I am from Dublin in Ireland and went to art college after leaving school. There after a years foundation course I specialised in fashion and have since worked both in costume and fashion for about 15 years, mostly on the technical construction side. Then about 7 years ago I started creating textile artworks, really just using all the off cuts that I had left from various costumes made over the years. It came out of a need to get back to something more artistic, a way of expressing myself and have some creative ownership. I felt like I was always making up someone else's vision and I found that I was getting frustrated with that.
So the first piece I did was inspired by the most lovely person I had once worked with. She was a transexual called Arlene. We had spent many hours sewing together having great chats in a tiny room somewhere in Dublin on a TV production of the magnificent Ambersons. I always remembered her so I wanted to do a portrait of her.
"Arlene" Fabric applique and acrylic 168cms x 106cmsThen after that over several years I did various portraits of many different people. Always using scraps of fabric which I would collage together adding layers of fabric and paint and stitching it all together to create the image. All of my pieces contain bits of fabric left over from many different actors I had made costumes for as well as clothes for friends and myself. I was just using what I had to hand, and over the years have developed a technique of my own, combining fabric collage and applique and painting, to create an image.
"Luke" Fabric applique and acrylic 86cms x 66cmc
"Geraldine" Fabric applique and acrylic 84cms x 104cms
