Artist's Residency Urubamba, Peru.

My room with a view during my stay …

Rothko’s of Urubamba - Rosa y Marron

The ordinary and the incidental in perfect harmony.

My back-strap warp set up and ready to go…

These mountains are the lesser-known Rainbow Mountains, Palcoyo, over 4000 feet above sea level. Named as such due to the glaciers that have melted over time with climate change, revealing the sediment salts, minerals, and metals of the rocky landscape.

It was a jaw-dropping adventure in a small van of 12 of us… vistas to make your eyes water, waterfalls, traces of Inca agriculture high up in the mountain ridges, llamas and alpacas sprinkling the mountain sides like salt and pepper, the red earth, the adobe brick houses. A feast for the eyes and heart!

I felt a strange chill on my face for the first lap of the mount, and moments of complete dizziness due to the altitude. We were offered dried coca leaves on the ascent, and chewing them did seem to help!

And the locals in their colourful splendour positioned themselves along the ridges to be photographed, with their beautiful woven clothes in perfect harmony with the landscape.

Cusco

It struck me as I was landing in the city of Cusco, how the landscape seemed to reflect a woven textile; the housing blocks with oblong or square windows representing the weft against a predominant warp of brown terracotta tiles from the hill tops down to the central square. So many unfinished breeze block facades, interspersed with adobe brick housing or extensions, and the Colonial buildings of central Cusco still emanating the histories of a past time… The hybrid mash-up of Inka and Colonial architecture is fascinating to behold.

A close up of my first weave with Maria.

The local vernacular of Urubamba above

Azul Rothko’s of Urubamba

Above a section of my second weave ….

Below: Red dyes in general are notoriously hard to achieve, the best sources in the Andes are madder and the amazing cochineal bugs in the pictures below that thrive on the cactus plants. When our teacher added lime juice you can see the dark red lighten to an orange.

National Saturday Club Masterclass with Ella

A Peace Flag for Ukraine, designed by Students from the Fashion & Business and Art & Design Club members of the City of Oxford College.

This was a truly collaborative piece, with the clock ticking, as they had to design, carve and print the wood block designs, cut, sew, and piece the motives together in one session! One group focussed on the block printing, and the other on making and sewing the symbols of peace and unity onto the base flag. I provided the base fabrics and remnants from my collections, and the Students sketched ideas before we came together to curate and decide who should do what.

The National Saturday Club Summer Show is returning to Somerset House from 4–12 June. This year’s exhibition features the work of 1,500 13–16-year-old National Saturday Club members who have been attending weekly Saturday Clubs at 56 universities, colleges, and museums across the country.

I am proud to be part of the Masterclass programme, it will be an inspirational showcase of the ideas, creativity, and innovation of the nation’s next generation.

Go visit if you can find more details HERE