Patti Taylor

After a lifetime working as an IT consultant and teacher, I retired to explore a long-standing creative interest. What began with life drawing and an increasing fascination with textiles has developed into an extensive multidisciplinary practice encompassing textiles, printmaking, artists’ books and mixed media.

My textile practice developed through study with Louise Baldwin at City Lit, progressing from Day Textiles to the two-year Advanced Textiles course. I subsequently undertook a two-year Fine Art course, where I became increasingly interested in printmaking and bookbinding. Further exploration of artists’ book structures and techniques, under the guidance of Sue Doggett, Fellow of Designer Bookbinders, has become an important part of my practice.

I am a member of PRISM Textiles, textiles2020, Phoenix Textiles, London Artists’ Books and recently was elected a member of the Society of Designer Craftsmen (MSDC). These memberships reflect the breadth of my practice across textiles, contemporary craft and artists’ books. My work has been exhibited in a variety of group exhibitions, and I continue to develop new approaches through experimentation with materials, processes and book structures.

Emotional engagement is central to my work. I am drawn to subjects that resonate deeply, particularly family, medical history, memory, relationships, ageing and the sea. The initial stimulus might be an artwork, an image, a line of poetry, a long-forgotten memory or an apparently tenuous connection that provokes an unexpected emotional response.

I often begin by trying to articulate that response in words, searching for the source of the feeling and what it is that has scratched my soul. My notebooks document this journey through writing, drawing, images, stitch and an increasingly diverse range of materials and processes. They are not simply records of ideas but an integral part of the creative process.

Research is fundamental to my practice. I enjoy following a subject down unexpected paths, allowing historical, personal and visual discoveries to influence the direction of the work. Since discovering printmaking and bookbinding, these investigations have increasingly found physical expression in artists’ books and handmade artefacts, where the structure, materials and handling of the finished piece become as important as its content.

A particularly enduring source of inspiration is Spurn Head, at the mouth of the Humber. My fascination with this shifting landscape, its history, lost communities and relationship with the sea has generated an extensive body of work. The depth of my engagement with this particular land- and seascape, and the projects it continues to inspire, are explored on a separate page of this website.