Jean draper stitch and structure
- Jean draper embroidery
- I was born in the Midlands and have lived here most of my life.
- Jean Draper is a member of the 62 Group of Textile Artists and the UK Textile Study Group and has exhibited widely with both groups.
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Jean Draper: From conception to creation
In 2017, the UK Textile Study Group ran an exhibition called Dis/rupt. For this exhibition, Jean Draper made the installation ‘Forbidden’. This was a work depicting the destruction of one culture by another, stronger one. For the project, she explored the challenging subject of book burning and what it represents.
Jean Draper is a member of the 62 Group of Textile Artists and the UK Textile Study Group and has exhibited widely with both groups. Textile Study Group members are known for their innovative and challenging approaches. Her work is in public and private collections around the world and she has taught in the UK and abroad.
Jean is a previous National Chairman of the UK Embroiderers’ Guild. She has written two books, [easyazon_link identifier=”1849941211″ locale=”UK” tag=”wwwtextileart-21″]Stitch and Structure (Batsford 2013) and [easyazon_link identifier=”1849944393″ locale=”UK” tag=”wwwtextileart-21″]Stitch and Pattern (Batsford 2018).
In this
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Jean Draper
What inspires me
Everything comes from proper sources, through research and drawing, photography, reading around a subject. My work is led by my ideas about places, often the details: the barrenness of land, the surface, textures, rock formations; also about the people who inhabit or did inhabit that place.
The American South West has been a big inspiration and rocky, desolate places in the British Isles. The techniques are traditional ones but don't look traditional because they're pushed about, the scale is altered, materials are very different, but it comes through from my knowledge in embroidery.
I use wire and all sort of non-conventional embroidery threads, hemp, string, paper threads, etc. So the work is now mostly 3D structural textiles, sculptural pieces, either free standing or release-hung wall pieces.
Making in the Midlands
I was born in the Midlands and have lived here most of my life. But it has not influenced me too much – I just happen to live here and like living here and think of the Midlands as a grounded sort of place.
What has changed most a •
Textile Study Group
Artist statement
My work is mostly stitched by hand because I find it so satisfying to feel the fabric changing and developing in my hands as I turn and manipulate the piece. I begin with small stitches, perhaps darning or seeding, making them sit within the fabric, as opposed to on the surface, thereby affecting the structure, before adding layers of dense surface stitches. I liken the way I use stitching to intuitively building up and combining a series of different marks and lines to create a complex textural drawing which both feels and looks good.
All my work is developed from ongoing research which takes the form of visiting places of particular interest, studying appropriate collections in museums, and reading around the subject , followed by extensive sampling. I record information with drawings, notes and photographs. My sketchbooks/notebooks are possibly the most important tool in my work process.
My work, both 2D and 3D has, for a long time, been inspired by different aspects of harsh rocky landscapes where the natural effects of of time and ext
Textile Study Group
Artist statement
My work is mostly stitched by hand because I find it so satisfying to feel the fabric changing and developing in my hands as I turn and manipulate the piece. I begin with small stitches, perhaps darning or seeding, making them sit within the fabric, as opposed to on the surface, thereby affecting the structure, before adding layers of dense surface stitches. I liken the way I use stitching to intuitively building up and combining a series of different marks and lines to create a complex textural drawing which both feels and looks good.
All my work is developed from ongoing research which takes the form of visiting places of particular interest, studying appropriate collections in museums, and reading around the subject , followed by extensive sampling. I record information with drawings, notes and photographs. My sketchbooks/notebooks are possibly the most important tool in my work process.
My work, both 2D and 3D has, for a long time, been inspired by different aspects of harsh rocky landscapes where the natural effects of of time and ext
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