed with. Beware the male that does not take me and my work seriously!

My Siren head will be hand-carved in the round out of a pale limestone. The head will be of a serene and strong female with the hair carved as feathers going up and back from the face.

The down feathers will grow up from the neck into the hairline. The stone will be partly coloured by using earth pigments, which will be allowed to infuse into the pores of the stone.

Kayley Holderness FSDC

Ceramics

Lancea XV Stoneware ceramics with engobe decoration 34 x 51 cm

I work with clay to create sculptural forms. Depending on the project, sometimes I throw, coil, or combine both methods in one piece. Most recently, I’ve been playing with combined forms that start with small round bases and then grow with seams and curves. I really enjoy the juxtaposition of the smooth rounded form and the sharper edges and would like to keep exploring this in future work.

This piece is the largest one from my Lancea collection – Lancea XV. This collection is made of pieces with subtle curves, and sharp lines, enhanced by a hushed blue and green colour palette. The piece is different from every angle and looks especially beautiful when it turns When I started creating this collection, I knew that I wanted to play with a gentle, cool colour palette and combine sharp lines with gentle curves. With this collection I wasn’t conscious of my inspiration at first, I just had a feeling for the work I wanted to make. Now the pieces are made, I see pods, seeds and shells. The work shows how clay can be used so intentionally to create forms that transform, from soft round curves to sharp seams and back again.

Ruth Holt MSDC

Woven Textiles

Stromness 1 (detail) Silk scarf 164 x 37 cm

After a life spent working in London at a postgraduate Institute I re-trained and am now a designer maker of woven textiles. Working from a studio close to home in north Suffolk I work with silk and with wool to create pieces to be worn by women or men.

Following a placement at the Pier Gallery in Stromness, Orkney has been a particular source of inspiration. Exploration of the landscape, history and culture of the islands deepens the connection as time passes.

The nature of weaving is to transform fibres and yarns into cloth. The process is exact and often simple in concept but the results are complex and never wholly predictable.

'Stromness 1' was woven in response to the context of Stromness. In past centuries This north sea port was a stopping point for whalers and ships of the Hudson Bay company.

Stromness acted as a recruitment centre for seamen and explorers: this woven piece evokes the drama of their lives and the rich history of Stromness.

Patricia Hopewell MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Journey to Kala Patthar Mapping a journey, woven natural silk, sewing thread, wool lining 200 x 44 cm

After an early career as a lingerie designer in Nottingham, and many years working in garment development and craft in Africa and South Asia, I returned to the UK and worked in the restoration and conservation of antique textiles whilst developing my practice as a weaver/felt maker, producing scarves, shawls, and art pieces from my studio at Cockpit Arts.

More recently I have researched ancient dyeing and weaving processes, including dyeing with woad and indigo and using shibori and kasuri techniques. I have always aimed to run a practice based on simplicity using natural materials, mainly wool, and applying sustainable approaches in this increasingly fragile world.

At the heart of my practice is an appreciation of a long history of human creativity in the use of natural materials to produce objects that further reflect on an artist’s perception of the everyday and the extraordinary.

This precious cloth maps out the path of an unforgettable journey I made high in the Himalayas some years ago from Lukla to Kala Patthar and is the inspiration for this work. We embarked on an exhilarating and sometimes exhausting journey, taking us to a harsh but majestic vantage point looking down on Everest base camp. The loose woven threads of the partially unspun silk reflect the fragility of the landscape, and the precarious steps taken along the way. The pathways have been charted with fine sewing thread, the monasteries, mani stone walls, and stupas nestling into the landscape are woven into the piece in a soft honeyed silk. The sighting of fading rhododendron clusters thrilled and delighted as it was the end of the flowering season.

Making the cloth to celebrate the thankfulness of having been in a magical and serene landscape was transformative and life affirming.

Lizzie Houghton MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Sunset in Dark Sky Hand felted jacket using the Nuno technique ,combining hand dyed silk fabrics on the surface and hand dyed merino wool fibres 100 x 50 cm

I am primarily a felt maker specialising in clothing, sculptural hats and accessories, often using the Nuno felt technique .This is a wet felting method , using a combination of wool fleece and fabric. It is especially suitable for clothing, as the silk fabric, which I favour, offers stability and only a fine layer of fleece is needed, so the felt remains lightweight and drapeable. As the wool fibres are worked through the fabric, when the wool is shrunk and felted, the silk is not shrunk, but ruches up giving the garment loads of interesting textures. I buy natural fibres and silk, both habotai and georgette, and dye them in rich and luscious colours, often putting two or three dyes in the pot at the same time.

I have made a warm three quarter length, seamless felt jacket, using the nuno felt technique.

The merino wool fibres and the merino wool/ mulberry silk fibres, which are on the inside are hand dyed, as are the silk fabrics, incorporated on the surface. The jacket has two integrated pockets at the sides.

I always start with choosing my colours. I dye natural merino fleece and different qualities of silk fabrics. The weather was quite cold when selecting colours for this jacket, but we have had some beautiful clear days and walking home at dusk there have often been some amazing fiery sunsets against dark skies. I have made the jacket with two layers of fleece, the top inside layer being a combination of merino wool and silk. The dye on the merino /silk blend giving an especially vibrant depth of colour. Having two layers , although still lightweight, makes the jacket warmer. I have transformed, light, natural fibres and fabric using dyes, a template, soap and water, into a three dimensional, seamless jacket.

Sandra Hurll MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Together We Fly Collaged papers, paint, fabrics and stitch 50 x 50 cm

I am a designer-maker working with textiles and mixed media. Generally I work to a selected theme whether in response to travel, a special study or a title for an exhibition. During a stay in Sydney Australia, I observed the richly colourful indigenous birds which gave me the idea of birds in flight as a starting point.

Developing and experimenting with ideas, techniques, colour combinations and surface textures, my work evolves through several stages until a final decision is made and the artwork begins.

I also make 3D fabric sculpture lights and am currently developing paper sculptures inspired by a study of Australian Aboriginal art.

'Together We Fly' has been inspired by the theme of birds in flight. The work evolved after many design experiments and in the finished piece I have used collaged painted papers, magazine fragments, scraps of fabric and stitch.

The dynamic juxtaposition of shapes and angles is enriched by pattern merging the foreground with the background. The transformation takes place as the complexity of the design evolves into the final piece.

Adam Hussain FSDC

Glass Making & Stained Glass

London City

Kiln-formed 'Bullseye' glass. Inspired by the London skyline 60 x 40 cm

I design and make handmade contemporary glass art from concept to installation for a variety of different markets; these include artworks for galleries, corporate and private commissions, public commissions and interiors for the home and businesses. My studio and gallery are located in Earlsdon, Coventry.

I specialise in kiln-form techniques to create one off artworks, which have a handmade character. My award winning 'Interference' collection was featured in ‘Vogue’s Contemporary Collection’ for the home. These are constructed with 1mm glass stringers to create geometric patterns and abstract imagery. The relationship between glass, light and space is a key element in my studio practice; by using both transparent and opaque glass I experiment with the transmitted and reflective light created by each artwork.

My latest collection ‘From Above’ is inspired by satellite imagery of landscapes and cities.

These artworks are quite abstract and intricate in their design.

'London City' is inspired from photography of the part of the London Skyline. I have created this artwork from ‘Bullseye’ glass sheets and stringers (1mm rods). The design is quite linear to start until it is fired in the kiln, the glass then transforms into an abstract blend of colour.

Aran Illingworth MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

On the Bench The untold brings ambiguity – untold suffering and wealth of experience of the homeless 38 x 57 x 2.5 cm

Before I embarked on a career in art, I was a trained nurse for 25 years working in psychiatry for a large part of that time.

My mother was a great embroiderer, so I must have inherited my passion for textiles from her. I eventually returned to education and completed a degree in Applied Arts from the University of Hertfordshire specializing in Textile. I have always been fascinated by textiles as they provide a versatile medium through which I can create realistic images, and in my own art I set out to use fabric instead of paint to create portraits.

My subjects are taken from photographic portraits, I have always been fascinated both with textiles and with creating realistic images, and in my art I set out to combine these two sources of inspiration by using fabric instead of paint to create a portrait.

In my professional work as a nurse, I always had a strong focus on the plight of homeless people, especially those grappling with alcoholism and drug abuse. Now that I am an artist, I seek to raise awareness of homelessness through my artwork. ‘On the Bench’ sets out to convey to the viewer what it means to experience destitution. It is my attempt to challenge the viewer to confront deprivation in the urban environment without blame or discrimination, and so bring them face to face with both the beauty of humanity and its fragility. Here, we see the impact of social exclusion on men – specifically, on a man struggling for survival while living on the streets.

I hope to bring visibility to those who seem invisible. In this world of ours, where materialism thrives and where people always want more, the victims of materialism should not be ignored.

Naomi Jacques MSDC

Glass Making & Stained Glass

Jacqueline James FSDC

Woven Textiles

Fluctuations in Colour (detail) Custom dyed and hand-woven textile. Wool and linen, oak frame 78 x 59 x 3.5 cm

As an established, award-winning textile artist, I create exclusive, hand woven rugs and wall panels for distinctive interiors. I blend traditional rug weaving techniques with contemporary design style to create luxurious and functional textiles for public and private collections.

Major public commissions include weaving for Westminster Abbey, York Minster and the British Library.

Pleasing colour combinations, striking geometric patterns and smooth gradients are all characteristic elements of my woven designs. With great passion and discernment for colour I use a broad range of dyed yarns and carefully blend several strands together, like mixing paint, to achieve the desired hue. To create interesting surface patterns, I regularly custom dye the designer yarns before the weaving process.

