MAGGIE BARBER

My love affair with fabric and colour began as a child, when I would watch my mother making clothes for the children. She taught me to sew carefully and creatively, wasting nothing.

Quilt making and textile art has provided me with a canvas and unlimited palette of texture and colour. My work has always involved detailed and complex stitch, by hand and machine. I have drawn inspiration from calligraphy both ancient and contemporary, from text and musical manuscripts.

My ideas evolve from experimental multimedia mark making and colour exercises. I work in series; one piece inspiring the next. The excitement of exploring the “what ifs” weave and connect the pieces as they evolve.

My intention has been to develop my own stitched language within an abstract framework. Colour is integral to my work, the contrasting values of stitch, texture and colour changing the surface of the cloth. Dyeing and printing techniques on natural fabrics create the foundations from which the work evolves.

It is an ongoing exploration.