James Fox is a nationally and internationally acclaimed Scottish textile artist, originally from Glasgow and now living in Lancaster in the north-west of England.

His work has been influenced by an early stint working in the field of engineering, by other work roles he has pursued, periods of art practice and in his role of carer for his own children.

Primarily using machine embroidery and reverse applique techniques, James revels in the juxtaposition of pattern with theme to create wall hangings in a variety of sizes.

His choice of fabric and colour are governed by a desire to provide contrasts between what we anticipate and the reality in which we find ourselves. His aim is to depict the sense of having to continually alter and adapt these expectations and to stimulate discussion on these points.

Imagine filling a postcard with rows and rows of machine stitching less than two centimetres apart. How long would that take?

Now imagine doing that on a wall-sized canvas and stitching most of those rows by hand! Impossible, right? Not if you’re textile artist Inga Liksaite.

Inga’s signature style of rhythmic repetitive stitching vibrates across a canvas in both linear and organic shapes. Added layers of paint intensify her impeccable stitch work and engage the eye.

Particularly striking is how Inga’s pieces transform themselves depending upon the distances from which they are viewed. Close up, you’ll drown in row upon row of crisp stitch work and colour. But as you step back, those rows and colours merge and combine into recognizable shapes and features. Remarkable!

Gregory Wilkins is a self-taught artist. He grew up in a multi-ethnic, multi-national family and always felt ‘different’ throughout his childhood. His mother encouraged him to express himself and he started to explore creativity through performance and art. He travelled the world, immersing himself in different cultures and supporting causes fighting for equality.

These experiences have driven his life of creativity and form the foundation of his artworks. Greg’s work on paper and canvas uses reconstruction and collage, paint, photography, stitch and beadwork to represent the layers and complexities of life and explore the meaning of existence.

In 2016 and 2019 Greg received Professional Mid-Career Artist Grants from Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council. He was awarded an Artists on Main Street grant (via the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota) and a Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council Small Arts Project Grant in 2018. He has won numerous awards including best in show at the ‘410 Project’ juried exhibitions in 2018 and 2017 (Mankato, Minnesota), the Ringholz Foundation Art Prize in 2018 and first place in the Arts Center of St. Peter juried exhibition, Minnesota, in 2017. His work is held in private collections in Minnesota, California, Florida, Idaho, and Washington, DC.

In this interview, Greg shares how he struggled to fit in as a child and how he gradually learned to embrace his feeling of uniqueness, feeding his passion for creativity with his art. Discover how his career developed and how issues of global community and social inequality inspire his work. Find out how he creates his layered works in a mindful and organic way to satisfy his need to express himself. “For me, art is not a choice. It is a necessity.”

It takes a very special artist to turn plant decay, lichen and fungi into beautiful works of art. And that special person is textile artist Amanda Cobbett.

Amanda cherishes the discarded and overlooked treasures found on forest floors. And the way she recreates and presents those items through stitch, papier mache, and pyrography is remarkable. Her goal is to fool the eye, and she’s very successful at doing so.

As the saying goes, words could never express the magic in Amanda’s work. So we strongly encourage you to take a moment before reading further to view this very short video demonstrating her creative process:

Amanda was kind enough to give us an insider’s look at her techniques, including how she creates her own layered ‘fabrics’ with machine stitch and dissolvable backings. She also explains her unique display methods using contemporary versions of Victorian display cases that both amuse and delight.

Mandy Pattullo is a textile artist based in rural Northumberland. She sources local vintage quilts, embroidery and other fabrics, collaging them together into exciting new pieces, each telling their own story.

Some of these rescued materials are disintegrated, worn or mended with hand stitching. She unpicks and reconstructs them and then adds to their interest by embellishing, making new surface textures with embroidery stitches. Her collages become stand-alone pieces, are applied to garments or collected into a book structure. Mandy’s aim is to preserve discarded textiles by converting them into beautiful new patchworks incorporating their history, told through the visible signs of wear and tear.

Mandy spent many years teaching in an art college and in the last ten years she has focussed on her creative practice. Her work is based on references to historical textiles and traditional techniques. She explores the importance of local folk traditions and sewing generated in domestic settings. Today she teaches many workshops both nationally and internationally and is a member of The Textile Study Group.

In this interview discover how Mandy Pattullo creates her ‘scrap’ books for her own use, almost as a self-indulgence. She uses collage and embroidery to build layers of texture and colour on fabric background pages, using waste fabric fragments. She creates her stitched books to remind her of previous projects and inspire new ones. Her technique inspires us all to make the most of every last scrap of fabric and avoid waste, building a more sustainable practice.