‘Fluctuations in Colour’ is a hand-woven textile piece made with custom-dyed wool weft and linen warp. It was Inspired by my love of colour and past colour dye studies.

The designer Yarn used was transformed by dip dying natural undyed wool skeins into various coloured vats of synthetic (non-toxic) acid dyes. These yarns were then woven together using the weft faced rug weaving technique in a sequence of graded hues to create the colourful pattern.

Denise Jaques MSDC

Mosaic

Hydra Porthole (detail) Mixed Media Mosaic 80 x 80 x 12 cm

Denise Jaques is an award winning artist, based in Surrey. She makes contemporary shimmering mosaic art for the home and garden.​ Often working to commission, Denise creates site specific pieces for exhibitions, private clients, as well as commercial artwork for both interior and exterior spaces. Her work has a strong sense of texture, colour, pattern and rhythm and plays with the idea of distorted reflections. She explores scale and dimension by working on a range of projects from large scale pieces of public art and sculpture, private commissions and fine art pieces for galleries and exhibitions.

Hydra is officially the largest constellation in the southern hemisphere, it is represented by the water snake in Greek mythology. The fluid rhythm and movement of Hydra transforms a still, static path to a disturbance of ripples and chaos. The colour palette and textures are inspired by the movement of water including ripples, surf and coastal erosion captured by arial photography. Traditional tesserae and found materials ebb and flow around the undulating form, transforming contrasting organic and man made surfaces in to fragmented reflective windows of the surrounding environment.

'Hydra Porthole' is a contemporary mixed media mosaic celebrating material. This sculpted wall piece uses lead, glass, ceramic, slate, found and manipulated materials. Every piece of tesserae has been hand made, cut or formed using a range of traditional and experimental techniques.

Simon Jewell FSDC

Furniture & Boxes

Image coming next week

Voronoi Chest Jewellery box based on a traditional Korean form, in burr walnut and other veneer inlay 30 x 20 x 22 cm

I am a designer and maker of unique hand crafted boxes. I produce speculative work and commissions in all forms, from jewellery boxes to humidors, cufflinks boxes to watch boxes and personalised gift and presentation boxes.

Using the best of traditional craftsmanship with innovative new construction techniques, I make everything from exquisite jewellery boxes to perfume chests lined with silver leaf and ornately inlaid ring and cufflinks boxes, all beautifully contemporary with a classic twist.

Worked in exotic and beautiful woods, both solid and veneer, often combing silver and other inlays, each commission can be designed to complement an existing interior, providing the perfect finishing touch for a beautiful room. I can also personalise any box with an individual inlay design using someone’s initials or engraved brass or silver plaques to celebrate a special occasion, making a gift that will be treasured for years to come.

The external decoration is inspired by something called a voronoi diagram which is a mathematical way of looking at things like cell division, e.g. ‘ In biology, Voronoi diagrams are used to model a number of different biological structures, including cells[20] and bone microarchitecture.[21] Indeed, Voronoi tessellations work as a geometrical tool to understand the physical constraints that drive the organization of biological tissues.’ Wikipedia. Decoratively they give a particularly organic feel to marquetry and by varying the colours and sizes of the cells I hope that something really beautiful will result, unlike anything I’ve done before.

In addition, I am particularly fond of the ‘transformation’ from a simple rectangular box to a complicated ‘butterfly, when it is opened.

Edward Johnson FSDC

Furniture & Boxes

Luna key cabinet (detail) Walnut, cherry & maple with an oiled finish and mirror 40 x 70 x 9 cm

Edward Johnson describes his work as ‘being led by a core desire to challenge and innovate’.

His designs are often conceptually based, but with form and function always at the fore. His creative approach allows him to think outside of the box and push the boundaries of his materials to the limit.

Edward graduated in 2007 with a first-class honours degree from Buckinghamshire Chilterns University in Furniture Design and Craftsmanship. He started his own furniture business in 2009, and in 2014 moved to his current studio and workshop in Bosham, near Chichester in West Sussex. Edward had won several awards for his work, including four Bespoke Guild Marks and the Wood Awards (bespoke furniture category), and has exhibited his work both nationally and internationally.

The ‘Luna’ key cabinet forms part of Edward’s Murano Collection. His unique ‘Murano’ veneers have been mastered in his workshop, and the technique has been adapted to form wavy, radial, and straight designs. Many thin strips of timber are cut, refigured, and manipulated into various forms. Edward describes this technique as, ‘manipulating the grain of wood as an artist would manipulate paint with a brush’.

The circular and semi-circular veneers used to make Luna become reminiscent of the annual growth rings of a tree, a transformation and nod to the timber’s original form. The gradient has been carefully selected, starting at the core with a light-coloured maple flowing through to English cherry and then English walnut to create a stunning tonal blend. The cabinet is wall-hung and is made from walnut, cherry and maple with an oiled finish and mirror. It is a limited edition of 50. It has a left-hand opening door and there are three rails inside that hold the specially made key rings with space at the bottom for a wallet or mobile phone. The cabinet also houses a mirror inside.

Edward was originally inspired by a visit to the island of Murano, where Venetian master craftsmen have been producing glassware for centuries, by floating layers of different coloured glass through one another to produce exquisite patterns.

Margaret Jones FSDC

Woven Textiles

Gwendoline Hand woven weft faced tapestry 98 x 70 cm

Intuitively working in the medium of hand-woven tapestry Margaret continues to weave 2 and 3 dimensional structures manipulating the presence and sculptural quality of the medium.

Her exploration of the dark and the light is beautifully reflected in the balance between the warp and the weft, how the two negotiate around each other, always in tension but always poised in equilibrium.

‘Gwendoline’ is a 2 D tapestry. The image came from bubbles but conjures many ideas from giant storms on planets to tiny amoeba magnified many times. Showing that the rich tapestry that is the natural world can replicate it’s images on a grand or minute scale.

'Gwendoline' has a life of her own. She began as a simple tapestry and from there she transformed into a personality all her own. Initially she travelled to the Ukraine just as Russia annexed Crimea, and as she was given into the care of the carrier she was heard to cry ‘but I don’t want to go to a war zone’. However, she managed to come back unscathed and continued to grow her sphere of influence, writing a dissertation on the trails and tribulations of a tapestry in the modern art world. She is greatly looking forward to the chance to exhibit at Bankside where she feels her beauty and independence can be appreciated. Because she did have such a lovely time with the Ukrainian people Gwendoline has asked that should she sell the profit of the sale will be donated to the Disaster Emergency Committee Ukraine Appeal.

Sharon Kearley MSDC

Woven Textiles

Rhythm, Repetition and Perception Mixed media woven artwork 44 x 5.5 x 14 cm

Sharon Kearley is an International Woven Textiles Artist and an experienced Lecturer and Author. Her work is driven by process and sits at the intersection of textiles disciplines. A grounded, playful and innovative approach to weaving, she creates refined artworks for contemporary spaces, installation and exhibition, drawing upon ephemeral, spatial qualities and strong narrative.

Sharon is inspired by Bauhaus Design, applying a diagnostic, exploratory approach, responding to the physicality and sensitivity of materials combining weave, print and stitch processes. She investigates the potential of linear connections, sequence and repeat within a compositional space, applying minimal and focused use of colour, series, scale and multiples This body of work is inspired by Kandinsky’s ‘Point and Line to Plane,’(1947) and his theory of the Disharmonious and Harmonious Diagonal. This series has developed as a result of deep investigative research based upon linear connections of travel through a compositional space, exploring multiples, sequence and repeat. Kandinsky’s idea that “Repetition is a potent means of heightening the inner vibration....” Kandinsky(1947) Point to Line to Plane, p.48, Martins Publishing, USA, relating to original artworks which capture hidden connections within the landscape. As a result of design progression, continuous research and focused narrative, these works have evolved and transformed from 2d mixed media woven surface into 3dimensional woven artworks exploring rhythm and repetition, multiples, scale, materials, focused colour and elements of product design through function. .

Rhythm, Repetition and Perception is a Mixed media weave installation piece for interior contemporary spaces. A series of 3 dimensional woven cubes that rest on a concertina grit blasted aluminium stand.

Alice Kettle Honorary Fellow SDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Susan Lancaster FSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

English Country Garden Handbag Machine Embroidered Handbag, 25 x 10 x 25 cm

I work in fabric and stitch, majoring in machine embroidery. I use the sewing machine as both a free drawing tool and for the construction of my pieces. My theme has been nature, landscape and seascape, for many years. I begin with research drawings from observation of my subject and develop textile processes inspired by what I find. I am particularly enthused by colour and texture and find many ways of using both fabrics and threads to interpret my designs. My products may be wall hung and intended for interior decoration but I also enjoy creating functional pieces with an emphasis on both quality of craftsmanship and fitness for purpose. Each piece is individually handmade by me and though I may work in series or as a collection each piece is unique.

'English Country Garden’ handbag is machine embroidered, constructed in purple and green hessian and fully lined with cotton fabric. The fabrics were decorated with a range of machine embroidery techniques and glass beads were added before construction.

The surface design of this handbag was inspired by planting in my own garden which led me to look at Elizabethan gardens, Elizabethan embroideries which involved gardens and garden flowers and on to William Morris designs using entwined garden plants to create an all-over pattern. I have always enjoyed repeating patterns but prefer to not be very rigid and precise, adding random elements such as occurs in the Elizabethan embroideries.

