February Meeting - Fiona Wilson

Despite the cold weather, a good turn out for our guest speaker Fiona Wilson, who came all the way from sunny Huddersfield with her lovely work! 

Welcome, too, to our SEVEN new members!

Fiona explained to us how she started off on her chosen career path - from an uninspired start with a sociopathic art teacher, through a Business Studies degree and ten years in business, a summer of drifting, finally onto an art foundation course, then taking a degree in art at Bradford College.

Following her degree show, Fiona was selected to do a graduate showcase at the Festival of Quilts, which in a roundabout way led her to applying for the Embroiderers' Guild Scholarship, and because of the award given to her by the Embroiderers' Guild, to where she is today - a successful textile artist and teacher with her own workshop in Huddersfield. 

Fiona's recent works are based around her love of combining fabric, paper and stitch, and also her love of maps and images of the local environment, as the below image illustrates. 

The below image has drawn on Fiona's love of maps and contour lines. She explained to us that drawing was an important part of her design process and she often sets a challenge for herself of drawing as much of an item as she can in 30 seconds, as a warm-up exercise. 

Fiona's great enthusiasm for art and design has led her to continue her studies by recently completing an MA at Manchester University. 

Fiona runs classes in her workshop at Radiant Works, Huddersfield, and details can be found by following the link to her own Blog on the right hand side of this column, or just by typing "Fiona Wilson Textiles" into your search engine. 

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And finally....(as they say in all the best bulletins)
Here are two of the not-quite-finished pieces from Gillian's workshop a couple of weeks ago. But at least they're more finished than they were! 


This one is Myra's : 

And this one is Mandy's : 

Don't forget that if you click on any of the photos in the Blog you will be able to see them full sized rather than squinting at them (like I do because I forget as well!)