A professional freelance Textile Artist, who has relocated to Glasgow to further my art career. Studying Fine and Applied Arts specialising in textile art at the University of Ulster. Since graduating I have exhibited work throughout Northern and the Republic of Ireland with a Textile Forum group I am involved with. Currently I am working on new artwork for exhibitions I am involved in, along with developing proposals, commissions’ and also developing a range of wearable art-pieces for commercial sale.

Fundamentally I am a mark maker inspired and intrigued by the visual language of line, from exploring graphic images such as maps, musical scores and architectural plans. I used traditional quilting techniques in a very contemporary manner and the hand stitching incorporated, is not only functional but also decorative. I became fascinated by the reversal of the fabric and the methods of the cloths’ construction becoming integral- the elements of joining seams, gathered thread and fabric and irregular forms. I take advantage of textiles and the properties of stitch, the reverse and the visual accidents that occur that my work is often made double sided. Drawn line and the relationship of the drawn line and stitched line fascinates me. Allowing for the interaction of textiles, the universal language of touch, as trying to distinguish which mark is cause by which method becomes difficult unless felt. I am a mark maker rather than a fabric manipulator and so favour a simple canvas to work on - only using natural unbleached calico and cotton fleecing. I often maintain an economy of colour, using ranges of blacks, greys and creams, my tactic by limiting colour is to reveal the complex mark making created by simple stitch marks.

My jewellery and accessory pieces are a functional yet decorative textile artworks which are then presented within a Perspex tile with stitch. I work on the textiles on both front and back sides, which creates interesting contrasting images and using the Perspex allows the pieces to be double-sided and at the same time giving the pieces a very clean finish. The tiles come in sizes squared of 3cm and 5cm in scale and the products I make vary from brooches, earrings, cufflinks, necklaces, rings and magnets. Each item is completely unique and tailor made as the textile pieces can not be repeated due to the method and style of machine and hand stitching I work in. Only one or several textile tiles can be used to make the jewellery which allows the piece to form simple shapes and also to become quite sculptural.