I work with natural fabrics as the main body and add recycled or repurposed scraps as well as machine embroidery stitches to create my surfaces. On this bag I have used synthetic lining fabrics, cut out by melting, cotton bias binding, inherited from an old sewing box, and glass beads from a 1960s necklace to achieve my ‘English Country Garden’.

Andrew Lapthorn FSDC

Furniture & Boxes

Image coming next week

Andrew Lawton FSDC

Furniture & Boxes

Console Table Console table of reclaimed American Black Walnut and Sycamore 120 x 420 x 80cm

Understated design, often with a geometric influence, thoughtfully chosen woods and attention to detail have been characteristics of Andrew Lawton’s furniture since he set up his own workshop in 1980.

As well as the work for sale at this exhibition, he welcomes enquiries for any single piece or scheme that needs the individual and confident handling that an experienced designer craftsman can provide. Andrew has created a diverse body of work ranging from delicate jewellery boxes to massive oak dining tables.

Console table of American black walnut with contrasting detailing of English sycamore. The drawers are made in the best tradition of English cabinet making with hand cut dovetail joints and sweet- smelling Lebanon cedar bottoms.

The finish is a modern high performance matt waterborne lacquer to enhance the beauty of the wood and provide excellent surface protection.

The design is influenced by Andrew’s interest in Art Deco architecture and his aim to create practical furniture for today of a quality and individuality surpassing that of mass produced, factory made work.

The beautiful walnut used to make this console was reclaimed from an Edwardian sideboard; he has transformed an unloved piece of old furniture into something new.

Peter Layton Honorary Fellow SDC

Glass Making & Stained Glass

Carlyn Lindsay MSDC

Wood Carving & Turning

Hollow Pot Hollow form Pot with boxwood laminated hand threaded finial. English sycamore, English boxwood, black veneers. 110 x 250cm

The whole process of producing an object for me is important, from designing, making and planning, the attention to symmetry and being able to visualise the outcome. Selecting the wood, glueing it together with beautiful veneers. The patient process as the piece develops through its many stages. The big buzz as I am turning the piece of work on my lathe, to see my design emerge from a gluey lump of wood, to spring to life, the coloured lines so clean and bright appearing to crossover and weave in and out of each other. Then finally carefully applying the finish. I can see my fascination of lines working together in the round, causing confusion and illusion. The satisfaction is enormous. The design is permanent.

The pot is made from English Sycamore, painted black. The finial and foot are English boxwood, laminated with black and sycamore veneers. The pot has a boxwood hand threaded collar. The finial is threaded and screws into the pot.

The hollow pot is a perfect elevation to show the elaborate finial. The finial inspired by architecture, onion domes which decorate turrets on the very top of many a religious building. I look at the wonders created by Alexander Nevsky, I want to replicate for the viewer the same feeling of wonderment, mine are simply in miniature but I hope that I manage to stop the viewer, to make them question the piece. The importance of that beautiful turning, the intricate lines, weaving and stretching. The hollow pot itself a pure shape, complete curves stemming from nature, combined with the purity of blackness, combined with the fascination of being hollow and ready to house air, dust, space.

Heidi Lichterman, Honorary Fellow

Woven Textiles

Jean Littlejohn FSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Thunder Moon Stitched Textile 71 x 71 x 4.5cm

I typically work in stitched mixed media and the techniques are driven by the ideas.

Sketchbooks, visual reading and research underpin my work and I relish the challenge of sourcing new ideas.

There are some combinations and techniques that have enabled me to execute my work most effectively. Dishcharge printing into dark grounds and silk viscose velvet has offered some exciting possibilities. Dyed and applied grounds form the base for up to seven or eight layers of hand and machine stitching interspersed with the use of the embellishing machine to fuse the images and give the effect of the passing of time.

Patterns, rhythms and symbolism may be incorporated in ways not immediately obvious to the viewer. I like the combination of complexity with simplicity, not always easy to achieve The last two years have reminded me of just how important my textile practice is to my wellbeing. With no specific deadline I still felt driven to work. I have explored Moon rhythms, patterns and mythologies as they have combined the somewhat contradictory notions of constancy and change.

Storm Moon is one of a series representing different cultures, moods and personal responses. The mixed media ground forms the background to hand stitching, a constancy during a time of upheaval and a welcome meditative rhythm in my life.

Joanna Lloyd MSDC

Glass Making & Stained Glass

Vestigium Series - Material Remains V Multi-cast glass textured sculpture. Layers of iridescent with clear glass. Copper thread embroidered glass, bubble manipulation 32.5 x 8.5 x 13.5cm

I specialise in casting glass. My work is informed by previous careers as an archaeologist and landscape planner, this has emerged in my work through the use of textures cast from nature and from ancient surfaces revealed in archaeological excavation.

I have used the term “Vestigium” to describe a large body of work, it means “a trace, a footprint”. It encompasses the concept I researched during my MA, this came out of my bereavement process. Glass being the perfect material to evoke the idea of the trace we leave behind. I use a number of glass processes to create my “Vestigium Series”, including, multi-casting, fusing, lamp working, wire work, sandblasting, cold working and polishing.

I have used glass billet, clear and coloured sheet glass, glass rods and stringers, copper wire, oxides to create the multi cast and multi-layered sculpture. The intention is to convey the concept of leaving a trace behind, referencing archaeology and the layers of previous lives beneath our feet.

It is a multi-cast glass textured sculpture with layers of iridescent, coloured & clear glass.

Copper thread was used to embroider glass, bubble manipulation. The surface texture was cast from a medieval hearth at Woking Palace excavations with an archeomagnetic date of 1400-1435CE.) Woking Palace was an ancient deer park in the ownership if the Tudors, notably Henry VII and HenryVIII.

Claudia Luque LSDC

Ceramics

Pure Beauty

Sculptural Ceramic 40 x 40 x 40cm

After years of extensive exploration of ceramic’s building techniques, decoration and firing methods I’m planning to exhibit in 'Transformations' a new piece where I will be pushing boundaries and go beyond the traditional ceramics techniques with a combination of building and firing techniques to create a sculptural ceramic that represents the journey to my inner world, a world with infinite possibilities where everything is possible and magical, where we all leave as one, in complete harmony and peace.

This piece is the result of years of exploration and will be made using a combination of various building, decoration and firing techniques. Is a piece full of love and magic that will be touching the hearts of everyone that sees it. It is my gratitude to our mother Earth for the beautiful world where we are all guests and that we need to love and respect to live in complete harmony and love as ONE.

Dan Maier FSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

London Sunrise Silk appliquéd wall piece 1085 x 755cm

Whilst my background is in textiles, I’ve worked in many other media throughout my career. I generally work to commission creating bespoke artwork for interiors, theatre, window displays and public art; depending on the brief, I select the most appropriate material to work with. When sculpting in paper, I enjoy working in monochrome to allow light and shadows to express my forms. In textiles and other media, I share my love of vibrant colours.

My public art pieces have been especially well-received where the work brightens up grey urban landscapes. Most recently I designed window vinyls to transform 2 heritage buildings including the Grade ll star listed iconic Southgate tube station. Clients include The Old Vic, Royal Caribbean International Cruise Liners, Harvey Nichols, Liberty, Burnaboy and other celebrities. Equally happy working on a grand scale or something intricate, I enjoy creating something extraordinary and realising clients’ ambitions for their spaces.

Having worked on two pieces of public art this year, I’ve been taking inspiration from the Art Deco style, layering geometric shapes to create abstract designs with an architectural element. This piece is a progression from recent works, continuing to share my love of vibrant colour.

Changing sleep patterns resulted in my witnessing more winter sunrises than ever before and one incredible striped one inspired me to try and express the burgeoning light breaking through the night sky bringing the welcome relief from darkness and the warmth and joy of a fresh day. This piece represents the transformation from night to day. To create the piece, rectangular fabric blocks of colour were transformed into dynamic shapes by curved cuts and circular holes that come alive and sing as you see through these 'windows' to the layers behind and experience the zing of adjacent contrasting colours.

John Makepeace, Honorary Fellow

Furniture & Boxes

Mayumi Kaneko MSDC

Woven Textiles

Now and Then Hand woven wall hanging with paper yarn and silk 70 x 110cm

I’m a weaver. I came to the UK from Japan in 2003.

To explore what I can get from the different materials is one of my interests. What I find magical is the way a simple structure – warp (vertical thread) and weft (horizontal thread), can be transformed into a unique texture or pattern by the use of different colour or type of yarns and weaving structures or techniques.

Principally my use of Japanese paper yarn, sometimes combined with use of complementary or contrasting other yarns to achieve different, original, unique fabrics.

Japanese paper yarn is made from Washi, Japanese paper. The property of Washi is very different from photo copy paper. Being washable, durable, has no fluff, high absorption potential are a part of its characteristics. Also it is sustainable material.

Using Japanese paper yarn makes my weaving and the outcome unique. I am inspired by the lighting installation in a church courtyard - it shows the contrast with old/historic and modern.

The historic building and the dark courtyard was lit with the lighting installation.

Modern technology was applied to the lighting installation.

Diana Mckinnon MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Blaze of Autumn Glory Textile 51 x 40cm

My discipline is textiles, working mainly in free motion machine embroidery. I layer sheer fabrics and handmade silk paper to create my scenes. I use my multitude of machine threads to blend, create direction, detail and texture. Sometimes a piece of work requires smaller elements which I make separately and then use minimal stitching to attach so that they are not flattened in the process. My work in mainly scenic and depicts the English countryside.

My picture for the exhibition is a view I captured from across the lake at Sheffield Park. The complexities of trees, on the opposite side of the lake, are in sharp contrast to the bare branches of the acacia tree in the foreground, whose leaves have fallen but still retain a vibrant deep red, creating patterns on the green grassy bank. It’s a sunny day so the trees are mirrored on the still water of the lake.

