NEW Fine Art Textiles - Putney School of Art and Design

NEW Fine Art Textiles

In the last decade the expressive skills of crafts and making have become valued as fine art practice. This course will allow students to work creatively with a broad range of materials and processes usually associated with textiles. It will provide an opportunity to explore and combine a variety of accessible techniques.

What The Course is About:

Each term will start with an introduction and workshop around a theme and process in contemporary or historical textile art. Students will be supported in developing their own ideas and individual creativity throughout each term. There will be additional workshops to offer students a chance to explore the rich diversity of textile language. The tutor will also offer workshops and a recap on processes such as weaving and stitch, and heat transfer. Workshops have included activities such as Shibori tie dye, cyanotype on fabric, tapestry weaving, working with found objects, applique, patching, sashiko stitch, pattern making, boro, darning and visible mending, clay slip-dipping and firing natural textile objects.

Materials Required:

An A4 or A3 sketchbook A round embroidery frame, approx 6 inches diameter. These are usually pretty inexpensive. Sharp sewing scissors Small embroidery scissors Sets of needles of different sizes and types are invaluable. Include a darning needle. A box of dressmakers pins Yarns and threads - cotton, recycled yarns, twine, ribbon, gardening string, embroidery thread. See what you can find just for the first session. Fabrics – there is a limited supply available so do bring any fabrics of your choice, including old and damaged fabrics for visible mending, plain old sheeting for heat transfer and stitch, plus any fabric items that can be repurposed and recycled.

Some shops and stockists: Very good value fabrics and extensive haberdashery: ‘Rolls and Rems’, Lewisham and Edmonton. https://www.rollsandrems.com/ Fabric shops in Berwick St, Soho, London W1: Borovicks, Soho Silks and The Cloth Shop. These are more expensive but fabulous. Peter Jones, Sloane Square, and John Lewis, Oxford Street. Hobbycraft: https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/ Try charity shops and vintage markets for interesting patterns, old fabrics, trimmings, beads and garments. There are many good fabric shops in Shepherds Bush market and nearby Goldhawk Rd. Wimbledon Sewing Machine Co Ltd, 292-312 Balham High Road, London, SW17 7AA https://www.craftysewer.com/index.html

Previous Experience:

No previous experience or specialist knowledge is required – just an enthusiasm for textiles and art.

End of course:

By the end of each term students will have a deeper awareness of the expressive potential and meaning of textiles as a purely creative discipline and as a contemporary practice. Students will be more confident with colour, texture, and materials. They will have developed their making skills in an imaginative and personal way to produce original pieces of textile art and craft.

Jane Millar studied Fine Art at Canterbury and Tapestry at The Royal College of Art. She stitched and beaded into her paintings for many years. She is always finding ways to break down barriers between materials and disciplines, and is currently working with installations of wall paintings and ceramic sculpture.