Off the Rails Arthouse is delighted to welcome internationally renowned artist and textile designer Jilli Blackwood for a two-day workshop which promises to challenge and inspire you and invigorate your work. This workshop follows a very successful and entertaining evening presentation which she gave at the Arthouse in September.
Jilli will be discussing and developing the making of a thread, a yarn, but she prefers to call them tendrils because they are more than a thread. The processes Jilli will be teaching and demonstrating are techniques she uses in her work.
You will be looking at the 3-dimensional quality of the thread and thinking about it as an object in itself rather than a tool for construction. You will develop a new collection of yarns in different thicknesses, textures, shapes and colours by mixing different materials and working with hand and machine embroidery. With the new family of tendril yarns, you will look at different ways forward to use these in your work, through the construction of the edge of a piece, incorporating them into a design and manipulating them into a work of textile art.
Jilli Blackwood is a textile artist. Her primary interest is colour and texture and their relationship. Born in Scotland, she studied at ‘The Glasgow School of Art’ 1982-86. She specialised in embroidery and weave, graduating with a First Class BA Honours in Art and Design.
Her fine art wall hangings can be found in many public, corporate, museum and private collections world wide. You can see examples of her stunning work here.
The diversity of textiles has enabled her to work on different projects. “Millennium Kilt No.5” has recently been installed as part of the permanent art collection at the Fairmont Hotel, St Andrews. Her design projects include: The uniforms for the Scottish Team for the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Glasgow. The space at the Athlete’s Village for the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) which included the interior, the uniforms and WADA gifts. Heathrow Airport commissioned a tartan for a promotional event in 2015 which was used throughout the airport.
These are expressive works and are a reflection of Jilli’s personality and the vitality she has for this life. She creates from the heart, knowing intuitively when her imagination is correct, constantly working on the relationship between herself and the textile.
Jilli Blackwood continues to exhibit. She is an inspirational speaker, and wishes to pass on her enthusiasm to others.
Cost £85, including use of some materials
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