I love to go to Sheffield Park on a sunny autumn day when the colours are vibrant and I can resource scenes that I might use in my work. The lake is a prominent feature in the park and I love to capture the reflections, that create an almost mirror image. I am also thinking of the importance of the foreground so that in my work the viewer can imagine they are standing on the bank, looking across the lake.

I change fibres into silk paper, machine threads into the details of the scene. They blend and become the interpretation of my photograph.

Tori McLean MSDC

Printmaking

Tate Modern: Chromatic Colour I (detail) T??????? 95 x 105 x 3.2cm

Tori McLean is a fine art printmaker and surface print designer for home textiles, printed wallpaper, and fashion. Whether creating works under her own name, or undertaking freelance commercial design work, Tori’s unique prints and patterns are instantly recognisable for their striking use of lively and vivid colour.

With an inherent love for the printmaking process, Tori is passionate about maintaining and combining traditional skills. She believes that meticulously handcrafted and hand-pulled prints are items to be much treasured. Many of her works are created as small editions, as an antidote to mass-market product and large edition giclée prints.

Tori’s creativity and curiosity are often sparked by the unexpected results achieved by combining different processes. Her beautifully equipped print studio enables her to work across a wide range of printmaking techniques and to print onto specific surface materials including paper, textiles, wood, glass, metal, slate, and ceramic.

Tori was inspired to create ‘Tate Modern: Chromatic Colour I’ after being given many colourful pieces of left-over fabric. With a desire to repurpose, reuse and recycle these fabrics, she was curious to see if she would be able to print onto them using traditional printing methods normally associated with works on paper. Traditionally, Tori would use silkscreen printing methods to print onto cloth – but she wanted to challenge herself to see if she could print one of her zinc-plate, aquatint etchings onto fabric using her Rochat etching press. Inspired by the colour changes in Andy Warhol’s silkscreen prints of celebrities, Tori experimented with changes in fabric selection and specialist fabric ink colours to see how these might transform a repeating image. Continuing her theme of repurposing, she selected the Tate Modern (itself a repurposed building) as the subject for her zinc-plate aquatint etching transformations.

Christine Meyer-Eaglestone FSDC

Furniture & Boxes

Circles & Stripes II Low chest featuring a hand-cut marquetry surface design 140 x 44 x 44cm

I studied fine art and after many years of teaching, prompted by a passion for furniture, interior and architectural design, I enrolled on a cabinetmaking course where I developed my own method of creating designs with wood veneers, recognising the space marquetry could occupy as a contemporary visual medium. Since then I have been creating wall-based artworks and ‘functional pieces of art’ with a hand-cut marquetry surface (screens, mirrors etc). Structure, enhanced by manipulating line, edge, colour and organic pattern. is central to my designs which often play with spatial illusion and which evolve, without prior drawing, in the cutting process while intuitively choosing from a multitude of conventional, dyed and ‘reconstructed’ wood veneers. I draw inspiration from early 20th Century art and design, in particular Bauhaus, Cubism, Constructivism etc and admire the minimalism, calm and elegance of Japanese design.

This is a speculative object and my aim was to create a modern take on the end-of-the-bed blanket chest by transforming the look of a traditional chest into a low chest that lines up long the width of a double bed. The visual language for this piece has been inspired by my admiration of the aesthetic of traditional Japanese interiors.

The hand-cut marquetry surface design is made up of sycamore, walnut, tamo ash, dyed tulipwood and Italian ‘reconstructed’ wood veneers. The two painted oak supports ‘break’ two thirds from the bottom and there are two recesses in the top third to aid lifting of the lid. The lid is hinged with stainless steel hinges and restrained with a stainless chain on each side. The interior base and lid are lined with suede. This is a unique piece which bears my veneered logo on its righthand side.

Pat Moloney FSDC

Woven Textiles

The Rhythms of the Sea Handwoven, rug technique with wrapped section in wool, cotton and recycled materials 90 x 135cm

The very nature of Textiles engage the senses. As a Textile artist Pat Moloney uses hand woven techniques to explore how these qualities can be used to reveal memory and the atmosphere of a place. She takes inspiration from the environment looking for minute details. The interaction of colour with textures, lines and marks, the shapes cast by shadows and reflections. Her work is a response to this intense observation that allows interplay with textures, shapes and colour, and allows each piece to evolve in its own way. Perception, memory and imagination are constantly interacting with one another. With background in textile design and a teaching career spanning many years in Higher Education she has a wide vocabulary of textile techniques. In this piece she uses the centuries old Finnish technique of Ryijy which lends itself to contemporary interpretations.

This rug has been designed as a piece for the wall. It incorporates traditional Finnish Ryijy rug pile techniques, both cut and uncut and wrapping techniques, to create both subtle and more dramatic changes in texture. Because it is hand process it’s possible select the colours in each knot. This achieves the effect of gradually moving the colours from dark to light, and creating areas of intense colour. To further enhance the textural qualities different materials have been incorporated from conventional woollen rug yarns to recycled materials and cotton. The rug is mounted on a felt Inspired by a series of photographs of the Aegean Sea and by just observing and absorbing the colour and rhythms this piece is like a woven sea scape. However, I have chosen to develop the piece as an expression of the different moods and rhythms of the sea in a more abstract format. Each section is an in depth response representing the different rhythms and patterns that the sea makes from shore to skyline. The hand techniques of wrapping and traditional Finnish Rug knotting, give me the scope to have complete control over the colour movements and textures to create multi sensory qualities.

Carol Naylor FSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Tranquil Day Machine embroidery 53 x 5 x 43cm

I make machine embroidered textiles for exhibitions, public, and private venues. I also work to commission. My work is based on direct experience and observation.

Intensive, continual machine stitching changes the base fabric from a flat surface to one that moves and undulates with its own unique quality. The sculptural qualities in larger works, and loops and textures caused by tension and thread changes are an integral part of the process.

I find that this technique gives me a more painterly approach to textile art. Drawing freely with the sewing machine needle provides the marks a paintbrush or pencil would make, and the richly coloured threads offer a wide and exciting palette.

Tranquil Day is a flowing, fluid landscape inspired by the South Downs. After a recent visit, I drew from memory onto painters’ canvas, before making a final decision regarding my colour palette. The rich amber skies we see here are reflected in the foreground colours in the meadow, with tiny offcuts of gold fabric embedded within the embroidery.

I have been influenced by the land for as long as I can remember. The South Downs near our home are a constant source of inspiration. They change all the time, from season to season, day to day. Hills roll away with fields that flow and fall towards you, and the changing light influences the way in which I approach stitching. A gentle breeze with an amber sky and shadows changing with the light, transformed the land as I looked at it, offering a sense of peace in these difficult times.

Wendy Newhofer MSDC

Glass Making & Stained Glass

Floating Kilnformed glass 42 x 33 x 4cm

Wendy first encountered kilnformed glass on an Art Foundation course in 2000 and was immediately captivated by the process. . A 3D glass course in London over three years gave her the necessary skills and experience to set up a studio at her home in Oxford.

She works with float glass (wndow glass) and inclusions of precious metal leaf and wire enable her to ‘draw’ within the glass and create a palette of subtle colours once fired in the kiln. Natural forms have always been a strong vehicle for her techniques and her work is also informed by her love of pattern.

A depiction of Cyanobacteria made from sheets of float glass (window glass) which has been layered with metal leaf, foil and wire then kiln fired to produce a palette of delicate colours This piece developed from the investigation of ancient life forms on our planet. Wendy discovered cyanobacteria, also known as blue green algae which live in water and float around in sinuous strings. Cyanobacteria go back millions of years and are defined by their ability to perform oxygenic photosynthesis which made them largely responsible for the oxygenation of the planet. Resembling strings of beads, Wendy has created a translucent panel which shows off their flowing form Glass is a perfect medium for the depiction of the cyanobacteria and using this transparent material Wendy has transformed it into an aquatic environment Her working process involves layering clear float glass with metal leaf, foil and wire. When these materials are fired in the kiln the glass fuses to the metals to produce expressive glass pieces which have a painterly quality to them.

Leslie Parrott MSDC

Ceramics

On Air

Stoneware model of a 1950s television with wings, taking off from a black timber stand 9 x 19 x 29cm

I make functional and sculptural ceramics fired in reduction ( low oxygen level) to cone 12 (1300C). My focus is on glaze design, glaze interaction with the clay body, surface texture and the dynamic internal kiln conditions. Detailed records are collected to aid continuing progress.

My sculptural piece entitled “On air” is an olive/blue stoneware model of a 1950s television with wings, taking off from a simple black timber stand. The dimensions including the stand are 19 cm wide by 29cm high and 9cm deep I have complex childhood memories of television when broadcasting was intermittent, programmes were naively simple and TV cabinets were polished, veneered timber. My sculptural piece is a sounding board for backward time travel that may resonate with others or encourage investigation of early visual communication.

Patricia Spero & Gabor Lacko FSDC

Wood Carving & Turning

Red Chrysanthemums

Platter and five turned, pierced and coloured bowls. Platter 25 x 3cm. Bowls 12 x 4 cm

We have been a woodturning partnership for 15 years, turning and decorating bowls, candlesticks and platters. We work only in sustainable English woods and we make purely decorative objects which are firstly lathe turned by hand, then carved, pierced, inlaid and sometimes coloured.

