My current work takes its influence from storytelling in folklore and in particular the tradition of oral storytelling where a bit more is added every time the story is told.

I have looked at how ordinary people from all cultures express themselves through textiles and tell their own stories in this way.
Memories are recorded in quilts and samplers but do they tell the "truth" or are they just a record of how the maker wants their family history to be remembered?
Are there hidden meanings and secrets behind the stories?

I grew up in the 60s and 70s in the South Wales Valleys in the “land of the twitching net curtains” where so much of family life was hidden from the neighbours.

I suffered a traumatic childhood and when the weather allowed I would escape from the adults to the outdoors, climb a tree and enter my imaginary world populated by animals and strange creatures.

My embroidered and quilted pieces represent the comfort, warmth and security I have always associated with fabric.

I want my audience to be attracted by the cosiness and feel safe in my ‘other’ world while gently drawing their attention to the problems faced by adult survivors of childhood abuse.

The stories are fantasy, the characters based on my feelings about people and situations from my childhood.

My style has evolved from the study of the many and varied forms of *Folk Art, the texture and softness of kantha quilting, the glorious colours of traditional embroidery from many cultures and the bold designs of the 1960s and 70s.

* Folk Art — handcrafted artistic objects by self-taught, ordinary people for use in their own homes; frequently functional objects native to a particular region, culture,