When the title for this exhibition was suggested it immediately struck a chord with me. I began stitching later in life, making the random selection of a patchwork and quilting evening class in a tentative exploration of a hobby that would be a welcome respite from a stressful job. For a few years I enjoyed exploring traditional patchwork techniques, attending classes and following patterns and instructions. I picked up a lot of sewing skills and an understanding of how stitch and fabric work. But it wasn’t until I enrolled on a City and Guilds course and started to learn how to dye and print my own fabrics, and create my own design, that I began what I could describe as my own “conversation with textiles”.

Colour and pattern are always important to me and I’m drawn to both in textiles. A lot of my inspiration comes from the landscape where I live in West Sussex. I’m lucky enough to live within easy reach of the coast and its chalk cliffs as well as the rolling South Downs and the more wooded North Downs. So much of my work is developed from dyeing and printing with the myriad seasonal colours around me, and the distinctive shapes of the hill tops, fields and valleys around me. I try to create a visual narrative of the landscape, transferring it to textiles. My work typically starts with natural,undyed fabrics and as the “conversation” starts I build up layers of the shapes, patterns and colours that interest me, using ink, paint and dyes and finishing in stitch to conclude my story.

Alison Livesley

My Conversation with Textiles began at a very early age, in a very simple and childlike way starting with easy canvas and cross stitch projects encouraged by my Grandmother and Mother.

There has always been an assortment of projects in my life keeping me busy and happy, including dressmaking and tailoring.

Things really took off when I embarked on a City & Guilds Embroidery course which opened my eyes to a world of pattern and colour. Numerous techniques that I had never heard of were introduced to me and the conversations continued.

Recent years have been filled with contemporary textile art, especially quilting. I have been a member of a number of groups over the years, both Embroidery and Patchwork & Quilting based, and it is the numerous conversations at these meetings that inspire and encourage me in my textile world.

Linda Hoddy