Allison James

I have always loved to sew.  Since picking up an embroidery needle as a child, I have kept this passion by my side throughout my education, motherhood and my working life as an academic. It is a resource that has always enlivened me and now, in retirement, has full rein.

 

Completing a City and Guilds Diploma in Embroidery, led to a brief dalliance with felting and traditional quilting, before I found my textile community in art quilting in 2019. 

My work

My inspiration comes from both natural and built environments and I  frequently  use photographs as a starting  point. Often these have been taken by my husband with whom I have worked collaboratively (see: imageandstitch ). The colours, shapes and textures prompt me to want to translate what I see in these environments into fabric. Usually graphic and abstract, rather than figurative, my work is a response to the sense and quality of these spaces.

 

I enjoy the challenge and freedom of improvised, scrap piecing, often combining this with the greater precision that fused applique permits. This process of  textile layering is finished with machine quilting and, sometimes, further detail is stitched in by hand.  I am excited by the additional textures and complexities that these different processes and stitches bring to the piece. 

 

CV

Exhibitions and Memberships

2024

Doors, Portals & Windows ( 20 perspectives exhibition) Australian Quilt Competition, Australia

Bearing Witness  (juried SAQA exhibition)  Heidelberg & touring )

Nowhere Gallery, Holmfirth

Art Week, Holmfirth

Derbyshire Open Arts,  (Ecostitchers' Exhibition) Beeley

2023 

Nature ( 20 perspectives exhibition) European Patchwork Meeting, France

Festival of Quits, Birmingham

Summer,  Open Gallery, Halifax

Art Quilts Uncovered, Solo exhibition, Holmfirth Tech

Landscape and Abstraction , Somerton Art Space, Holmfirth

No Rain, no Flowers  (Ecostitchers'  Exhibition) Beeley

WOVEN  Festival   - Huddersfield Art Gallery, Abrcafabric

       Exhibition & Somerton Art Space

Ruby Exhibition ( Art Through Textiles), Derbyshire

2022 

Winter Open , Gallery180, Leeds (Juried exhibition)

 Festival of Quilts, Birmingham

A Sense of Space ( Art Through Textiles Exhibition) Derbyshire

Haven  (juried SAQA Exhibition ) Houston International Quilt Festival  &  USA  touring )

Trees for Life (Ecostitchers' Exhibition) Derbyshire, UK

Bonsall Arts Trail (invited)  Derbyshire, UK

Bridges (20 Perspectives Exhibition)  Meiningen Germany,  France & Mancuso Shows touring USA 2022-3

 Fronteer Gallery (Juried) ,  Sheffield, UK

2021 

Festival of Quilts,  Birmingham,UK. 

Food for Thought,  (Ecostitchers' Exhibition) Sheffield,UK. 

2019 

Material Matters,  (Art Through Textiles Exhibition)  Derbyshire,UK.   

 Festival of Quilts, Birmingham,UK. 

 Collective Stitches,  UK, Australia and Holland  

 Open Up, Sheffield, UK.

2018

 'Tis the Season’, Sheffield, UK.  

Holmfirth Art Week,   Holmfirth, UK. 

2017

 Follow the Thread,   (Art Through Textiles Exhibition) Derbyshire, UK.  

 

Current Memberships & Offices held

Studio Art Quilts Association (Member & European  & Middle Eastern Rep)

Quilters Guild of British Isles  ( Member)

20Perspectives  (Member- www.20perspectives.com

Ecostitchers ( Member - www.ecostitchers.com)

Art Through Textiles  (Member )

 

 

Media Engagement

Magazines & catalogues

2024  Featured artist in  Patchwork Professional 02/24

           Featured artist on  www.createwhimsy.com

2023  

Quilt - A Visiti to Margate ,  in  exhibition catalogue , Summer ,  Halifax Open Gallery

2022 

Quilt - Mariupol- lest we forget -  was featured in Quilt Mania - Simply Moderne, Issue 31

Quilt - Holme Valley - was pictured in the catalogue for the Haven exhibition which premiered at the Houston International Quilt festival and is,on tour 2022-5. Quilt sold in Houston.

 

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