I am an ethnographic embroiderer who engages with the world through stitch. My practice combines popular culture, folk art and the everyday and I make tactile, hand crafted artworks using hand embroidery processes, both as a solo artist and with groups and organisations. The work is sensory and purposefully slow and non-digital and Tirzah Garwood’s term ‘sophisticated naive’ resonates with my approach. I create banners, quilts and embroidered cloths that are inclusive and accessible and help raise awareness of social issues. Stitching for me is a global communication device, a well-being strategy and a connector and most importantly, vital evidence acknowledging ‘we are here’.
I taught part time for thirty years at Manchester Metropolitan University working on the Embroidery and Textiles BA programmes and then running the creative wellbeing MA. I completed a practice-based PhD in 2018 after many years working in the field. I left academia in the summer 2025 to focus on my own work. My exhibition and book both called Connecting Threads have recently toured Britain and the final iteration opens at University of California, Davis in Sept 2026.
