Makers Guild in Wales

Tutor: Sue Lawty

Cost: £150 (£135 Friends of the Makers Guild in Wales)

This two day course is designed for artists who have prior experience in the field of weaving and/or tapestry. Aimed at intermediate/advance level.

It is designed to:

• Explore ways of weaving tapestries expressively and intuitively, aiming to retain spontaneity.
• Encourage participants to experiment with 'drawing' in the weave to create a unique and personal woven language or 'dictionary' on which to base future projects.

The course will not focus on techniques but is aimed at encouraging participants to develop a critical analysis of how their ideas might be advanced through sampling, composition and design.

Participants are asked to bring:

• A strong, simple frame, no nails (picture frame not suitable). Ideally not smaller than 60 x 30 cms, made with 2 x 1" (2 x 4.5cm) timber used flat.
• Sharp scissors
• Household fork or tapestry bobbins (if used)
• Flat 6" ruler or lath of wood (for separating warp threads)
• Notebook & pen
• Camera would be useful
• Selection of weft threads e.g. hand spun/hand dyed, twines, raphia, silks, linen, cottons, old clothes torn into strips, coloured plastic bags.

Sue will provide warp threads at cost on the day. Please do not prepare your frame with warp in advance.

Sue Lawty is an internationally renowned artist who works with a diverse range of materials including linen, lead and stone. Her abstract tapestry works are strongly influenced by remote landscapes and the primal rawness of rock. Sue is focussed on 'making work that speaks its own vocabulary' and she talks of the 'integrity of mark making intrinsic to particular thread and structure.

Sue has work in major collections including the V & A in London, Leeds Museums & Galleries and St. Edmundsbury Cathedral. Exhibiting internationally, she undertakes private and public commissions and is represented in many textile publications. Sue is currently working on a landmark commission for Scarborough General Hospital NHS Trust.