We have always been inspired and fascinated by the textural hidden depths and colours of wood. We aim to transform the once living and breathing substance of tree wood into decorative pieces, using the colours and shapes of leaves and flowers throughout the seasons to express the beauty of the natural world.

Our pieces are thin turned on the lathe and then pierced. The red set represents a Japanese tea set, with the pierced inlays of chrysanthemums, the Japanese national flower. It is turned from maple and pierced and coloured.

Mary Penley LSDC

Ceramics

Sculptural Winged Spheres Cast and hand formed using stoneware slip and blue glaze 17 x 15 cm (large) 10 x 9 cm (small)

II trained originally as a graphic designer specializing in scenic design for television, in which I worked professionally for many years. It was during this time that my love affair with clay began while attending evening classes. and my fascination continues.

I have always loved pattern, surface decoration and architectural forms. I am inspired constantly by nature and the beauty of the landscape. In particular the beauty surrounding my home in West Sussex, and studio in Brighton. Now based at Robertson Yard Studios, clay also forms part of my ministry as a trained Spiritual Director within the Anglican Church. My work is a combination of wheel thrown and hand building techniques, and is constantly evolving. My growing focus is on creating liturgical art, where sculptural pieces are ‘prayed into being’, and are then used as reflective, meditative focus points for exhibitions and faith lead retreats, both for groups and individuals.

These spheres are made using slip-cast stoneware clay part moulded and then using the clay as a pliable 'sheet'. People have likened them to seed pods and sea urchins and the 'snitch ball' from Quidditch in Harry Potter. But in truth I just like making them and experimenting with different types of firing and materials.

NOT SURE IF YOU ARE PUTTING ONE OR TWO IN?

Sumi Perera FSDC

Paper & Artists Books

Feeling the blues...

Hybrid-print artist book installation that changed colour and light 100 x 100 x 20cm

An interdisciplinary artist/maker/academic/curator who creates interactive site-specific artistbook-installations. She draws upon her multicultural background, born in Sri Lanka, living & working in the UK as a doctor, scientist(virologist) and artist. She obtained a MA at Camberwell College of Arts UAL (2003-2004), and has taught at Middlesex University MA Printmaking Programme and the Royal Academy of London.

Sumi has held many international residencies in China (Beijing 2007 & Yinchuan 2019), Italy (Venice 2017), France (Marcilhac-sur-Cele 2017) & London 2016 Mercers Hall. Perera’s work has won many international prizes/awards and has work held in public/private collections, including the Tate Britain, Victoria & Albert Museum, Ashmolean Museum, Royal Collection, British Museum, British Library & Yale Centre for British Art USA etc. She has curated many touring exhibitions and coordinated many ongoing collaborative projects since 2006: Sumi Perera et al. was showcased at CFPR, Bristol (2016) and IMPACT10(Printmaking Conference), Santander Spain (2018): This work was made at a sad time in her life, with impending displacement and transformation. A reflection on the positive elements within my sexagenarian nomadic existence, of flitting between my native country Sri Lanka and my adoptive country the UK. Indigo-dyed shibori-fabrics, cyanotypes made in various countries over several decades were taken to China. Placed directly over light-sensitive emulsion coated silkscreens, exposed to light and printed with ink onto paper. Etchings of architectural elements from abandoned blueprints of our family-home, drawn 30 years ago, due to the 26 year civil war, were incorporated into structural plans from homes we lived in, international artist residency sites, and floor-plans from exhibited galleries. Shapes were cut-out, assembled/transformed into 3D polyhedrons, all except one, still attached to its base. Thus the translocation of these units into the cabinet left the central cubicle empty.

A contemplation of loss, gain and hope.

Light at the end…

Martyn Pugh FSDC

Silversmithing & Goldsmithing

ARC 4 White silk-finished sterling silver Jug 40cm

I produce collections of silverware and jewellery in combination with commission work in all precious materials, particularly enjoying the combination of cutting edge technology and materials with traditional techniques. My work can be found in many public and private collections worldwide.

A hot-forged solid silver tapering handle only attached at the base, floats beside the fused, jointless, tall slim body of this elegant Jug from the 'ARC' series.

This Jug continues my quest to imbue sculptural forms with practical characteristics, being even more sculptural than its predecessors. With its forged handle extending over the top of the jug and beyond its lip, it accentuates the feeling of the form traveling ‘invisibly to infinity’.

While the jug is completely user-friendly and is a perfect pourer, its ultra sculptural form does stretch its functionality. Drama is added to its use when the tip of the handle almost , but not quite, touches the vessel into which the liquid is being poured. Its white-satin finish emphasises the seamless shape.

To overcome the issue of easily marked matt finishes, I developed this innovative, complex textured surface which, when combined with heating, builds a fingerprint resistant layer that only requires washing with soapy water to maintain its elegant finish.

Liz Ramsay MSDC

Woven Textiles

The Streets of L’Aquila | Sun and Shadows (detail) Hand woven wall hanging , silk and British wool 170 x 65cm

I fell in love with weaving by accident. The visceral nature of laying thread on thread and creating cloth took me by surprise... even with the mathematics involved, the structures and technical tensions - in spite of this, there is a quiet silky slipperiness to explore and enjoy. I gather my ideas slowly, over time, weaving what speaks to me from life and experience. I weave from my artwork and images, from the places I’ve been and the stories I’m bound up with. Each piece has its own history, its own unique voice.

The yarns I use (almost exclusively remaindered and reclaimed) are varied, but often fine and my patterning can be complex – so the weaving creeps along the loom day by day. It is a labour of patience and love. Finally, the piece is ‘finished’ by hand and at last the work is as it should be.

Based on my drawings, paintings and other artwork from the ancient hill city of L’Aquila, central Italy, this work is one of a number of pieces from my L’Aquila collection which are woven primarily as block weaves. You will find some more tightly woven areas and some looser details to suggest both strength and fragility, even though each block is linked to the next.

I took inspiration from the warmth and resilience of the people of the city after the devastating earthquake of 2009 - which caused the deaths of so many, many, loved ones and which destroyed hundreds of homes.

L’Aquila is a place which simply speaks to my heart as a place of Transformation and Renewal and I feel it is fitting that the very materials I have selected, are given new lease of life in this woven artwork.

Lilly Reid LSDC

Sculpture

Signature Snake Carved stoneware python, decorated in a shino style glaze and layered to create a snakeskin-like patina 17 x 17 x 16cm

My stoneware and porcelain ceramic forms are a unique mix of wheel thrown pottery and hand built sculpture, that depict British wildlife within hand carved botanicals (such as foxtail and Yorkshire fog). The inspiration for my sculptures evoke the golden age of British children’s illustration, such as Beatrix Potter and Walter Crane (Aesop’s Fables). My work is also an ode to the ceramics industry, which I have grown to love. This being the sculpture, wheel thrown pottery and the sgraffito techniques used to create each piece. I hope to depict a unique take on the British countryside that is also contemporary in form and beautiful to look at.

The piece I have chosen to display specifically for Transformations is a carved stoneware python, decorated in a handmade shino style glaze thats been layered to create a snakeskinlike patina. It will be the first public showcasing from my latest range of contemporary snakes. This series has been part of my professional body of work from day one and now nearly two years later it has adapted or “transformed” into my signature range. Set to feature within GQ magazine during the transformations exhibition, this body of work strongly represents my journey from showcasing my shedding snakes at ceramic fairs and the Oxmarket 2020 exhibition to now being adopted by Interior designers worldwide and featured in numerous Conde Nast publications.

The glaze for these snakes are handmade by myself and are an adaptation of a shino glaze from the 19th century, consisting of various soda fluxes and pigments. Each piece isn’t simply dipped into the glaze and fired, but instead painted like a canvas to ensure the glaze layers create a snakeskin like patina on top of the hand carved features of the form.

Christine-Ann Richards FSDC

Ceramics

Flanged Vase High Fired Garden Ceramics 43 x 102cm

trained at Harrow School of Art and Technology under Mick Casson (1971-1973). Before setting up her first workshop in London, she was able to work for David Leach who encouraged her work in thrown porcelain. She now lives and works in a Chapel in Somerset.

A study trip to China in 1978 with the Craftsmen Potters Association had a radical effect on her work and way of life. On her return she pursued studies in the arts and culture of China and since 1985 has taken others on visits to both China and Central Asia.

Christine-Ann continues to work in porcelain but also a rougher hand-building clay, slabbed and coiled, in buff, terracotta and dark brown clays creating larger bespoke garden ceramics.

Recently, after fifty years of porcelain, she has also been throwing this same rough clay creating pots unlike anything she has done before!

Three months spent on a ceramics workshop in Japan encouraged me, two years later, to apply in 1996 for a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship to return to Japan to “explore the way that water in used in landscape and architecture.” This has been an ongoing inspiration for the large bespoke garden ceramics and water-features made mainly to commission.

Previously I had only ever used porcelain but when I returned from Japan I started experimenting with rougher hand-building clays. Some slabbed work and other coiled. I have a cylindrical kiln, designed and partially built by myself, with a separate base on which I create these larger pots. Some are simple open forms which I coil and others as with the vessel you see which are slabbed, coiled and with a thrown top. The kiln is then lowered over the pot for the firing to approx. 1200 degrees centigrade Using a rough dark-brown clay, slabbed, coiled and surformed to enhance the surface texture of the lower section, with a separate thrown flanged neck / top. .

Mark Ripley MSDC

Furniture & Boxes

Bramley Rocking Chair Rocking chair, European Ash and Elm

97 x 67 x 124cm

I have been a practicing furniture maker since 1980 and full-time since 1990 apart from a period teaching from 2018 – 2021. My inspiration from childhood was the vernacular woodwork of Britain and Scandinavia in buildings, boats and furniture. My aim has been to develop a personal interpretation of these influences through signature designs and commissions.

