It’s always interesting to see where things started out… In 1991, I began weaving. In 1992, my weaving teacher sent me to the Bradford Diploma of Handloom Weaving under the guidance of Sheila Smith from 1992 – 1995. These pieces come from work done during the diploma.

Sheila allowed me to subvert the syllabus slightly by giving myself a theme for each of the warps so that I could explore several techniques on each warp, rather than being restricted to a particular technique for each warp (although I still had to produce specified samples). That allowed my creative and somewhat convoluted brain the room to imagine. My first exploration warp was based around Antarctica. Others were based on Africa, paisley patterns, a box of chocolates, a greetings card, a thistle and one of my music student’s Art ‘O’ level image. As the song says, “Anything Goes”. Try it for yourself, and see!