Textiles and Tea, Kim Winter

 I was ready today. Fresh baked bread, (oat, ap and wholewheat), Irish butter, lemon curd, English breakfast tea. All set.

Ready for a terrific session with Kim Winter. She's based in London, came to fiberarts late,  after a long career in medical/scientific journalism. Laid off, made the change to felting and natural dyeing and now into art basketry.  Good moves. She acknowledged that having a fulltime employed partner takes a lot of pressure off her need to earn, though she does sell her award winning work. Her materials, naturally foraged or from the thriftie, are not a major expense though!

She's wearing an indigo shibori-dyed linen dress from the thriftie. It was plain white until she transformed it.

Coiled basket art

 

Indigo dyed fabric, shibori method

Paving stones dyed with natural leaf tannin

 Intricate coiled work

This is about bindweed (wild morning glory) pulled out of the backyard as a weed, which she wove into balls,  suspended individually by fishing line from a cane spiral. Very difficult installation, which succeeded brilliantly.

This piece is entitled Death. It's about  fungi working on dead material to decay and reuse it.  In a way it's also about resurrection. Sheet and needle felting, natural dyeing.

And here's where she's going now, with art basket sculptures. She likes form and the spaces between shapes. Not so interested in making solid objects. So her art choices reflect her preferences.

I really resonated with her, having done a lot of these capers over the years, and agree with her outlook that once she's learned and succeeded in an approach, it's time to move on to something new. 

She was a lot of fun to watch. And joking that now she has an international media addition for her resume, since hga is located in the US. She must have been up late, this happening live at 4pm Eastern time. 

She's in the process of qualifying for a certificate in fiberarts from some program like the City and Guilds, which I didn't catch. It's similar in requirements to Master weaver or embroiderer credentials in the US. A separate institution, not college based, but professionally taught and assessed and a serious credential.

She's modest and good humored and wildly talented. Nice accompaniment to English breakfast tea tea. Not surprisingly, her preferred tea is Chinese green tea, with a mandarin name. Which I didn't catch!