Penny Walsh
The aim of my teaching is to give students the skills and information to perfect traditional textile techniques that will enable them to produce handspun and naturally dyed textiles. I feel that it is more valuable to gain experience and information, than to produce finished objects without the knowledge to repeat them.
Are there any particular techniques/processes you use in your teaching?I try to ensure that the materials and dye ingredients are as ecologically sound as possible, and that all waste is either boi-degradable or re-useable. Also that students are able to ‘spectrum match’ the colours produced from natural dye sources to a recognised textile colour guide.
What inspires your own work?The quality and effects of colour. The colour combinations in the works of the ‘Fauvists’ and Emil Nolde, and the colour weaving of Bernat Klein from the 1960s in which seemingly random flecks of primary colour in fact achieve a careful colour balance. The weavings of Marianne Straube who understood fine fibres, the Devonshire Hunting Tapestries in the V&A, and the Lady and Unicorn Tapestries in the Cluny museum in Paris.
Where did you gain your training? Experience?After the Royal College of Art (MA 1970s) I travelled to Poland to study experimental tapestry on a British Council scholarship. Then studied on a BC scholarship in Norway where I learnt tapestry weaving, hand spinning and natural dyeing, skills that have been taught and passed down continuously through history in Scandanavia. Worked in various tapestry studios including a comission at RCA for Lever Bros. Also completed an MA in Dress and Textiles at Winchester in 2004
Teaching experience:Goldsmiths – visiting leturer
Chelsea School of Art – visiting Lecturer
Currently:
Greenwich College
Vauxhall City Farm – workshops and courses
I have worked on fabrics and yarns for Jean Muir, Pecler’s of Paris, Laura Biagiotti, The Royal Opera House, Aveda Eco fashion and I am currently working on a project with Gainsborough Silks,Sudbury. I am part of the design group ‘ao textiles’, our aim is to use environmentally conscious and ethically sourced materials and sources. We have exhibited (Feb 2008) at ‘Indigo’ international textile fair Paris
Books and articles‘Yarn’ published by AC Black 2006
Self Sufficiency in Weaving Spinning and Dyeing’ published New Holland Publishers spring 2009
London Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers
Medieval Textiles Society
The Textile Institute
Dyes in History and Archaeology Group