Christine is a textile artist inspired by nature who has explored eco printing and dying and silk paper making. She creates interesting textures embellished with both hand and machine embroidery. Her journey into silk paper making was inspired by a holiday to Andorra but it was lockdown that started her on eco dying using plants from her garden. She created a series of square pieces that symbolised all that went on during those strange times. These works inspired her to learn more so she joined a masterclass on eco-printing and she showed examples of fabrics she had created using leaves all done with natural dyes and mordant and then stitched. It is a very long winded process but the results were remarkable.
Christine loves writing poetry and is interested in photography so she combines photography, computer skills, dying, printing and stitching to explore the world of 2 & 3D textiles. She constantly looks for new ways to approach and share her love of stitch inspired by the natural world and has completed a fibre arts course in pursuit of new techniques and ways of expressing herself through textiles and stitch. She has exhibited her work via the Open Studios and was invited to join a machine embroidery group in Salisbury which resulted in her work being exhibited at the museum. Exhibitors were invited to find a relic from the museum collection and create a piece of work based on that item. Christine chose a fibula from an ancient man and made it in chamois leather!
In 2018 Christine was concentrating on 3D sculptures made from wool and organza which she displayed in her garden. Much to the appreciation of local wild life who shredded them and used the fabrics for their own purposes! The following year the Open Studio theme was The Beach and Christine made a wonderfully tactile conch bowl and she was also inspired by oysters! A large planned exhibition in Salisbury in 2020 was cancelled because of lockdown but Christine’s work did eventually go on display.
Christine started her journey into fibre art in 1996 via an open college arts course to gain textile knowledge and since then she has completed lots of other courses. She has been invited to the Houses of Parliament to exhibit some work and in 2011 completed the City & Guilds course in Historical Embroidery where her topic was Family History. She combined family mementoes to create a distressed fabric book of memories and also made a beautiful hand painted and stitched silk shawl based on a spider’s web. Christine continues to be inspired by the world around her and enjoys sharing her textile journey with others.
Photographs & text published with Christine’s permission
