Holly Searle – Meet the Artist

Award winning textile artist Holly Searle, also known as The Subverted Stitcher, is a textile artist who uses her needle and thread to spotlight social issues close to her heart. In 2020, she launched her Subverted Vintage Tea Towel Series to provide a platform for these important topics. 

Each artwork consists of hand cut felt letters, a vintage tea towel and a curated collection of words. To date, Holly has hand stitched over 160 artworks in her subverted tea towel series.
Holly Searle: https://www.instagram.com/the_subversive_stitcher

Holly’s passion for embroidery was ignited after seeing a sampler by Mary Frances Heaton, an inmate of a Victorian asylum, at a mental health exhibition. Inspired by Mary’s use of needle and thread to petition Queen Victoria about social injustices, Holly began creating pieces that draw attention to social issues and empower women. Holly’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions, resonating with echoes of Mary’s enduring voice and passion.

The Subverted Tea towel collection by Holly Searle
The Subverted Tea towel collection by Holly Searle

Creatively shut down in the Covid Pandemic of 2020, Holly found her voice again by subverting pre-loved vintage tea towels (little domestic works of art), to raise awareness of issues she felt needed soap boxing.  

The Subversive tea Towel exhibition
The Subversive tea Towel exhibition

Prior to the Covid Pandemic of 2020, award winning Textile artist Holly, had established a healthy and progressive career in the art world.  After she began her current textile practice in 2016, she went on to exhibit her work both collectively and independently in art spaces such as the Saatchi Gallery. 

work by Holly
Work by Holly

In 2018, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Throughout her treatment, her work acted as both an outlet and a distraction from her illness. During this time, she won her first solo show of her early embroidered pieces.  

Filmed at the Knitting and Stitching Show 2024.

Further reading

If you’ve enjoyed watching this video, you might like the work of Batool Showghi featured in a video from the Knitting & Stitching Show 2023.

Kay Leech – Meet the Artist

A little textile inspiration from my YouTube Collection. Today it features the beautiful embroidered quilts by artist Kay Leech.

Join Kay as she shares her body of work inspired by the Cumbrian Fells in the North of England.

Kay takes inspiration from the Wainwright’s books and uses hand dyed cloth and thread to document the ever changing rugged landscape on her walks. 

Kay Leech:  https://www.instagram.com/kayleechtextiles/  / https://www.kayleech.co.uk/

Art by Kay Leech
Art by Kay Leech

Every year at the Festival of Quilts, work from the UK’s leading textile artist students, selected by City & Guilds, are given the opportunity to showcase their final year’s work. 

Inspired by Cumbria in the North of England
Inspired by Cumbria in the North of England

Filmed at the Festival of Quilts 2022.

Archana Pathak – Meet the Artist

A little textile inspiration from my YouTube Collection. Today it features the beautiful textile art by artist Archana Pathak.

Join Archana as she shares her beautiful work in the Mapping Transience Exhibition.

Archana Pathak:   https://www.archanapathak.com

Textile art by Archana Pathak
Textile art by Archana Pathak

Archana’s making process involves collecting old memory artefacts such as photographs and maps then deconstructing them to re-use as threads.  Archana’s is born of British and Indian heritage, and she specialises in stitch and fine art textiles.

Vintage maps used as the foundation of the work
Vintage maps used as the foundation of the work

Having been raised in India and now living in London, the uprooting and the subsequent re-rooting have been transformative, and the origin of the exhibited work lies in this.  This exhibition reveals the evolution of her work, which follows the threads of transient boundaries and belongingness.

Re-imagined landscapes are inspired by the cycle of a day and are a harmonious representation of co-existence, multiplicity, and connectedness.

Textile art created from vintage maps
Textile art created from vintage maps

Filmed at the Knitting & Stitching Show 2022