(Photos taken and reproduced with the permission of Catherine Slater. Images are the property of Skipton Branch of The Embroiderers' Guild)
Monday 16th November
Northern Legacy was the intriguing title of Catherine Slater's talk but it soon became apparent that it was a nod to her love of the moors and dales of Yorkshire and the textiles she had inherited from her family. Catherine is well known to many members of the branch through her work in education, through her City and Guilds studies at Craven College, through her latter career as a feltmaker and current chair of Textilia III.
Catherine guided us through her own textile journey and her recurring themes of landscapes, change and a desire to engage with the viewer. Her felted work ranges from robust sculptural pieces which change depending on the angle of view to the most delicate and ethereal scarves and shawls made from luxury fibres. She also enjoys physical interaction and her piece of 60 felt squares attached to a background by velcro was just asking to be interfered with. But it was her two tumbling books that delighted the audience with their playful inventiveness.
During the course of her talk, Catherine mentioned a quote from a WB Yeats poem to engross the present and dominate memory (The Circus Animals Desertion). Her work certainly lives up to this mantra.
