About Judy Metcalfe Textile Artist

My practice is based on the local environment around me, whether it is in my cottage style garden, or the immediate surroundings of the Yorkshire Dales. The railway embankment next to my house changes every month which has a huge array of different plants from ferns, meadowsweet, willow herb, giant cow parsley, wild raspberries, to nettles, which are all great inspiration for a subject in designing an art piece.

My work is based on using natural fabrics and to recreate the landscape or plants I find around me. Much of my work has been with silks, cottons and linen, as these help me with the fine detail in the structures of the plants I use. I love experimenting with different threads, silk and cotton, rayon, variegated and metallic. I also use silk strands and cotton for hand stitching.

I am currently working on a range of scarves on crepe de chine silk and satin silk which are eco printed. On the edging of the scarves I use water soluble fabric to make different leaves and grasses.