This is a community arts project which I did in 2005/6. It is hanging in the Maritime Museum in Aberdeen co-inciding with the Evoilution Exhibition. It is a combination of patchwork & cyanotype printing technique. I worked with a group of about 12 senior citizens to make these five panels.

Haslach Sewing Project, Freiburg, Germany from 2002 - 2005. Supported by the Soziale Stadt.

I facilitated a textile art workshop with Germans & migrants. I later organised a Recycling Textile Workshop.

Whilst listening to the music of St Germain- Tourist I found it conjured up images and emotions of city living, getting ready to go out on a date, meeting friends and dancing. I had been experimenting with laying objects on the shelf on an overhead projecter and then enlarging the images. The sandal, bottle and a rose seem to take on a life of their own!

Lino-cut and mono printing. This piece is called Home Sweet Home is based on a place which I loved & still do...

I did a series of work called the Peace series; Peace, November, Blackbird and Tulips and Chinese Lanterns.I worked together with a musician and we created a sound/ music collage to be listened to while viewing the work. The series of work represents a period of deep introspection I went through on death, new beginnings & finding peace within myself.

Peace

COIL

This work is called Coil. It was done for my exhibition in France. It captured a lot of interest. It´s funny because it was murder to make and I must of taken it apart tow or three times. It is based on drawings from overs 8 years ago based on a harbour scene in Ullapool, Scotland. I had been there with my friend Jennifer and it was a marvellous trip where we enjoyed exploring and sketching sessions.
We sat in between moored boats, and sketched an assortment of objects such as rope coils, fishing nets, crates, ship masts etc. Years later I created Coil, using applique, printing and stitch n´slash techniques. I didnt want to sell the piece which was perhaps silly seeing as it seemed popular!. It didnt stop there though... my family in Holland wanted to buy it !... my parents in law wanted it!...so I kind of left it to lie for a while, hoping the problem would blow over cause I didnt want to try and recreate Coil 2. Two years later I decided to gift it to my parents in law as they have been very supportive to me since I moved to Germany. They are now proudly displaying Coil to their friends & neighbours. I also did a sketch explaining what each piece of the design is with photogaphs too!.

This is the cover of a wedding memory album I created. Inside I have scanned photographs & text onto fabric, hand painted areas and created an applique collage. I create memory albums and pictures for commission.

Autumn ~ Photography image scanned onto cotton, cut-away applique.

memory album initials A & G

This is a picture of the vineyards here in Freiburg. Straußes are farms and wine growers from the area which open their premises twice a year and offer a selection of local fare; Flammenkuchen ( a type of pizza), Spargel (white asparagus) and many other delicious things. In the autumn you can taste the new wine- Neue Sueßer ? which is a cloudy looking drink with quite a kick...the wine is actually still fermenting! Its tasty!

Cut-away applique technique. Sewing design on sewing
machine

I am living in Freiburg, Germany at the moment and am busy teaching a practical textile art course at the teacher training college in Freiburg. I have been doing a seminar (which I teach in English) to students who plan to teach abroad. I am presenting the seminar together with a dressmaker so the students have been learning how to sew properly as well as learning lots of interesting techniques from me. We are making memory books with photos on fabric, felt vessels, cut-away applique & mola applique pictures. Next week we are creating wig-wams using sticks and canvas fabric.
I am also doing a lot of project planning and applying for funding.