Emma is a Northumbrian textile artist who recently left the classroom after 20 years to forge her own career in the art world.
She stitches seashore canvases and coastal sculptures, manipulating repurposed fabrics as well as using items collected along the tideline. Her concern for the environment is evident in her materials as she selects old denim or suiting as a backing canvas and on this, a collage of recycled fabrics are attached with machine and hand stitched embroidery. Even the thread can be found fishing line!
The characterful portraits of puffins are a proud nod to our regional visitor, who returns each year to find their mate on nearby Coquet or Farne Islands. Emma enjoys accentuating their colourful, comical beak and uses some marine materials such as wetsuit off-cuts and fluorescent threads. The fluorescent is important as their beaks have been found to actually glow in the dark.