I’m so excited to be part of the exhibition at Morley Gallery celebrating 25 years of the Textiles Foundation course. Joining this course back in 2021 was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Before this I had been back into crafting for a few years but felt like I was starting to drift along without any purpose. I knew that textiles was the creative discipline for me, and completing this course really helped me to focus in on the direction I want to take.
I embroidered my biscuit piece right back at the beginning of this year to submit to the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy. Obviously, it didn’t get accepted, but I knew then that I had really found the subject I wanted to explore – food. It feels like a subject where I will never run out of inspiration and there’s so much to think about in terms of textures, colours, and construction. Stumpwork or raised embroidery is my favourite technique and I’m always thinking about how to make things 3D.
I originally made and submitted my Cheese Puffs for the Morley exhibition and was very kindly invited by Zoë Burt (Head of Textiles and curator of this exhibition) to submit more pieces to hang as a group. I spent the summer making a series of ice creams, so I also submitted these along with the biscuits too. I can’t explain how exciting it was to see all my work hung together in a proper gallery space, rather than just laid out on my dining table!
The private view was such a great event, so many people came to support all the artists that had been included in the exhibition and it was so strange (in a good way) to see and hear people I didn’t know looking at my work, taking pictures of it, and discussing it. It made me feel like a proper artist! There were so many other textile artists included in the exhibition who had attended the foundation course over the years; there was a lot of talent in the room! The Morley Gallery is near London Waterloo station and the exhibition is on for another couple of weeks until 14th December, so if you are in the area do pop in and check out all the amazing work.
The Inquisitive Bee 