Hi, thank you for stopping by, I’m Rebecca and I am an artist (mainly working in stitch/textiles) and psychotherapist. I also connect with the healing aspects of spending time with nature. These themes are threads that run through all of my artwork. I am constantly exploring our internal and external landscapes through stitch.
My journey so far…(grab yourself a cuppa!)
I have always been creative in many ways, stitch, knitting, painting, writing. For many years I wrote knitting patterns and a knitting blog (these are still available on Ravelry). Over the years my path has evolved to include a deeper exploration of the process of making art, using skills I have developed as a psychotherapist alongside my creative endeavours. I taught knitting and ran creative workshops, alongside setting up knitting groups across Staffordshire that were accessible for all to attend in local libraries. In 2016 I worked alongside Trevor Pitt, creating weaving and knitting props and garments for his knitting play ‘Yarning’ that was presented at mac Birmingham. I also produced knitting and weaving products for photographers and sold my products in an art gallery in Keswick, Cumbria.
I spent some time in the Outer Hebrides, inspired by the landscapes, the wild windswept ways and weaving, I taught myself to weave shawls and took commissions. Along the way I explored how the land creates the cloth, taking my journey with wool right back to raw sheep fleece, preparing it, spinning it into wool and then weaving with it. I experimented with natural dyes and different types of weaving, including saori and intuitive weaving. I also created artwork incorporating wool, felting and stitching into it with found objects, silks and beads. I played with stitch, manipulating textures and cloth.
The therapeutic healing aspect of creativity, particularly when working with fibres, wool, stitch really stood out to me. I was interested both in the solitude, peace and calm it can create, the soothing textures of wool and stitch, the rhythm of making and also, the end results, being wrapped in a lovely comforting cloth is truly the best! and also, not forgetting the social connection that can be made, finding your tribe, a world of connection through stitch. More recently, I was one of Joe Lycett’s knitters for the ‘just knit myself’ campaign for wool on national TV, and have appeared in knitting magazines such as Let’s Knit.
Through completing a Masters degree, focusing my dissertation on my ‘fear of being an artist’, I learnt so much about how the mind and body are connected, the stories we tell ourselves and others, the narratives and threads that run through our lives that connect us to others, and create a sense of belonging, not to mention the therapeutic aspects of creating with stitch. I now integrate my artistic self with my therapy work and the two blend together really well, bit like alchemy for the soul! I work from my quirky, sanctuary-like home studio/therapy room in Stafford, UK.
