Talk:10:00

Aileen Johnson has been working as a textile artist specialising in embroidery for 35 years. A graduate of NCAD, she worked initially as a children’s book illustrator. She exhibits regularly in the UK and Ireland, and is represented by The Doorway Gallery in Dublin. Her work is held in public and private collections in Europe and America. She uses free machine embroidery to create surfaces of dense stitching, using thread direction, cross hatching and saturated colour to achieve a sense of movement in a painterly way. Her subject matter contains narrative themes, often with surreal or humorous elements.  

She will give a talk in the morning, giving insights into her work process and showing a variety of pieces from throughout her working life which will illustrate how her work has evolved.

Samples of Aileen’s works:

https://www.thedoorwaygallery.com/painting-art/aileen-johnston/279/gallery/

Aileen’s Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CgL04OYMt1f/

Workshop: 13:00

Aileen will then lead a 2-3 hour workshop on machine embroidery. Participants will need to bring their own sewing machines, embroidery hoops, fabrics, and sewing machine threads, and they will be shown a variety of the techniques that Aileen has developed and used over the years. All sewing machines must be suitable for free machine embroidery with the facility to lower the feed dog. If this function is not available on a particular machine, then a small flat metal plate can be used to cover the feed dog. Participants will need machine compatible sewing threads (Gutterman or Madeira) and some square pieces of fabric to use in their hoops. 

Cost to be confirmed