23 Mar Homelands Collection – New Product Development…

‘A Sense of Place @ 50! ‘Homelands Collection’ Donegal tweeds – the work explores the relationship between my art and past. Once Donegal was an economy based on manufacturing with creativity evidenced through the skills acquired by the workers and landscape now dotted with the skeletal remains of derelict textile factories. However, a legacy which strongly influences all those who have an ecological connection to Donegal and this certainly applies to me as an artist/ designer. This legacy provides a new freedom of expression helping me create beautiful pieces using Donegal yarns and tweeds that have been manipulated with stitch. The process of mass production now provides a new design freedom, exploring the creative functionality of traditional Irish tweeds, allowing me to express myself through contemporary textile design. Textiles are a fundamental part of our everyday lives… “The language of clothing, its social history, modern and historical intrigues me and I explore these relationships in my work highlighting connections between the past and present. Textiles also connect art and design, people and life, becoming treasured with emotional attachment and I endeavour to create beautiful aesthetics through fabric manipulation using locally sourced tweed fabrics and stitch.” Whatever the context, designing and making offers insight into the lived experience.