helen hadley
profile
Working with textiles had always interested me. I picked up a needle from a very early age, constructed and made my own clothes as a teenager and later for my children. Creative activities took a back seat while raising the family and earning a living as a teacher and primary head teacher. Once retired, textiles came to the fore again and I took City and Guilds courses in both creative and machine embroidery.
Textiles and mixed media form the basis of my work. My fabrics are painted and dyed before building up the layered textures needed for the project in hand. The surface is enhanced with, threads, beads and wire using both hand and machine stitching. My travels provide the inspiration for some of my work, at other times it is the texture, feel and movement of a fabric that leads me on to explore its potential.
qualifications
2003........... City & Guilds - Machine Embroidery Part 1
1993/98...... City & Guilds - Creative Embroidery Parts 1 & 2
1983........... M.A in Language & Literacy - Southampton University
1975........... Diploma in Education - London
1951........... Teaching Certificate - London
membership
Embroiderers' Guild (Kingston Branch)
Phoenix Contemporary Textile Group (PCTG)
‘4 x 4’ Group
Chertsey Artists
Weybridge Society of Art
exhibitions
2009........... ‘Concrete, Steel, Cloth’, PCTG – Robert Phillips Gallery, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey
2009........... Art into Business – on the web
2009........... Beverley Hills Gallery – California, USA
2009........... 1215 Gallery – Windsor, Berkshire
2009........... ‘Embroidery at Ramster’ – Ramster, nr. Chiddingfold, Surrey
2008/9........ Weybridge Society of Art – Walton-on-Thames and Weybridge, Surrey
2005-9........ Windsor Street Gallery – Chertsey, Surrey
2008........... Red Street Gallery – Brixham, Devon
2002/4/6/8... Treston Holmes Gallery – Kilve, Somerset
2005/8........ ‘4 x 4’ – Menier Gallery, London
2008/9........ Craftspace – Riverhouse Gallery, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey
2007........... ‘Women by Women’, PCTG – Robert Phillips Gallery, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey
2003........... ‘Fragments’, PCTG – Kingston Museum Art Gallery, Surrey
2002........... ‘4 x 4’ (touring) – Mall Galleries, London / Knitting & Stitching Show, London & Harrogate /
Madeira Show, Harrogate
2000........... ‘Structures & Constructions’, PCTG – Kingston Museum Art Gallery, Surrey
Exhibits with Kingston & District Branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild
fairs
2008........... Art & Craft Fair – Lightbox – Woking, Surrey
2009/10 ..... Christmas Gift Fair - my studio
2009/10 ..... Surrey Arts Open Studios
2005/8........ The Landmark, Teddington, Middlesex
commissions
Hangings and framed work for Individual Clients
contact
Email: hfhadley@googlemail.com