Zoom talk: A creative journey with colour and texture with Kate Slaughter

In this talk Kate will share how she developed and created her textile work, and how she began her journey as a textile artist and tutor.  She will share how she has discovered, created and experimented with colour and texture.

Kate will talk about the wide range of techniques she has worked with and developed over the years.  She will bring many samples of her work and demonstrate techniques within the talk.

Kate’s inspiration primarily originates in Northumberland and Cumbria where she explores nature. She is a keen photographer and studies the colours, patterns and textures found in nature, which are used to inform her textile art. The exploration of colour and texture is further developed through dyeing fabrics, threads and textured yarns; she combines colours using variegated dyeing techniques.  French knots are her favourite way of adding texture within hand embroidery and are incorporated into many pieces of her work.

Fabric scraps and mixed media create the foundations for Kate’s embroidery; hand dyed fabrics are used to create the textures and hand-dyed threads are embroidered in to add definition, using both machine and hand embroidery.

The heart of her work is created from very small pieces that are joined together to create a rugged background texture, which represents how our lives are crammed with many things that we should bring together to enhance the quality of life.

Kate has designed a range of embroidery kits using her hand painted yarns and these are suitable for all abilities.