Linda Dewart

I have always liked 'making stuff' right back to when I made two-piece Chanel knitted suits for my Sindy doll and copied images of dogs with oversized cute head from greetings cards when I was around 11.  Alongside a 'proper job', I renovated bits of junk, did interior design for friends and a shop and made furnishings for my home and clothes for me and my children.

It wasn't until I moved to Yorkshire 25 years ago that I got the chance to take creativity seriously.  I already had a City and Guilds Creative Embroidery Part One certificate, tutored by the indomitable Val Campbell-Harding, and I Bradford College I first took an HNC and then a degree in Textile Design from which I gained a First.

Since then I have had the luxury of creating work from my own studio at home.  I like to work with themes, creating series using whatever materials I consider appropriate for best expressing the idea that I am exploring.  This usually takes me on a path of mixed media, often incorporating paint and stitch, photography, found objects, metals and clay etc.  I have some of my images printed onto silk to be made into scarves or 2-D pictures with further stitching on top.

Travels before COVID have provided a rich source of ideas for colours and textures and provided thoughts about how people live and interact both with each other and the environment.  This has become a dominant theme leading me to create increasingly abstract mixed-media landscapes.  COVID brought about work using images and paintings of cargo ship containers to convey what it feels like to be either locked up and isolated, or indeed, locked in and kept safe.

I have held both solo and joint exhibitions, been a member of Textilia 3 since I graduated in 2001 and also help manage and exhibit at Solar Gallery.

Linda works to commission on interiors and accessories and is available to give workshops, particularly enjoying helping people develop their textile ideas.

E: lindadewart@hotmail.com

T: 01943 603235