I trained as a Surface Pattern and Textile Designer and now work from an attic studio in a converted manse in rural Northumberland. I run textile and printmaking workshops (for Horsley Printmakers), am employed by a hospital arts project and make work to sell from my studio and for exhibition. I am a trained teacher and for several years was taught textiles at higher education level.

My work is based on collage techniques whether patching and piecing together fabrics or using paper ephemera and layering in my printmaking. I am drawn to pieces of cloth that have a patina and try to source vintage fabrics and quilts to recycle into my own work, particularly those which show a history of use, and evidence of a previous female needle worker. I combine these with fabrics which I already have or which are given to me. I don't want to buy new anymore and pursue what I call a thread and thrift vision. I primarily hand sew combining piecing and  appliqué with stitch, and collaging in found objects and small precious bits of embroidery.

I work in sketchbooks too, sampling and drawing and exploring personal obsessions. For many years I have researched, photographed and drawn details from local Victorian cemeteries which has resulted in two solo exhibitions which explore ideas about memory, female experience and identity and place. In “ Memento Mori” I was able to explore digital media to express my ideas and in   “Remember Me” I was able to create site specific work for a listed church”.

My key influences?

Boro Textiles, antique patchwork and appliquéd quilts, Gees Bend,  Rauschenberg, Louise Bourgeois, Folk Art, Victorian Way of Death, Bowes Museum, Willa Cather, remembered landscapes, Alice Pattullo, junk shopping, traditional textile techniques.

www.mandypattullo.co.uk

Courses starting in 2012