about chris
I live and work in Berkshire as a textile and mixed media artist and co-founded Diversity in 2007 with fellow textile artist Karen McCarthy. I work both individually and as part of Diversity and have been interested in crafts from a young age. I didn't pursue any formal training in this field until 1998 when I enrolled at East Berkshire College in Windsor where I spent 7 years expanding my knowledge and developing as an artist.
Two things I have always loved doing is making things and gardening, so it’s not surprising that my textile work is usually inspired by nature; nature plays a large part in my everyday life. The natural world is forever evolving so I will always have a fresh source of inspiration, not just in plant life but also geographical formations and structures, environments and ecosystems, the possibilities and opportunities are endless.
My work always has some element of stitch in it, whether it be hand or machine, and there is always a French knot in there somewhere. I use several techniques, building up layers until I get the desired result. The materials and colours I use are led purely by the textures, shapes and structure of my chosen subject and my inspiration nearly always comes from nature and what I see around me.
Two things I have always loved doing is making things and gardening, so it’s not surprising that my textile work is usually inspired by nature; nature plays a large part in my everyday life. The natural world is forever evolving so I will always have a fresh source of inspiration, not just in plant life but also geographical formations and structures, environments and ecosystems, the possibilities and opportunities are endless.
My work always has some element of stitch in it, whether it be hand or machine, and there is always a French knot in there somewhere. I use several techniques, building up layers until I get the desired result. The materials and colours I use are led purely by the textures, shapes and structure of my chosen subject and my inspiration nearly always comes from nature and what I see around me.
EDGE
Chris has a love of gardens and anything botanical and this body of work has been inspired by garden borders and the shapes of leaves. Nature plays a large part in her life with gardening, walking in the woods and visiting gardens. This has been observed in her previous work and with endless material still to be explored she plans to continue looking at plant life and trees for inspiration.