Artist's Statement

Cloth, fibres and thread are at the heart of my work.  Handling cloth is sensuous, the textures excite. I experiment and explore guided by the properties and behaviour of the materials, the reaction to the needle and thread, the serendipitous flow of dye or the movement of fibres.  The marks made by falling water, light on water, the line of a dancer's body provide further inspiration.  I listen and feel for the emerging rhythm of the work and follow it.

When people see my work I want them to step forward to look into it, to reach out and desire to touch it.  I want them to see in it what they see, which may not be what I saw, but to see something.

My journey to becoming a textile artist has taken a long way round.  As a child I learnt traditional sewing skills from my mother and grandmother.  Growing up I trained as a medical scientist and a computer programmer.  I eventually returned to my love of textiles and studied for a degree in Embroidery.  My work may be very different now from the days spent staring down a microscope but it is, as it was then, an exploration of rhythm and pattern.

My current work is influenced my photographs of the rhythm of the sea, of water, of urban life.  It has elemental themes such as water or fire and is built upon shape, line and mood, flow and strength.  I build up a surface by manipulating fabrics to create cloths that I then work on with stitch.

Margaret Taylor