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Artist - Lesley Walker

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Having graduated in Drawing & Painting from Duncan of Jordanstone in the eighties, I taught Art and Textiles in London and Hertfordshire for thirty years. Moving up to The Ribble Valley in Lancashire six summers ago I was able to concentrate on my own artwork once more, influenced by the surrounding landscape and the history of the textile industry.

Revisiting a variety of media, I began experimenting with printmaking, textiles and ceramics, and the possibilities when combining the materials and processes. Like a magpie I collect and re-use interesting scraps of old lace, vintage wooden bobbins, discoloured linen threads, mother of pearl buttons and lengths of corroded wire. Always with a sketchbook to hand, my love of drawing, annotation and lists, and the planning of new ideas, is very much a part of my creative process.

My ceramic flower bobbins evoke memories of childhood – identifying and picking posies of wild flowers on walks, to be taken home and arranged in jam jars of water on the kitchen table.

I am also a gatherer of words and poetry, which I include in my ceramic pieces – noisily tapping each letter singly with one finger on an ancient typewriter.

‘I know a bank whereon
The wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the
Nodding violet grows.’
Shakespeare