Out and About Archives - Arnolds Attic

1st April 20251st April 2025

Jessie Chorley – Meet the Artist

Jessie Chorley is a London-based textile artist and author. Hand embroidery as a form of drawing, appliqué techniques and printmaking are at the heart of Jessie’s practice as an artist-maker.

Needle and thread are her drawing tools. She uses them to create scenes and stories, combining stitched images and words, largely on preloved fabric. Collecting is something that goes hand-in-hand with Jessie’s making process. She is drawn to items that display marks of a previous life and often sources materials from antique markets, fairs and junk shops. Her ever-growing personal archive of ‘found’ items serves as her ongoing inspiration and is frequently her starting point for an artwork.

In this video Jessie shares her ‘Stories, Drawings, Marks and Experiments’ exhibition with us.

Jessie Chorley: https://www.jessiechorley.com

Jessie Chorley

“I find beauty and inspiration in things that have been discarded or put to one side. Fabric cut directly from time worn and discarded clothing is my most frequently used material.” ~ Jessie.

Born in Kent in 1980, she spent her childhood in North Wales.
The traditional technical skills and hands-on approach she celebrates in her work today, were passed down to her from her own family of makers, during her home schooled education.

While still a student – studying for the BA in Fine Art Textile Practice at Goldsmiths College, London – she chose to dedicate her life to making things and, shortly after graduating, she set up her own business as a full-time artist, designer and maker. Over time, she has also become a tutor and published author, as well as running a shop/studio, selling her work in East London from 2007 to 2021.

Journal with Thread by Jessie Chorley — Journal with Thread Book

Journal With Thread Book by Jessie Chorley: https://amzn.to/4jSK7bJ

Jessie now runs her business from her private London studio. She regularly delivers masterclasses from there, as well as at venues worldwide and recently published her first book with David & Charles publishers.

14th March 202514th March 2025

Fashion and Embroidery Show 2025

I’m pleased to share that my hand embroidered work will be on display on the Embroiderers’ Guild stand at the Fashion & Embroidery Show, NEC Birmingham 13th-16th March 2025.

‘Darning Sampler 2’ and ‘They Shall Grow Not Old’ created for the ‘Repair Restore Recreate’ Members’ Project plus ‘Good Grub’ created for the Members’ Challenge are available to view on the Embroiderers’ Guild stand H28 at the show.

Darning Sampler 2 - part of the Repair Restore Recreate — Darning Sampler 2 – part of the Repair Restore Recreate

Good Grub part of the Fashion and Embroidery Show 2025

Update from the show:

Thank you to the volunteers at the Embroiderers’ Guild for displaying my work.

27th November 20242nd December 2024

Judith E Martin – Meet the Artist

Judith E Martin creates large, poetic, hand-stitched quilts that combine circular drawings with the tradition of North American bed quilts. In her work, she makes visible the profound feelings that rise up within her while stitching. The artist lives and works on an island in Canada and stitches with a hoop while seated near a large East facing window where her view takes in both sky and water. 

In this video Judith shares the stories behind the quilts in her solo exhibition – Softer and Dreamier.

Judith E Martin

Materials take the lead for this artist.  Many of the fabrics she chooses are old, soft, damask table linens, full of time and ritual. She also uses colourful silks and block printed cottons from India, organza or wool that she dyes herself, or references her Finnish roots with a Marimekko print. She uses both sides of her quilts, with a different title for each side.  This body of work is about the process of making it, and the stars and the clouds that she represents in the finished pieces are Judy’s attempt to share her interior world.   

In this solo exhibition, Canadian artist Judith E Martin explores the cosmic circles above us and the dream world within us.

Judith made her first quilt at the age of twenty and soon became inspired by the quilt’s connection to the important life passages that occur in bed. During the 90’s, she made hand-stitched story quilts using the poetic code she discovered in traditional quilt patterns and world embroidery. Martin holds two BA degrees in fine art, (1993 Lakehead University [Thunder Bay, On] and 2012 Middlesex University [London, UK]). Currently, her most important work is about touch and vulnerability and about the relentless passage of time.

Judith e Martin’s work has been widely exhibited across Canada as well as the USA, Europe, and Asia.

Her stitched artwork was featured in the book Slow Stitch: mindful and contemplative textile art by Claire Wellesley Smith (2015) and is supported by the Ontario Arts Council. Filmed at the Festival of Quilts 2024.