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LESLEY TAYLOR

about Lesley

Textiles and Art have always played a part in my life. My Mother was a trained couturier dressmaker and made almost all of our clothes so there were always plenty of bits and pieces to be made into dolls clothes and fabric collage pictures! 

I later taught art and craft at pre-school level. It was while helping at my daughter's school with the embroidery sessions that I met fellow textile artist Debbie White who introduced me to the world of City & Guilds! 

I studied Traditional Needlecraft with Claire Short from 1990 to 1994 before completing a City & Guilds in Machine Embroidery with Pam Watts and both levels in City Guilds in Creative Embroidery at Missenden Abbey with Janet Edmonds. I have also written a book on Embroidery for Beginners for Search Press in their Ready to Stitch series. Work from this book has been included in Stitch magazine and other craft publications.

My inspiration comes from the natural environment around me. The time spent outdoors walking, observing, collecting or just being in a space is an integral part of my working practice. The objects I find, or where I have found them, help me to find a focus for how I will respond to them when I am back in my studio.

 

As my work has developed I am taking a much more experimental approach. I like to use what I have in my studio as I find it is often the materials themselves that will present an idea through texture, or the surface of whichever medium I decide to use. Hand stitch is an important part of my working process; although it is slow I enjoy the rhythm and repetition of it and the feel of the work in my hand.

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