The Bramley Rocking chair epitomises my approach which brings together aspects of structure, aesthetics and human ergonomics into a unified whole. The design first emerged aboutsix years ago but has been subject to constant refinement and this is the current version. A chair is a challenging thing to get right and I find a new design will go through many variations before it settles. I tend to avoid added decoration in my work preferring to develop form, the interplay of components, negative shapes and light. The wood itself is of course foundational and ‘grain graphics’, the careful choice of timber to create a balanced whole, is central to this process. Much of the work in this piece is done by hand. All the joinery is hand cut, the seat profile is hand carved and spoke shaved and the sanding and finishing are hand done.

Vivienne Rodwell-Davies MSDC

Ceramics

...?

Large, dimpled flared bowl with footring 16 x 40cm

My work is thrown on the wheel & turned, or hand formed using coil & slab techniques with stoneware & porcelain clay.

Nature is my constant inspiration – the natural landscape, woods, plants, sea, sand & gardening. I carry a sketch book and am constantly ‘scribbling’ the ever changing landscape.

Texture features in many of my ceramics, it accentuates the glazes & changes the tones depending on the way light falls on the piece.

Large dimpled flared bowl with footring. Stoneware glazed to 1260c in satin black, overlaid with white and rutile glaze. My work takes inspiration from nature, how light, shade and texture is formed with movement in water and sand. My bowl reflects this in how the glazes react over the textured form, producing varying tones & colours.

Nicholas Rowe LSDC

Wood Carving & Turning

Number 35, 2021 High-sided decorative bowl in Spalted Sycamore wood from Wetheringsett, Suffolk

20.7 x 20.7 x 13.2cm

Growing his artistic woodturning practice Nicholas draws inspiration from the bark, grain, imperfections and distinctive features in green/wet, seasoned and reclaimed wood he sources locally. Uninterested in copying contemporary trends he follows his material sensitive philosophy progressed since his BA (Hons) 3D Design and Craft Degree.

Deciding initially what form enables the best appreciation of the natural material’s visual and tactile qualities, he is often induced to alter the final form to respect hidden voids, cracks, Spalting lines or grain ripples that reveal themselves whilst turning. He is honing the skills required to overcome the challenges these unique features pose that others may shy away from.

Turning a client’s treasured wood brings additional responsibilities as the piece resonates stronger and is valued greater. Nicholas is generating work with increased aesthetic impact while refining his already highly acknowledged surface finishes.

The bowl is a high-sided decorative bowl in Spalted Sycamore wood from Wetheringsett, Suffolk, UK. The standout feature of this piece is the variety of colours and demarcation lines the Spalting fungi have created. The weight of the piece is deceptively lighter than the size would suggest as the structural integrity and micronutrients have been affected by the Spalting fungi. However I have still been able to turn a rim thickness of 8mm, gradually thickening towards the base.

A final micro wax polish has been applied to give a hardwearing surface as well as a lasting satin sheen.

A friend who manages a number of woodland areas gave me several pieces of this wet Spalted Sycamore as he considered it was too good to burn.

Quite soon after obtaining the wood I turned a 1 inch thick bowl. After carefully air-drying for between 12 to 18 months I re-turned the rough bowl, sanding it to a fine finish before applying a hardwearing wax polish. The lines are demarcation zones between competing Spalting fungi. Turning such wood poses its own challenges as the fungi breaks down micronutrients, changing the structural integrity (leaving plucky/soft areas) and causing weight imbalances.

Once the wood is dried to below 20% moisture content the Spalting fungi are dead.

Elisabeth Rutt MSDC

Stitched & Constructive Textiles

Desire Lines Hand stitch on a vintage Ordnance Survey map

51 x 64cm

My work comes from somewhere between my art school training and my lifelong love of textiles. I approach work from a fine art perspective rather than being led by technique.

My driving force is form and colour, and what I can make them do for me. Over the years I have come to rely on hand stitching which I keep simple, not doing anything too technically difficult or impressive. My stitches are drawn marks that record what I have observed or am thinking about, and work is usually abstract. I rarely use conventional ground fabrics, preferring to construct, paint or print my own before adding stitch. I enjoy chance and asymmetry with a nod to geometry. I want my work to speak for itself, my design to be the best it can be and the technique to be secondary. I work from my home studio in Suffolk.

Robert McFarlane’s book ‘The Old Ways’ was my starting point for a body of work that considers the new layers of pattern that human activity imposes on the land.

For 'Desire Lines' I chose to use a vintage Ordnance Survey map as my ‘ground fabric’ instead of a textile. As I stitched my needle permanently damaged the paper referencing in a small way how mankind permanently alters the landscape.

My stitches use the Ordnance Survey print colours and indicate the roaming of walkers as they disregard the mapped footpaths and make a webbed network across the land features, rather than with them. These new patterns form the 'Desire Lines' of my title. I have used parallel straight stitches as my way of representing these new, scoured patterns. The stitches overlap each other where they cross appearing almost interwoven rather than layered.

Deborah Saunders LSDC

Stitched & Constructive Textiles

Beautifully Functional Stitched textile 100 x 100cm

My work is stitched textiles, currently I am working on pieces using functional items, such as haberdashery components and findings to create aesthetically pleasing pieces that require a second glance to see close up what they are created with. They are stitched in place by hand using minimal stitching with fine thread. This work is a re-visited theme titled ‘Looks Familiar’.

My work creates impact of a ‘double take’ when looked at it more closely.

Who said that that functional can’t be beautiful? This is a large piece of a lightweight satin fabric, with hand stitched flowers of hooks and eyes. Put together in a decorative way, the flowers are repeated and spaced out to cover the fabric, making it more decorative.

Part of a new body of work, this comes from revisiting a theme titled ‘Looks familiar’ and the exploration of making patterns and drawings using functional components, especially haberdashery items that are for a purpose and not seen as the main feature.

Pam Schomberg FSDC

Ceramics

Handmaiden Jug Stoneware hand built on three legs. Impressed decoration with a few gold details, 9cm

I have worked as a potter since 1985 and am based in Colchester. As a child I was fascinated by the ancient artefacts in our local museum and find this has coloured my style and influenced the way my ceramic work has developed. I also spent time with my late father while he worked as a bespoke tailor, which has led me to sympathy with texture and pattern and a textile like way of building in clay.

Each piece is unique and individually hand built in either porcelain or stoneware. I make marks and impress pattern into rolled out slabs of clay, with made or found tools, the pot is then built with sections from these slabs and fired. Colour is included at all stages, with the use of oxides, slips, glazes and precious – gold and platinum - on-glaze lusters. Many are fired 3, 4 or sometimes 5 times.

The piece I am exhibiting is a stoneware hand built pot on three legs. Impressed decoration with a few gold details.

Over a number of years my practice has been rooted in drawing in museums, looking at textiles, textures, all kinds of objects, and being moved by other times and cultures. This is a development of that series of works. It is a piece that I like particularly. It is both exotic and understated. Both calm and alive.

Moira Searle MSDC

Feltmaking

Miss Havisham Arises (detail) Dress 164 x 32 x 27cm

I work as a felt artist specialising in one off items of women’s clothing. Each item of clothing is individually fashioned using a blend of merino wool as a base. The felting process enables other silk and plant fibres as well as recycled vintage fabrics to be incorporated, creating textural interest and contrast. I am inspired by vintage fashion and like to create stories about the pieces I make. My work has included garments inspired by the coastline that in my imagination have been washed ashore and have integrated with the textures and colours of the shoreline. Other pieces I have made have been inspired by my family’s Victorian Christening Gown. The piece I am submitting for this exhibition is inspired by the Dickens character Miss Havisham.

'Miss Havisham Arises' has been inspired by the Dickens character of Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham has arisen. She is no longer victim to her circumstances but instead has become free of social constraint. She is transformed into a confident woman who no longer needs a man to make her feel complete. Her garments have been transformed to celebrate her new found freedom simply to be herself. The dress and capelet are made from merino wool with silk fibres, vintage wedding lace and tulle. These materials have been transformed in the process of felting to make a new and contemporary garment, where holes in the fabric reflect the passing of time.

Arlene Shawcross MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Ocean Blues Wall piece inspired by the sea stitched using the technique of free-machine embroidery 52 x 200cm

I am a textile artist specialising in the technique of free-machine embroidery. Much of my work is inspired by my love of roses and music. Recently I have also been creating textile pieces inspired by the sea. I enjoy listening to music inspired by the sea and in turn that informs my stitched pieces.

My work is diverse and ranges from wall pieces and garments stitched on a soluble ground which is dissolved away to create a beautiful lace, to richly stitched pieces and accessories using my own hand-dyed velvets.

'Ocean Blues' is inspired my love of the sea and I have also found inspiration in listening to music which is linked to the sea. I have transformed wool into a cord by wrapping it with stitch on the sewing machine. The cord has then been stitched onto a soluble ground which is later dissolved to transform the piece into a beautiful lace.

'Ocean Blues' represents the undulating waves and flow of the world’s oceans. Metallic thread suggests spray and the surface sparkling in the sunlight under which there are bubbles and currents.

Cathryn Shilling FSDC

Glass Making & Stained Glass

Metamorphosis – The Dancer Kiln formed glass with 24 carat gold 43 x 20 x 40cm

Working on a human scale I create my free-standing sculptures using lengths of 4mm diameter clear glass canes. The canes come in long lengths of 153cm and I cut them to the size before compiling them in a way that when fused together they form a sheet of woven glass cloth. The woven glass sheet is then refired so the final form is created by heat and gravity in the kiln. The resulting sculpture is coated with 24 carat gold so that the surface moves and shimmers, exploiting texture, light and reflection.

