I am an artist, stitcher and researcher 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
I am currently taking a practice based PhD at Arts University Bournemouth.
Through all aspects of my work, I hope to encourage a deeper appreciation of textiles as objects of skill creativity and cultural significance
helen sill 