Bowled Over by Nature

EMBROIDERED ART CARRIES A COMMON THREAD

On the shores of the Isle of Skye, contemporary textile artist Anne Honeyman "celebrating nature in stitch", creates stunning decorative collections of bowls, framed art and jewellery that depict hedgerows, gardens, woodland flowers and seascapes.

Anne's main technique is free machine embroidery, often using dissolvable fabric in order to achieve her lace-like and fragile structures, not unlike the vulnerability of the natural world which she seeks to share and celebrate. When the soluble stabilizer is removed, these amazing freestanding embroidery creations are left behind, creating dimensional shapes and objects.

With needlecraft skills honed from her mother and grandmother, Anne has a BSc in Geography (with geology) and then a PhD in Palaeo-ecology - she spent several years studying pollen grains under a microscope to work out how the vegetation of Wensleydale had changed since the last Ice Age and retained a passion for the natural environment which informs her art.

Speaking to 'Textile Artist' Anne said "The natural world is my passion and it's such a huge subject I can't imagine ever needing another. Plants, geology, birds, environmental issues - my work celebrates the wonders of nature from microscopic life forms to awe-inspiring glaciers. I especially want to highlight aspects that often go unnoticed, perhaps because of scale or inaccessibility, and help people appreciate the wonders of our planet and its fragility."

You can find and purchase some of Anne's art on our website HERE and if you'd like try your own hand at capturing the vibrancy of a meadow on a warm summer's day she even offers a PDF tutorial for making a botanic bowl or two of your own!

(Pic credits: Anne Honeyman)