2. July 2026

To hold a dream: A continuous thread of revelation

This critical reflection essay was written 11 years ago whilst I was completing my BA Hons in Hand Embroidery for Fashion , Interiors and Textile art. It describes some of my journey to becoming the artist I am today and my influences.

It describes artists who have influenced my work and how their drive and dynamism have opened up the world of embroidery and art for me to follow. I have included Rebecca Crompton, Constance Howard, Judy Chicago, Diana Springall and Jan Beaney who I got to interview for my Dissertation on adult embroidery education. Also as my work has moved towards the arts I included Georgia O Keefe, Claus Oldenburg, Patsy Mucha discussing their influences and effects they had on my work.

Over the last century and a quarter women have been working to promote embroidery to its former glory and beyond, also gaining recognition in education and academia.This continues to have a profound effect on me to this day.

From my teens I was influenced by the work of Rebecca Crompton who was born in 1895, she designed and made embroideries influenced by her draughtsmanship, fashion and skills from Derby School of Art and she also went on into a teaching career. These embroideries had generated a serious response in the 1930s, as the introduction of design and man made materials to embroidery was so new. It is thought that the originality, vision and influence of Rebecca Crompton brought embroidery to the accepted art form it is today, as a review of a retrospective exhibition shows.

"An underlying theme was expressed in all Rebecca Cromptons work it was that original ideas should belong to the present. This contemporary spirit can be observed in many of the panels exhibited." ( Dean 1996 )

Her embroideries greatly surprised and inspired me and I believe that that period of pre-war embroidery has rarely been exceeded. Her designs were displayed in the first public exhibition of the embroiderers Guild as early as November 1923. These needlework designs moved embroidery from a home craft to a modern form of art, whilst also holding a tacit tactile knowledge from previous generations. the simplicity of her bold designs were attractive to me as a young adult, enhanced by the inclusion of experimental embroidery. There influence led me towards designing my own embroideries, which I continue to do to this day. I had regularly visited and viewed here work at the V & A collection in Kensington, until they were removed from view and placed in repositories that have been totally inaccessible to me and others. This has prevented development of my academic work. Sexism plays a heavy game removing embroidery from being viewed a very detrimental decision by policy leaders in my opinion.

To be continued