In August 2022 I was delighted to be awarded the Cockpit Textile Prize.
The remit of the prize was that it would enable a step change to a business or textile practice. Having taught weaving classes for many years I had been thinking about starting my own one and two day workshops. With a new education space due to open up at Cockpit in Deptford (Autumn 2023) as part of the Deptford Development programme it seemed the right time to put this idea into practice.
With the money from the prize I was able to purchase some Ashford Table looms. Since then I have been planning the workshops I would like to teach, drawing on my years of teaching experience. With so many local authority classes having closed there are fewer places to learn crafts like weaving which take space and equipment.
The workshops I am planning are aimed at weavers who have learnt the basics but would like to progress in either techniques; double cloth or lace weaves etc, or in design methods such as understanding how colour works in weaving. If this is of interest to you, please do view my Workshop page or get in touch with me via my contact page.
My workshop programme will be starting in the space at Deptford in the Autumn but I shall be starting with a few one day workshops over the summer in a temporary space just down the road.
The prize also included a sum of money for mentoring and I decided I wanted to use this to develop an aspect of my own practice which is rooted in experimentation but which I found I had little time to progress. I have in the past made wall based art worked along side my handwoven scarves. Winning this prize together with the mentoring and a decision not to continue my handwoven scarves, gave me the confidence to push this idea further. In other words take a leap forward and concerntrate on my artwork. I am delighted to say I have that Caroline Bartlett has agreed to be my mentor in this endevour and begun what I hope will be an adventure. For more on this see A New Journey post.