Sunday 5 June 2022

 16th June 2022 our speaker was Karen Rouine

Karen's life in Textiles was influenced by her grandmothers who knitted, patched, made aprons in gingham etc.

Karen knitted when here children were young and then got into cross stitchkits and creating pictures. Following on from a craft course she started City and Guilds but some of the aspects like dying etc did not appeal to her so she switched to a degree starting with a foundation course, This involved drawing however as Karen prefered the medium of stitch this is what she used throughout, even in the 'life drawing'.

For her major project she created 6 panels on dyed fabric taking her inspiration from her children and incorporating memories and work within pockets.

 


 

Following a teacher training course Karen has taught extensively 'on line' and has worked with a variety of base materials including paper. She works on small pieces making samples which she then combines into larger items.

 






 

Karen makes lace cloth taking scrim and machining over it to create the lace which she then embellishes by hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sample/ experimental pieces she creates are made into cloth books in which Karen embellishes the back of the work believing that both sides deserve to be seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She also buys books and embroiders into each page, while more recently she has used lace paper and bullion knots which she makes into loops to create work in white.