An introduction: why I love textiles.

I think that in beginning this piece of writing, it would be useful to say what it is about textiles overall that makes me prefer it to other art forms. I think that at first it was the accessibility of the thing that attracted me. that anyone, with relatively little financial expenditure, could begin to learn a skill. If I remember rightly, it was knitting that I started with - though I drew the wool so tight around the needles that I found it an utter chore. Later, I began an interest in Victorian clothing, and, with the help of Janet Arnold's books, became interested in dressmaking too. In more recent years, I discovered the difficulty in buying, for instance, a nicely made lace trim, and set about trying to learn a little lace - I knitted it, crocheted it (probably my favourite process) and have more recently attempted needle-lace - though it's nothing like so fine as I would really like it to be.
I think that during this course, I'd like to produce artistic surfaces that cover a set area, so as to be eventually made into a larger project, or useful items (more on that next time/post). I'm none too keen on abstract for abstract's sake, but I can appreciate a nice pattern or a well stitched piece. Some of the skills I hope to learn whilst studying and which I would like to apply more to my work are embroidery and perhaps beadwork, as I have done little of either. Some of the other reasons I like textiles so very much are: the sheer variety of techniques and the uses they can be put to, their fantastic history (plenty on that later), and the degree to which the specialist may specialise.
Oh, actually, there's one more thing: how the fashion for textiles in contemporary life (actually, this opinion covers pretty much all modern culture for me) is symbolic of the society of our times - it's obsessed with time wasted and financial return. For example, a knitting pattern for a scarf - bright, bold, quick to 'whip up' and reassuringly easy patterns are the ones that will sell. The focus is always on 'oh, how cute'. Needlework of all kinds has been an artform for centuries, and the world should appreciate the process that creates such objects - it should be judged, as all art should be in my mind, on the effort put into making it, and the skill displayed in the finished item. This is why to me, the works of painters who produce those famous blocks of colour, i.e. Rothko and Klein, will never be beautiful when people like van Eyck have gone before them. Ok, rant over! Time to get started by looking at a few examples of my favourite textile work of the past (as collected through that marvellous tool, Pinterest).