Alison Holt
mossy tree
Textile artist specialising in freehand machine embroidery and silk painting
I was born in Oswestry, Shropshire, England.I completed a Foundation Course at Shrewsbury School of Art in 1976 and went on to study Fine Art/Textiles and Embroidery at Goldsmiths College, London qualifying in 1979. In the same year I was invited to exhibit in Texprint '79 as one of the years 30 most promising graduates.
Returning to Shropshire I taught textiles at Wrexham College of Art for three years before starting my own studio near Chester in 1982. I now work from my studio in Oswestry.
I started to explore my love of the countryside ,flowers and gardens through the medium of embroidery finding it the perfect vehicle to express the various colours, textures and shapes I finds so fascinating. I try to combine in my compositions a sense of light and an interesting juxtaposition of colour, shape and texture. I aim to capture moments in time with all the skill of a fine artist who has the glorious addition of texture to play with. I consider myself a painter that uses threads.
I am influenced by the places I visit and the images I capture with my camera. I am not primarily a photographer but my photographs are invaluable to me as a record of composition, colour and detail, supported by my sketches. I cannot work from life, with an electric machine as my drawing tool. Photography has to be my starting point because I explore my subject matter directly on to my fabric, drawing and painting with threads. I use a very old basic Bernina sewing machine to 'draw' with, the machine simply makes the stitches while I manoeuvre the silk painted background under the needle.