‘Excelsior’ - Modernist inspired, embroidered screen print to wool

‘Excelsior’ (2023) - screen print to wool melton with hand embroidery and wool tape. Hand framed by the artist using FSC certified Ayous timber. 90 x 45cm.

Like many sewists, I have *a lot* of fabric collected over many years. I like to say I’m collating an archive, rather than a stash, which makes the amount easier to justify. My favourite find ever is a huge length of screen printed cotton designed by Mary Harper for Heals in 1961. Screen printed fabrics of that period really mean business - they’re so bold and stark and full of ambition. I’ve always wanted to create my own work in that vein - but on wool, because the porous, softness of the fabric makes the inks register in a really wonderful, rich way. ‘Excelsior’ means ‘upward’ or ‘lofty’ and that sunny, yolky yellow really put me in mind of the sun, or simply the positivity of looking up.