Exploring drawing, stitch and textile traditions through making, teaching and research.
I am an artist, stitcher,researcher and educator with a longstanding interest in how knowledge is carried through making. My practice brings together textiles, drawing, teaching and research, shaped by encounters with makers, materials and textile traditions.
Making, learning and stitching are closely connected in my work. I am particularly interested in knowledge held in the hand – what we learn though rhythm, repetition and doing, and how that knowledge changes as it moved between people, places and cultures.
For more than thirty years I have taught drawing and embroidery, helping people discover the confidence and satisfaction that comes from making by hand. My own creative practice has grown from a lifelong fascination with textiles, their histories and the knowledge they hold.
Alongside my creative practice, I teach workshops, give talks and am currently taking a practice based PhD at Arts University Bournemouth. through all aspected of my work, I hope to encourage a deeper appreciation of textiles as objects of skill creativity and cultural significance
Travel and learning alongside textile makers have become central to my work, enriching both my practice and my teaching. I am particularly interested in the ways skills are passed from one person to another, and how making can connect people across cultures and generations.
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I have exhibited and presented work across the UK and internationally, with practice spreading spanning contemporary embroidery textile research and public engagement.
Get In Touch
For workshops, talks, collaborations, exhibitions, research conversations or creative opportunities, do contact me I would love to hear from you.
helen sill 