Dream Map: Meet the Artists

As our Dream Map Project* unfolds, I will be featuring artists taking part in this collaborative piece of art. Today we hear from Natalie Tyler, who trained as a print textile designer at CSM and designed commercially for the fashion sector as well as being a visiting lecturer to Fashion, Textiles and Jewellery courses. She has developed a love of embroidery which has helped her to explore and experiment with pattern, imagery and texture. A love of still life inspires her work.

Natalie's Dream is called “Hand in Day” and was made with various embroidery threads and beads on cotton. Here is what she says about it:

"I was a freelance print designer and had a weekly hand in. Deadline was feared and

celebrated, depending how the week had progressed. My friend was there handing

in her beautiful designs. My turn came and I produced tiny pieces of fabrics that got

fainter until there were only outlines of print. Met with silence and bewilderment, I

remembered I don’t do this anymore. Huge sigh of relief …. I do embroidery! I awoke

with me desperately trying to show my embroideries and saying 'I’m much better at

embroidery.'"

Enjoy an interview with Natalie

How did you come to textile work, and what is the meaning of textile art in your life?

I have always had an interest in textiles and have studied it through school, college, university and into working life. It has changed over the years, I have worked in fine art, design and conceptual, each stage was different but my practice was always based in colour and print.

Can you share the significance of the dream map to you?

I love the idea of working as a collective to promote fibre art. Dreams are one source of inspiration for my work and do not always have to be based in reality. I have dreamed of ideas that I can work on, but have also had anxiety dreams about doing the work. My piece reflects how sometimes I can capture an idea as I sleep, but as I awaken I slowly start to forget it.

What is your creative method?

I normally start with a sketch and then transfer this onto fabric, or I will get it digitally printed onto fabric. Then I do not really paint with thread, but I colour in with thread, using the thread in all directions like it were art pencils, rather than paint.

What is the importance of nature to you?

Nature is a source of inspiration to me. I use a lot of florals in my work and many of the colours I use are from nature. I love colour splashes like those found in nature where colours will clash with one another, looking beautiful as a whole. I love to walk and be in nature, I absorb my surroundings as I walk, often taking images or noting something I can use in my work.

Find Natalie on Instagram @nltcreates