This year I am taking part in the Open Houses as part of the Brighton Festival and have written this artist’s statement to add to my blog.
I have a lifelong fascination with beautiful fabrics, threads and colour. During my childhood I was surrounded by creativity with my mother, grandmother and aunt all accomplished needlewomen producing gorgeous pieces of stitching, knitwear, artwork and poetry.
My mother taught me to stitch and use a sewing machine for my first garments as a child but my love and obsession for embroidery developed much later. I started by enrolling at a machine embroidery class where textile artist Wendy Dolan supported me as I developed my own personal style. I then went on to experiment with a mixed media approach with textile artist Kim Thittichai. I am currently studying for a City and Guilds Level 3 Certificate in Embroidery with Distant Stitch, a distance learning school led by textile artist Sian Martin.
You can follow my coursework on this blog if you wish, this is an example of a finished piece of coursework - a headpiece constructed of machine embroidered wrapped yarns with beading detail
I have always been fascinated by the beauty of nature and floral shapes and love creating deep textural and lacy effects. The idea of making something beautiful out of articles which have outlived their original function is another strong factor. I'm constantly fascinated by the diversity which can be achieved through textile art and the experimental nature of contemporary embroidery techniques
I have exhibited in the Brighton Festival Open Houses for several years and have enjoyed making jewellery, bags, gloves, books and other accessories. I love the challenge of a developing project, problem solving along the way followed by the thrill of a finished project.
I have added a few examples of the work to be shown in the Open House below:
Evening bag made up of hand dyed silk with machine embroidery to the flowers, strap and finish to the bag itself:
Evening wallet or vanity bag. This is shown here against the original artwork from which it was inspired, this has been printed onto silk with applique and machine embroidered detail:
Machine embroidered brooches
Crocheted belt with vintage ribbon detail
A selection of crochet and machine embroidered belts, necklaces and brooches:
Hand crafted notebooks:
Detail of the above showing my own collage work and machine embroidered hummingbird motif:
Customised sketchbook with monoprint and collage:
Book covers using my own watercolour printed onto silk and machine embroidered / hand stitched detail:
Hand crafted notebook with monoprinted and machine embroidered panel and beaded detail:
A selection of hand knitted corsages:
To contact Carrie email - carriedonohoe@hotmail.co.uk
http://www.distantstitch.co.uk/
