News

2010 looks like being a very exciting year.
The Jersey Textile Showcase takes place from Tuesday 9th - Sunday 14th March and we are all looking forward to greeting old friends and making new ones. There is a terrific range of workshops offered this year and our special guests include Jan Beaney, Jean Littlejohn and Gina Ferrari.
I will be running a selection of textile jewellery workshops and for the first time a portrait session, based on techniques I used to embroiderer the Marilyn Monroe jackets, see ‘Commissions’.
The Jersey Textile Showcase is a friendly and affordable event. You can find out more by visiting the Art in the Frame website www.mnlg.com.

From 11th – 13th April I will be exhibiting at The British Craft Trade Fair, Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate and am hoping to showcase some textile jewellery kits, together with my new range of necklaces.

On 7th and 8th July I will be in Torquay running a two day textile jewellery workshop for Sylvia McCann at Beads for Beauty. We will be making garland necklaces and exploring jazz necklace techniques, so this will be a busy but productive session.
I’m hoping students will complete at least one necklace as I think an end product is so important.
Email: mail@fabbeads.co.uk for details or visit their website www.fabbeads.co.uk.

From November 22nd- 24th I will be teaching a residential course in Textile Jewellery – Innovative Techniques at Denman College.
I am very excited at the prospect of teaching in the UK, meeting lots of new people and introducing them to the techniques I have developed to create my jewellery. It is very rewarding to be appreciated for the quality of my craftsmanship and to see that people understand the time taken and the skill involved in my work.
Meanwhile a selection of my jewellery is currently on display as part of the Emporium Exhibition at the Ropewalk Gallery, Barton on Humber and at The Harbour Gallery, St Aubin, Jersey.

2009 was a very busy year.
David Gainsborough Roberts wore the new 'Marilyn Coat' to the preview of The Marilyn Exhibition at The Jersey Museum in March and both coat and exhibition were well received. David is obviously delighted with my work if the number of publicity shots of him wearing it are anything to go by.

Workbox Magazine featured the series of embroidered jackets commissioned by David Gainsborough Roberts in their June/July edition and Craft and Design Magazine included an article on this aspect of my work in the September/October edition.

I was awarded The Judge's Choice Award by Diane Bates at The Jersey Textile Showcase in March for a necklace in the Organics Series. My workshops were very well attended and students were delighted with their creations. I would like to do more teaching but there are limited opportunities on a small island and travel costs are high.

In September I exhibited and demonstrated some of the techniques I use to make my textile jewellery at The Creative Stitches and Hobbycrafts Show, Westpoint, Exeter. My work was very well received and I met lots of enthusiastic people and made useful contacts.

2008 was another busy year.
During February I was interviewed by Channel TV for a short film in their Creative Islanders series. Sadly I missed the programme but it provoked much interest locally and took my work to a wider audience.

I exhibited at Jersey's Textile Showcase in March, where my new range of textile jewellery was much admired. I was delighted to win The Art in the Frame Award for Design and hastily spent some of it on inspirational new materials from exhibiting suppliers. As usual my workshops were well attended and my students were delighted with their creations.

Particularly exciting, my work was spotted by Angie Boyer, editor of Craft and Design magazine and her daughter, Jennie. We enjoyed a very chatty lunch and the result was a super article In Craft and Design's May/June edition. Thank-you Angie and Jennie.

Later in the year my work, together with that of other selected Jersey artists was exhibited at Craft in the Bay, Cardiff. The exhibition was
entitled Coast2Coast and was well attended.
Visiting Cardiff for the preview I was delighted to see my work displayed so beautifully and in such a bright, modern setting.

I also accepted another David Gainsborough Roberts commission - another Marilyn coat, which kept me busy during the run up to Christmas.