Exhibitions

23 April - 23 June 2024

Earth Threads

Sunbury Embroidery Gallery, UK

British Tapestry Group, South East

Featuring

Bluescape #1,#2,#3

9 September 2023

Earth Threads

Whitchurch Silk Mill, UK

British Tapestry Group, South East

Featuring

Bluescape #1,#2,#3

11 July – 7 October 2023

No Boundaries

Virginia Quilt Museum, USA

Featuring 

Disconnects II

Small Pictorial Weavings

Kate’s pictorial weavings are small scale and comprise fine linen wefts on linen warps. She works with single weft threads, rather than a blend of dyed ones. Therefore, to enrich depth within the woven panel, subtle merging of tones within short lengths of a single thread is necessary. This is accomplished prior to weaving. One way involves wiping undyed weft threads with graphite. Another way is by hand-dyeing in such a way as to prevent an even uptake of colour in the dye bath. All weft threads are wiped with beeswax prior to weaving.

The finished works are presented mounted and framed.

They range from

55 mm to 150 mm (unframed)

115 mm to 270 mm (framed).

A Selection of Recent Works

Disconnects I & II

Woven tapestries in frames; unbleached linen warp; dyed and undyed linen weft; graphite; beeswax; frame dimensions w.27 cm x h.27 cm. 2018.

Disconnects I and II were woven during the last year of Kate’s mother’s life. They are a visual representation of the gradual disconnection of pathways in her mother’s brain as she battled with vascular dementia. In Disconnects I, the wavy lines and solid squares represent the strong links connecting significant life memories; in Disconnects II, the floating squares symbolise rare moments of lucidity.

Bluescape #1, #2, #3

Three woven tapestries mounted and framed individually; unbleached linen warp; dyed linen weft; beeswax; dimensions unframed 6.5 cm x 6.5 cm, framed 16.5 cm x 16.5 cm. 2022.

Source inspirations for Bluescape #1, #2, #3 are various and include Ben Nicholson drawings, handmade tiles and open landscapes. The purpose of positioning each square design at right angles to the warp direction is twofold - to enable warp orientation of the finished pieces to be presented on the bias, and to enable fine lines of eccentric weft to appear in near-vertical positions.

May Picture

Woven tapestry in frame; unbleached linen warp; dyed (bleached and unbleached) linen weft; beeswax; unframed dimensions w.14 cm x h.13 cm. 2021.

This woven panel is one of Kate’s dye recipe reference pieces.  The design is based on Paul Klee’s May Picture c 1925; from his ‘Magic Square’ series (collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art).

The dye recipe reference chart is attached to the back of the frame. All recipe record sheets are kept on file for future reference and reproducibility.