Pastoral Song: A Farmer’s Journey by James Rebanks Early on a summer Sunday morning, as I prepared to write this piece, an urgent call came from my neighbor. The sheep we’d put in her hay field to grass, had escaped. Suddenly, I’d not only read James Rebanks’ paean to English sheep farming, but I was …

Resilient Stitch: Wellbeing and Connection in Textile Arts by Claire Wellesley-Smith What great fortune to encounter a book aimed at resilience in my field (hand crafting) at this very moment! I resisted reading this book quickly. I also chose not to read it over multiple days, preferring to find one good stretch of time and …

Surface Design Association is excited to announce Fiber Revolution, our Spring 2022 edition of Surface Design Journal.  “This issue’s theme, Fiber Revolution (after all, what is a revolution but a circle?), highlights the work of artists and educators in our community who draw inspiration from the natural environment and adopt sustainable practices as part of …

Welcome to my exhibition, Stitched Stories, in the south of The Netherlands! I know it’s not really next door for most of you, but it is a great opportunity to see an overview of my work in a beautiful gallery. The show will be up until April 18, 2022 at High Five Art (Baarle-Nassau, The …

Collaboration Through Craft edited by Amanda Ravetz, Alice Kettle, and Helen Felcey One thing that signals success in a work (or collection of works, as this is) is the degree to which it sends me to its footnotes and source materials. In other words, does it excite me to look further? This collection of sixteen essays, …

The catalyst for my current body of work is volunteering at a local thrift store. Huge heaps of clothing are donated every day, but only a small amount is good enough to be put onto the store floor. The rest are shunted further down the supply chain until the items eventually end up in a …

Allie Dudley is an artist I met in 2017 at Penland School of Craft in Spring Concentration, while I was co-teaching with Bhakti Ziek. In that eight-week session Allie was like a sponge, asking many questions and eagerly soaking up every suggestion. They spent long day and night hours hard at work in the weaving …

Enchanted Worlds: The Visionary Collages and Art Couture of Amy Zerner by Monte Farber I’m a little freaked out. I’m staring at page 103, at a King of Wings/The Professional Tarot card that makes me think of Shakespeare. It’s from The Enchanted Love Tarot, one of the many collaborative projects created by Amy Zerner and …

The Genesis In December 2020, I was eco-printing flowers and leaves; the prints intended to be given as gifts. At the same time, I was given corylus avellana (common hazel) or Walking Stick by a friend, whose branches grew and intertwined in an exquisitely twisted and whimsical manner. I had a spark of insight when …

Sitting on a blanket under the African sun, Zandile Ntobela, holds the impossibly thin needle and threads it with black beading cotton. She pulls the black fabric onto her lap and gives the beads a haughty glance. They are minute, tiny little jewels glittering and shimmering in the sun, soon to be painstakingly stitched onto …