How I Made a Shroud
My soulmate, Barry, died suddenly and unexpectedly in August. After I got over the initial shock, I thought about how I wanted to give him a parting and meaningful gift, so I decided, as a textile artist, to make a shroud for him. Barry was…
Can textiles be political?
Joanne Soroka, Another Country, shaped tapestry with tufting The words ‘political’ and ‘textiles’ are not natural bedfellows. Textiles are gentle, feminine and amateur in the general imagination, but some artists like to subvert received opinion and use the apparent disparity to make their point….
How do I become an artist?
The traditional view was that the artist was a genius, a man, who worked in a freezing garret and was devoted only to his art. He was separate from ‘normal’ society, but didn’t care – in fact, he celebrated his superiority to it. Perhaps it…
Archie Brennan (1931-2019) and the time he made me cry
Archie was one of my teachers in the Tapestry Department at Edinburgh College of Art in the 1970s, along with Maureen Hodge and Fiona Mathison. He was there less often than they were but he was a strong force, highly regarded for his abilities as…
Are textiles art or craft – what the critics say
Those of us who create tapestries in the widest sense of the term consider that we are making art. However we are often annoyed or even angered by the way our work is perceived, especially by those who should know better, the art critics. Here…
Why bother weaving? What is the point?
When you embark on the weaving of a large tapestry, you know it is going to take months to complete, so you want to be sure it is worth the time and effort. Here are some of the things I try to consider. Is it…
Why is it so hard to sell tapestries?
No one becomes a tapestry weaver with the expectation of making their fortune. We all supplement our meagre incomes by teaching or other activities, from waitstaff to dog walking. But why don’t people buy our beautiful works of art? Tapestry suffers from a number of…