I am fascinated by Kinesics, or the study of Body Language by which humans unconsciously transmit and receive non-verbal communication. Body posture and the position of a person in relation to others is an important indicator of feelings, attitudes and moods. These physical expressions may reveal our true feelings by signalling the differences between what we say and what we mean.

With Metamorphosis I wanted to explore how often the face we show to the world is a mask but the language of the body frequently tells another story and our true nature is often revealed in ways we cannot control. To reinforce the contemporaneous nature of this, Metamorphosis is composed of two different materials, glass and 24 carat gold. But the gold is an optical coating, no thicker than a quarter wave of yellow light. This represents our public persona that often belies the fragility we feel beneath.

Batool Showghi MSDC

Mixed Media

Captured in a box, installation, September 2021 Wooden boxed frame 127.5 x 32 x 5cm

Batool Showghi’s multidisciplinary approach to the artists’ book and her mixed media work involve photography, illustration, painting and textiles. All of which are employed to explore themes of cultural heritage, memory, identity and loss in very personal ways. Her work as an artist is concerned with the experience of women and the way in which this experience relates to cultural and religious boundaries as well as reflecting on the theme of turbulence, immigration, disintegration of the family and the experience of displacement.

In recent projects and artist’s books Batool uses textile pieces on canvas and paper and the use of a sewing machine as a drawing tool to create her imagery.

A series of her artist’s books and mixed media works are in permanent collections of: The Tate Britain, British Library, The Royal Navy Museum in Portsmouth, the Museum of Art and Literature, Yerevan, Armenia, and in many private collections.

This wall piece consists of 60 small metal boxes. Each box is 6 x 9 cm. The boxes are in three rows each row consists of 20 small boxes and materials used are small tin boxes, textiles, stitching, painting, collage, and Farsi inscriptions on printed paper.

This installation shows individuals being captured in a box, feeling isolated and cut off from each other. While in lockdown I experienced hardship to be cut off from family and friends. I know some vulnerable people who had been confined to their houses for nearly two years.

For some life has not gone back to normal yet.

Consuelo Simpson MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Telling Tales (detail) Found object with yarns and gilding, 119 x 30 x 10 cm, 64 metal + 55cm string

As a multi-disciplinary artist working with craft techniques, I am drawn to materials with a long history: textiles, string, paper. I enjoy the dialogue with materials as the work progresses, always aware of weight and texture in my hands. I respond intuitively to what is happening in front of me, focusing on the process of making as a way of understanding, hands and body responding to materials.

I often use found tools for the history they hold. They bear witness to the past and are a direct link to people whose stories may never be told. I construct assemblages to celebrate hidden stories and to give objects an imagined future. I look for moments of contentment, noticing flashes of enchantment and reaching an accommodation with the world around us.

'Telling Tales' is a multi pronged vintage pitchfork transformed through the use of yarn woven on the tines, with some gilding on the tips. The original shaft has been replaced with yarn to enable the tool to be wall hung.

A lucky find at an antiques market, this tool was stripped of its history. Its heft however speaks of long hours of manual labour working the land and producing growing food.

My intention is to respond to the tool’s lost past and, in transforming it, to offer it an imagined future. The yarns weaving across the tines symbolise the threads that bind us to others and to other places through time and space. The missing handle is replaced with string as a reminder of one of the earliest universal technologies to shape communities.

Recent events have highlighted our wish to connect more closely with place and to reconnect with Nature, to lead lives more in tune with the seasons and to celebrate land’s bounty.

John Slater (deceased) Honorary Fellow

Wood Carving & Turning

Christine Spencer MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Kingfisher Rising Needle-felt and hand embroidery. Merino and silk fibres, hand beading 40 x 40 x 4cm

Christine Spencer is a textile artist who works primarily with natural fibres and hand embroidery. Inspired by all aspects of the natural world her current practice is to try and capture the joy to be found there.

Inspiration for the piece came from a small, unnoticed bird that dives into a pond and arises a magical, sparkling blaze of colour. In the same way plain fleece and silk fibres are transformed into an image that brings joy to the heart.

Gillian Spires FSDC

Paper & Artists Books

Life Force (detail) Handmade paper from New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) plant 61 x 75.5 x 4.5cm

I have been making paper from plants, which I grow, for nearly fifty years using ancient Chinese methods, the fibres being beaten by hand. Papermaking has taken me to many countries seeking primitive techniques. I have worked with a master papermaker at the foot of Mount Fuji in Japan and travelled from North to South China studying paper. Travelling through Burma on an oxcart I visited the bamboo papermakers who make the substrate for the beating of gold leaf and the rice straw papermakers who make the final packaging. In Malawi I researched indigenous plants for papermaking in schools and, having been awarded a scholarship by the World Wide Fund for Nature, returned to continue the educational work. Over the years I have visited many paper studios in the USA. I have taught papermaking and exhibited my work widely.

This abstract collage on canvas is made with handmade paper made from the leaves of the New Zealand flax plant (Phormium tenax) which grows well in the South West of England.

The colours are dyed as fibres in small batches before being formed into sheets. Some incorporate 23.5ct.gold leaf. Lichens used as dyes are represented. The transformation is contained in the process — plants to paper.

Diana Springall FSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Cornus Aurea Low relief felt. Gouache painting scanned and printed onto transfer paper for final printing on silk. Hand stitched. 61 x 75.5 x 4.5cm

Diana is retired but still contributes by teaching, lecturing, curating and judging (2004 to date as a judge for the 'Beryl Dean Embroidery Teaching Prize' and as judge and mentor for the 'Hand & Lock' embroidery prize).

Diana is a designer and maker of wall panels, hangings, pictures, carpets, screens, altar frontals and greeting cards. Her work has mainly been by commission and can be found in many public and private collections, produced in many techniques and all types of cloth and yarn using both and stitch and machine.

She is the author of five books and has also been the subject of several articles - 'A Brave Eye' (a biography by June Hill) in 2011, a recorded interview by Sue Prichard (for the V&A archive) in 2009, and a profile in the May/June 2019 issue of Embroidery magazine May/June

by Jo Hall (Editor).

In 2018 Diana received the Freedom of the City of London and in 2019 was made Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Broderers'.

'Cornus Aurea' is a low relief hand and machine stitched with wool felt and furnishing fabrics.

The piece was inspired by the winter colour of the Cornus bushes in the grounds of Leeds Castle in Kent.

Sue Stone FSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

A Step into the Unknown (detail) Hand and machine stitch, appliqué and painting. Linen and cotton fabrics, cotton and linen threads and acrylic paint. 116 x 84cm

Sue Stone is a British artist who is best known for mixed media, narrative compositions that are inspired by the seen, the heard, and the experienced. Sue studied fashion design at St Martins School of Art and then embroidery at Goldsmiths College, London. She had a long career in clothing design and manufacture before returning to embroidery in 2003.

Sue Stone’s work has appeared in many books and magazines and has been exhibited widely in the Uk, and throughout Europe and also in Japan, Pakistan, Australia and the USA. Sue is an experienced speaker and teacher who has delivered workshops in the UK, France, USA and Canada and has also taught online courses for textileartist.org which is run by her two sons Joe & Sam Pitcher.

'A Step into the Unknown' - an imagined journey from one world to another inspired by photos from the family album of unknown children in a doorway. A Step into the Unknown depicts the transformation of an early 20th century world into a 21st century setting and alludes to a daunting and uncertain journey through time.

Joe Szabo MSDC

Glass Making & Stained Glass

Icarus (detail) Mild steel and leaded glass sculpture 60 x 60 x 230cm

Joe creates 2D and 3D contemporary glass art combining stained glass or Dalle de verre glass slabs with metal and ceramic. Joe works in a studio in Buckland, Surrey.

In his glasswork Joe uses leaded glass and copper foil techniques. He usually combines glass and ceramic as the latter has a different texture from that of the glass surface and can add depth to works. He uses clay to make elements that he could not make from glass. For his sculptures, he bends and welds the mild steel or stainless steel frames and then inserts stained glass panels in them.

Joe is a member of the Oxford Sculptors Group (2017), Society of Designer Craftsmen (2014), Surrey Sculpture Society (2013), Contemporary Glass Society (2010) and Surrey Artists Open Studios (2010).

I have always been fascinated by Greek mythology, so I have made quite a few pieces around its themes. The story of Icarus is about being talented and resourceful, but becoming too complacent, aiming too high and thus failing and falling. Life is a gift and we should not forget about how easy it is to lose it. However, the title of the sculpture is only an indication of a potential interpretation: if the spectator sees something else in it, that’s absolutely fine and it will be my pleasure.

Deborah Timperley MSDC

Glass Making & Stained Glass

Arched bridge over water (detail) Cast glass 41 x 8 x 23cm

I have 25 years’ experience specialising in glass casting and I’m known for creating both glass sculptures and bowls. My glass reflects my absorption with the material to create pieces with a strong sense of place, concept and an affinity with the material. I have shown in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Lithuania as well as prestigious exhibitions in the UK such as the British Glass Biennale. I’ve recently won several awards in the 6th Craft Glass Creation & Design International Competition & Exhibition in North China.

I show at many of the national craft shows and play an active role in both the Sussex Guild and Just Glass Society. My workshop is a converted stable on the Borde Hill house and gardens estate in West Sussex.

My rocky sculptures are constructed by hand using chunks of glass to create a natural form.

