Info
What craft do you work with?
I’m first and foremost a handweaver. Everything else that I do, such as dyeing or sewing, I do in order to support my work at the loom.
What are your inspirations?
Potential inspiration is everwhere: visual experiences, stories and questions, data and concepts. There are a few things that I keep coming back to, such as randomness and our perception of randomness. I am also intrigued by lines and boundaries, and I’m drawn to places where land and water meet. I’m fascinated by the ways in which we draw straight lines on our environment, but the environment resists us.
How do you initiate your creative process?
The spark of inspiration could be anything, from a conversation to a material to a visual impression. But I generally get my best ideas about weaving while I am weaving, and when I am away from the loom for too long I find it difficult to focus.
One of the things that appeals to me about weaving is the balance between developing and planning an idea off the loom and the improvisation and serendipity that can happen at the loom. I love to plan, and I love to improvise, and weaving allows me space for both.
How would you best describe your workspace and what tools could you not do without?
I work on the top floor of a converted jute mill, where I benefit enormously from having lots of artist neighbours. My studio is in the corner of the building, facing south and east over Dundee and the Firth of Tay, and the thing I love most about this space is the light. I couldn’t manage without my loom, of course, but I would really struggle without those windows too!
Are there new techniques or craft practices you would like to try or collaborate with?
Weaving encompasses such a wide variety of techniques, that I will never run out of new ones to try. But when it comes to collaboration, some of my best experiences have been where my collaborative partner has been chosen for me – like a blind date – and comes from a completely different discipline. The joint enterprise of finding a place where our work can meet opens me up to ideas that I would never reach on my own.
What have you learnt that you would like to share with fellow crafters?
I find it is much easier to start when I am not too invested in a specific outcome or endpoint. Keeping my focus on process and on exploration means that the results always teach me something, even if that something is “well, I won’t be doing that again.”
How would you like your practice to develop and what are your plans for the future?
Since 2020, a lot of my time and energy has gone into moving my Weaving Space teaching programme from the studio to online. It’s been very rewarding but, now that I have systems in place which are working well, I am beginning to have more capacity for other projects. Right now, I am working on a book, which is a great motivation for sampling and experimenting.
