This also applies to commissioned pieces. Sometimes just sitting and taking in what is around me (often with a sketchbook in hand) gives me time to ‘just be’…to absorb things and think. And then the connections I make between objects and the ‘story’ of a place or person brings the work to life. Monoprint print and plate: Textile Landscape by Cas Holmes is published by Batsford. Artworks by Cas Holmes, photographed by Jacqui Hurst As I go deeper into the experience of living with this land I find myself drawn towards using more natural pigments, dyes and print-making techniques, such as eco-printing, as the basis for stitching. These processes call for endless experimentation, tempered by just a little on-line research. There is no substitute for making a technique your own, through the use of the materials and work conditions that you have to hand. Hannah has a particular passion for lichen, and how it exists as a symbiotic mix of fungi with algae or cyanobacteria. She likes to imagine people living in a more symbiotic way with our environment, and how that might impact the world.

As you’d expect with an author as experienced as Cas, there is a mix of the informative and the practical. Cas explores the history and context of landscape-focused textile art, with a good amount of time spent on the skills needed.

You build your own relationship to the experience; the places you have been, the objects you see, as part of the act of making a record Felting has a long history of practical and decorative applications. Offering a textural and tactile appearance that can stimulate the desire to touch, it can be meditative to create, satisfying to embellish and an exciting and versatile material with which to sculpt. She begins with the basics – keeping a sketchbook to generate ideas, painting and stitching on cloth and on paper and working digitally; Inspiring Landscapes looks at natural and urban space, the changing seasons and great landscapes as well as intimate spaces and travel diaries; Painting and Marking with Cloth explains the practical aspects of painting and dyeing cloth and how to make connections between paint, print, dye, stencil and stitch; Stitch-scapes looks at the different forms of landscape, experimenting with photographs and prints and how to translate those images using ink, stitch, abstract and collage techniques and then at how to transform the image using digital techniques; On Closer Inspection covers using elements and details from landscape and the environment as found objects and for research; finally People and Place explores the relationship we have with the outdoors and the built environment, as well as personal interpretations of place. As the viewers were encouraged to turn and switch the Chromatic Navigation tiles around to transform the overall pattern, and moved their bodies to physically engage with the pieces, it reminded me of why I’ve enjoyed creating wearable art collections. When the theme is right, a garment becomes a moving sculpture on a body, also changing how the wearer feels and moves depending on the design and structure of the piece.

The transformation of the fibres during the felting process is irreversible and not completely predictable. I closely observe the reactions of this lively and unconventional material and respond to unforeseen changes, either by removing or accepting, supporting and even underlining them as an individual feature of this work. In the very end, there will be a considerable change in expression when the so-far flat and wet felt is being shaped three- dimensionally and dried. Plant and Loy Yang Power Station: Textile Landscape by Cas Holmes is published by Batsford. Artworks by Cas Holmes, photographed by Jacqui HursThere’s just something about landscape art that never gets old. Nature never ceases to inspire, and the notion of ‘place’ lies deep within our human psyche. But there’s also something extra special about textile art landscapes: colour and texture. I want the reader to be as excited as I am by this ‘in-between world’ of cloth, paint and stitch to represent landscape aspects in their own work. If you are inspired by the work featured in this article, take a look at the eBook Textiles: A Response to Landscape, which brings together 10 more incredible contemporary artists who speak of the subject matter in a unique way. In compiling the book, we sought to highlight the vast range of opportunities textiles offer as a means of interpretation by exploring the stories, influences and techniques of the artists featured. There’s also a wide selection of beautiful images of their work. Her next book Connected Cloth: Creating Collaborative Textile Projects (co-authored with Anne Kelly who is also soon to be featured on Textileartist.org) is due out in Autumn 2013.

