Studio Journal: Inspired by Memory and Place

Layers of cloth, thread and meaning combine to create deeply personal and resonant works that tell a story.

You can listen to this Studio Journal here.

Detail of A Wish, A Hope, A Dream. Hand quilted and embroidered. Vintage household linens.

The often quoted phrase ‘Inspiration is all around us’ sits deeply in my practice. I am lucky enough to be based in a rural village in the depths of the Hampshire, UK countryside where it is not uncommon to step outside to be greeted by the scream of swifts, or catch sight of numerous hare on my daily dog walks.

As part of my Arts Council England DYCP funded year, I learnt how to immerse myself in just one place - for that year, the course of Garlick Lane, a single track lane running a mile or so out  of my village, past open farmland, deep hedgerows, a vineyard, a wood and up a holloway. I took time to observe the changing seasons: the way plants and animals came and went with the passing months, the shifting colours and textures of the landscape. I also learnt the stories of that place, the tales of hurdle makers working with the hazel in the wood, the ghost of a Roman road, bisecting today's lane, and the deep-time histories of the chalk and flint beneath my feet.

These memories, stories and noticings, real and imagined, allowed me to create a body of work, deeply rooted in its place, and has influenced how I approach my stitched work ever since.

We are often drawn to places that mean something to us - time spent in peaceful solitude or shared with loved ones, a childhood home, the awe and wonder of a particular landscape or view. Often captured like a photograph in our minds eye, these places carry emotion and memories that can take on significance for families and individuals. Being so inspired by a specific place can yield rich creative outcomes. In my practice I enjoy finding the layers of meaning in a place, the rhythms of nature or the whispers of the past, the stories and experiences and then translating these starting points into colour, texture and stitch.

Cloth too can ground a piece in its lived experience. I often use found or vintage textiles in my work, with many pieces given by friends and acquaintances that hold tender histories. Mends, stains and marks adding another layer to the finished piece, another layer of the story being told. Clothing from a loved one, or an outfit worn at a particular moment lends itself to this layered approach. Worn, marked or stretched areas mean the cloth holds onto the memory of the person who once wore it or used it, something I like to utilise in the finished pieces.

Working with these types of textile, those that hold meaning and memory, dictates my colour palette. However, when place becomes part of the story I am telling, a palette of natural dyes opens up to me. I have an experimental approach to natural dye rooted in capturing a specific time and place though colour. I am drawn to harvesting dyestuffs that hold their own symbolism, and I look to the language of flowers and local folklore to add this extra layer to my work - oak for strength and resilience, hawthorn for magic, nettle for protection. Once the colour itself means something, it deepens the layers embedded in a stitched piece allowing the viewer to reflect their own experiences and associations onto the work.

Detail of Madder-dyed hand quilted quilt.

A final layer of meaning lies in the words I stitch by eye and by hand. The words are often my poetic reflections of place - fragments of thought gathered while moving through or spending time within a landscape. Others are the retelling of stories that emerge as I work with cloth that has lived a life before it reaches me. When creating a commission piece, the words may be a memory, reading or phrase that needs to be held in place and remembered. 

The act of translating the words into stitch requires patience and focus. Working in this slow and deliberate way allows me to tune into the memories, experiences and places I am capturing in my stitched works. Each finished quilt then becomes a marker not just of place, but also of time.

Detail of quilt top, hand embroidered, hand pieced. Naturally dyed with tea (for sympathy) and rosemary (for remembrance). Vintage handkerchief and silk sari ribbon.

I hope you have found this insight into my practice inspiring, and if you would like to commission your own unique textile piece, you are very welcome to get in touch here:

Enquire about a commission