They are fired in the kiln over several days. Opening the kiln and discovering how the heat has worked with the glass within the mould to produce a unique piece is one of the joys of the material My rocky sculptures explore the beauty of stone bridges, harbour walls, dry stone walls and rocky outcrops. The compositions are evocative of the landscape and suggest rocks and stones placed harmoniously together, contrasting defined edges with the softness of adjacent vegetation. The blocks of colour echo the surrounding landscape, water and sky.

They have a sense of place and atmosphere.

This piece is one of my new developments. I love stone bridges over rivers and the element I decided is significant is the way that you are drawn through the bridge to the light beyond.

Glass is a wonderful medium for describing this and transforming the literal into a piece of art.

Ali Tomlin MSDC

Ceramics

Tall bottle neck vase. Monoprint

Wheel thrown porcelain vase decorated with slips and underglaze 30 cm

I have always drawn and designed and love the energy of random lines or marks, from a sketch, painting or found on stones or peeling paint. I like how just a simple line can completely change the feeling of a piece. Although I like to make marks and paint in 2D, using these techniques but also making something with my hands is doubly rewarding.

My work is a collection of thrown, uncluttered porcelain forms. I throw and turn the pieces to a fine finish which, when unglazed and sanded, gives the porcelain a paper-like, tactile quality, where I apply my marks as spontaneously as possible. I wait for the pieces to be dry, working with the dry, chalky surface. I then apply stains, oxides and slips, splashing or sponging away areas and inlaying lines, aiming to create imperfect and unpredictable marks. I use brushstrokes, splashes and monoprinting to achieve different effects.

The piece I am exhibiting is a tall bottle neck vase, monoprinted in teal and lime. Thrown porcelain, unglazed, and fired to glaze temperature. This piece started out as an oval vase, but as I was throwing it I decided to collar in the neck to make this almost out of proportion, very small neck on top of the generous, rounded belly. For the surface, I have layered slips and underglazes, using a monoprinting technique. The thing I like about this method is that it every time I use it I get a slightly different result. I may decide to apply the colour differently or be heavier or lighter with my mark making. Sometimes something happens by accident which resonates and which is then incorporated into my palette of marks.

Janet Twinn MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

Autumn Twilight Patchwork, embroidered and quilted wall hanging constructed from artists hand dyed and printed cloth. 97 x 78cm

I make mainly large wall hung patchwork art quilts from my own hand dyed and printed cotton. I am primarily inspired by the continually changing landscape, my practice is concerned with capturing a moment, but a moment that contains many elements and is informed by memories. By elements I am thinking of the details that touch my imagination, these maybe contrasts of colour, shadowy lines, tangles of twigs and stems. Colours are enhanced after a shower of rain and illuminated by sunlight.

I exhibit with the international group ‘Quilt Art’ of which I have been a member of since 1995.

In 2011 my book ‘Colour in Art Quilts’ was published by Batsford Books.

In 2017 I completed an MA inTextiles (distinction) at UCA Farnham ‘Autumn Twilight’ is a diptych. A relatively small work for me. It is constructed from my own dyed and screen printed cloth. I use a method of screen printing called breakdown or deconstructed printing. I use mainly hydrangea leaves to create the imagery on the cloth. The nature of the printing process creates a patterned cloth that it is totally unique.

The making process is a metaphor for the landscape. The work like the landscape appears physically substantial, but is made up of numerous small, delicate and intricate elements but like the landscape there is an underlying order and sequence. Patchwork is a process of layers. There are hidden seams, raw edges and tangles of loose threads.

I always begin by thinking about colour and colour relationships. I knew with ‘Autumn Twilight’ I would want to work with red and gold, colours associated with Autumn leaves and vivid sunsets. I have found a cotton which takes dye very well giving the colour a luminous quality. Plain white cotton poplin is transformed by the dyeing and printing process, an almost alchemical experience. It is cut, re-assembled, stitched, embroidered and quilted.

New colour relationships are established.

Sarah Waters MSDC

Feltmaking

Layers Felt 122 x 4 x 81cm

Sarah Waters is a contemporary feltmaker using ancient techniques to showcase the beauty and diversity of our British wool. Working with local and sustainable fleeces where possible, she creates large scale wallhangings, installations and artworks, together with small items for the home. Felt is an ancient art for modern day living.

Sarah’s work is not only functional but has colour, texture and tactile qualities. Using both traditional and innovative techniques she aims to show the diversity and qualities feltmaking can be taken to and pushes the boundaries within her work. Sarah is a very ‘hands on’ person and loves the tactile feel of felting. Each piece she produces is unique and Sarah loves that fact it can never be replicated. Sheep, wool and farming are in her blood and her current practice of felt artwork reflects her desire to connect with the land.

Working with local British wools Sarah showcases the beauty and variety of woollen fibres within our breeds of sheep. For the past several years she has been looking at the history of our rural land by drawing and researching standing stones, the markers of the countryside.

Texture and relief are important to Sarah and her recent work looks at the earth and strata of the land. She has created a wall hanging that represents the vast layers of the earth below our feet, each compressed over time to produce a dynamic linear form.

Jeanne Werge-Hartley Honorary Fellow

Jewellery

Jane White FSDC

Ceramics

Large African Vessel

Large pit-fired vessel 31 x 35cm

I am excited by the endless possibilities of the pit firing process, and by the fact the pieces seem to have been created by nature itself, by the organic material and the element of fire, with the resulting alchemy transforming the surface of the clay into a myriad of dramatic patterns and colours. The technique is a marriage between the artist and chance, experimentation and observation, where discovery becomes as significant as invention, and failures should be seen as just part of the process of learning. It is an exciting but risky technique, and each piece that is unearthed from the ashes is totally unique. My work is constantly as I explore the enduring qualities of the ancient pots in our National Collections, and as I strive to create forms that mirror the simplicity and balance evident all around us in the natural world, so that surface and form become seamlessly unified, as in nature.

My exhibition piece is a large pit fired hand built vessel, with a terra sigillata surface, and inspired by the hand built large Central African vessels, used for storage, water and for cooking. The piece was inspired by the large coiled and hand built vessels made by African women, particularly in the Central African regions such as Nigeria, but also prevalent in West Africa, in countries such as Burkhina Faso. The African women often used fine slips on the surface of their pieces, similar to terra sigillata, to seal the surface of the clay and make the pieces impervious, so they could be used for water. The African pots are fired in large bonfire type kilns, where glazing the pieces is not possible. My large vessel has been fired in a large pit, using wood from the adjacent woodland to our farm, and after being placed in the pit as a completely white pot, it emerges transformed from the pit after 3 days with a myriad of different colours and patterns on its surface.

Michele White FSDC

Jewellery

Opal Ring

Handmade 18ct gold ring set with boulder opal and three yellow diamonds. 1.72 X 0.69cm

I think of the jewellery I make as art as much as jewellery. It has to be seen as art but comfortable to wear. I have been making jewellery for over 35 years and the majority is completely handmade. Each piece is built around its own gemstone and is therefore completely individual. All pieces start as sketches which are usually faithfully reproduced.

Each poses a different challenge so I need lots of thinking time as I go along. I work in precious metals which are mainly fused together giving an appearance of mass without being too weighty. The line is very organic. Polished and textured areas are juxtaposed to highlight one another. One of my first and greatest influences was the philosophy of Rene Lalique, mixing gemstones of great value with others of little or no value but great beauty.

This philosophy is still at the heart of my work.

The piece is inspired by the opal itself. A sheet of gold is transformed by hand into a ring, with the textures on the gold mimicking the markings found in the opal.

Edward Wild MSDC

Furniture & Boxes

The Textured Oak Side Table

A smoked Oak side table with a textured top. 50 x 50 x 50cm

I am an award-winning furniture designer-maker, creating unique pieces of handmade furniture in an elegant contemporary style. I work to create pieces which enrich their surroundings through the sensitive combination of fine materials, classical design and a commitment to exquisite craftsmanship. My furniture ranges from luxury jewellery and cufflink boxes to elegant dining, lounge and bedroom furniture, with each piece been a celebration of bespoke design and hand craftsmanship. My interest in furniture design and craftsmanship developed at an early age whilst watching my grandfather in his workshop.

Through his guidance I made my first pieces in my teens and later inherited his tools which I now use daily in my workshop. Alongside making fine furniture I also pass on my knowledge to the next generation of furniture makers, teaching part time at the Rowden Atelier Furniture School.

This side table shows off a highly textured top which has been worked by hand to create a unique finish which looks like beaten metal, which is both dramatic to look at and tactile to the touch. The table is made from English Oak which was cut in Devon and has been fumed to intensify its rich colour.

This side table takes inspiration in its design from the arts and crafts era. It is a simple elegant piece in local English Oak which has been fumed to transform its colour, darkening the wood and highlighting the characteristic Oak grain. The side table shows off a unique textured top which has been worked by hand to create a beaten effect. It transforms the surface, from smooth to highly textured, and plays with the eye. From one angle you can see the dramatic figuring of the Oak, from another angle you can only see the transformed textured finish which looks almost like beaten metal.

Toby Winteringham FSDC

Furniture & Boxes

Hatch

Cabinet . 160 x 45 x 90cm

Toby is a designer maker, based in King’s Lynn. Eclectic in his taste he creates bold statement pieces, some with decoration in marquetry or with staining.

‘Hatch’ is a free-standing cabinet with applied decoration. Based on Golden Section proportions. Extremely simple in style, with no visible handles or catches.

‘Hatch’ was inspired by an Elizabeth Frink pencil drawing I had seen in an exhibition.