Cas Holmes: I tend to create pieces from found materials as I travel and go about my day to day work. Through interaction with the objects and fabrics I evolve a narrative. Being prepared to de-construct and reconstruct has become a vital part of my creative process both physically and mentally. Recently, I spent some time in Australia running workshops and giving talks. One of the questions I was often asked was how this experience would inform my work? How does a foreign place translate as inspiration for textile art Martha Fieber literally stitches blades of grass and single blossoms that collectively engage the eye, while Wen Redmond creates digital landscapes that expertly incorporate photography and stitch. Monika Kinner uses yarn to create rich and chunky fields and sky, while Roberta Wagner uses paper, fabric and thread to create more abstract landscapes. Shin-hee Chin wraps up our journey with quilt-sized tree branches that reflect light and are entirely stitched by hand. Ksenia Shinkovskaya’s inspiration came from her life experiences and emotions. What can you call upon to inspire your artwork?In 2006 Miniart textilcomo selected my work ‘Winter Bramble’ to win the ‘La Tessitura’ Mantero prize, from a selection of textile artists worldwide. The piece was free machine stitch over fine florist wire, embellished with hand stitch and beads. Now that you’ve found a landscape that inspires, it is time to observe. Look for the key characteristics of your landscape. What is it that you would like to represent? Are you looking for realism in your work, or a more idealistic outcome? Do you want to work in a more abstract way, to capture the atmosphere of the location? Perhaps you want to focus on the shapes and the texture, and capture the vibrant or earthy colours. Or you could use stitch to express the emotional impact of the place. Textile Landscape by Cas Holmes is published by Batsford. Artworks by Cas Holmes, photographed by Jacqui Hurst The chapter also explains how stitched and textured surfaces of cloth can give interesting results in both direct and screen printing. The stitches and textures serve as a sort of stencil in resisting applied paints and dyes. An example would be the ‘Medway Gap’ work featured on the cover of the book. It was created by using a silkscreen and local plants as a resist. We’ve gathered five different landscape artists whose art is dedicated to showcasing their favourite sights and grand adventures. Each uses key landscape design elements, such as line, colour, shape, and perspective, but their techniques are as diverse as the terrains they present.

This article features an interview with Cas in which she explains what inspired the book’s creation, as well as some of her favourite techniques featured in the book. The memories of how objects come into my hands through travel and work inform my process just as much as my drawings and recordings. And all the imperfections of the objects illustrate their ‘history’. Claire Benn: Plateau (detail), 2019, 94cm x 67cm, Mono print, painting and hand stitch, antique hemp, paper, cotton thread, earth pigments, acrylic medium. Photograph credit: Katie Vandyke Harlem-born artist and activist Ringgold began working with textiles after a trip to Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseumin 1972. There, a gallery guard introduced her to Tibetan thangkas—traditional Buddhist paintings on cloth, surrounded by silk brocades. Returning home, Ringgold enlisted the help of her mother, a professional dressmaker, to make politically minded thangkasof her own, sewing frames of cloth around depictions of brutal rape and slavery. In 1980, Ringgold crafted her first quilt—again, with some sewing help from her mother—called Echoes of Harlem(1980) ,portraying 30 Harlem residents in a mandala-like composition.Glenys has the ability and reputation to get internationally renowned artists to teach for her. I was drawn to the work of fellow teacher, Chris Atkins; her powerful pieces draw their inspiration from, and talk about sense of place and our connections to the idea of ‘home. The mixed media sculptural works are painstakingly created combining casting of found objects in metal with complex machine stitch which defy translation and are beautiful in detail and content. In a review of the work Judith McGrath says: Dagmar Binder selected just one element and duplicated this to create a repeated three-dimensional pattern. Like Dagmar, you can look to nature for inspiration selecting shapes, motifs or patterns you’re drawn to. But I can’t say when exactly I realised my use of found materials connected to the environments in which they were found. Instead, I think the process of connecting to place found me. So to that end, the book shares a variety of techniques for manipulating both paper and fabric to help make stitching easier and more interesting.