GROUP MEMBERS
VIV ARTHUR
Making (a mess!), scribbling, experimenting and constructing have been with me for as long as I can remember. Whether it was creating cards and home ‘performance’ programmes, stitching clothes for dolls or building precarious structures outside from anything found in my Dad’s workshop, there was always something to be made.
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At eighteen I did a Foundation Year at art college, then a degree in printed textiles, subsequently spending four or five years attempting (and failing miserably) to earn a living as a freelance designer. I had to get a job and found one with Frisk - the graphic art surfaces company – in the days when everything was designed on paper using pens and paint. I was taken to paper mills and to paint-media factories - that’s when my education in art materials and my love of the tactile qualities of paper began!
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Nine years later I started my own business. The whacky concept of a mobile art shop took me all over the country to all sorts of places where artists of all kinds gather, but it was meeting Val Campbell-Harding at Missenden Abbey that introduced me to the world of creative textile artists. Something clicked! Over nearly 35 years the relationship between that world and Art Van Go has grown.
ALISON HULME
I finished my Foundation Degree in Stitched Textiles in 2013. I have become known as the “Pinny Lady” – pinnies were the subject of my final presentation for my degree. I have had great success selling them in a number of venues, including the Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace and the Festival of Quilts at NEC Birmingham. At these shows, for many years, I also worked on the Art Van Go stand demonstrating a variety of different products for visitors to watch.
I have been asked to visit a variety of textile groups. I now have my own studio on the Hampshire/Wiltshire border where I work and teach students in smaller classes. I regularly exhibit with the Zero Nine Textile group at Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in Romsey.
JANET HUNTER
My interest in stitch began when I was very young. I cannot remember a time when I did not sew, knit, draw or paint. I was thrilled to be allowed to use my Mother’s treadle sewing machine. Most of my work at this time was of a practical nature. I completed City and Guilds Embroidery and a Diploma in Stitched Textiles at Windsor; this enabled me to study for a degree in Art for Community, at Roehampton University, followed by a Post Graduate Diploma in Islamic and Traditional Arts. I am not sure if when I was younger I could have envisaged how far I would travel on my stitch journey.
CHRISTINE LOCKTON
I have always loved stitching and textiles, and the learning during the City & Guilds Embroidery Course Part 1 and 2 was so exciting. I became a member of the Embroiderers’ Guild and furthered my knowledge of stitch during the different workshops with various textile artists as well as running a group of people new to stitching to give them more confidence.
More recently I have become a member of the Advanced Textiles Workshop run by Amarjeet Nandhra who has encouraged us to work on a continuing theme. Mine has been personal identity, firstly taking historic individuals as an inspiration, next the importance of family to me and latterly my enjoyment of the beach and my collections of pebbles, shells and all things washed up with the tide.
As a more recent member of Phase2 I am delighted to be part of the group.
PENNY PROCTOR
My stitch journey started following the completion of the City & Guilds Certificate, then the Diploma. Once completed this led to the formation of the Work in Progress Textile Group. Since then my interests have been developed by the environment around me – particularly in nature, but also by the clean lines of geometry.
JANET PULLEN
The enjoyment of hand-stitching has been with me for a long time, although formal education led me in a scientific direction. While early traditional practices equipped me with a vocabulary and experience of embroidery, City and Guilds (Stitched Textiles) offered fresh experiences, including design. Within recent years I have completed the MA Textiles course at University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, UK. I am also a member of Consuo Textile Art.
ROSE SLAYDEN
Growing up on a small farm with very practical parents, from an early age I was destined to be always making, either for entertainment or to be useful. Rope ladders from bailer twine to embroidered needle cases and covered coat hangers for the village bazaar, moving on to dressmaking. My teaching career started with creative textiles, then working in a primary school and finally in design technology. However I felt this restricted the freedom to be creative, so I left and made wedding dresses!
I convene a local U3A Textiles group catering for a very diverse range of interests. Enjoying various workshops at Art Van Go has reignited my enthusiasm for more creative work and I’m looking forward to sharing ideas and inspiration as a member of Phase2 creative group.
JACKIE UPHILL
I am almost entirely self taught, apart from partially completing a City & Guilds correspondence course in Creative Embroidery several years ago.
