Alison Willoughby


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Alison Willoughby is best known for making one-off, elaborately patterned skirts. They are as much works of art as pieces of clothing, but she is reluctant to be described as either a fashion designer or a fine artist, preferring to call herself a textile designer. ‘It’s annoying being put in a strict category,’ she says. ‘But I trained as a textile designer and my material is fabric and for me, fabric is where the excitement lies.’


Dawn Dupree


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Textile artist Dawn Dupree creates evocative, semi-abstract urban landscapes by building up printed layers of colour and images. They are full of unexpected surprises and juxtapositions each telling a separate narrative often slightly unsettling undertones. ‘I like to make things that are attractive, colourful and have a visual richness so that people are forced to look a bit more closely at them and see unexpected things,’ she says.


Alice Kettle


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Textile artist Alice Kettle creates dramatic figurative panels built up using free machine embroidery. She says, ‘I find embroidery really liberating as it is both a drawing tool and constructional tool.’ She is currently working on a large-scale commission at Winchester Discovery Centre (due to be installed in September) where visitors can watch her at work during gallery opening hours.


Samantha Bryan


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Yorkshire-based artist Samantha Bryan makes fantastical wire and mixed media sculptures. Her quirky – often humorous and always highly individual – figures depict long-limbed fairies manning bizarre, machine-like contraptions. They are characterised by an off-beat, zany charm which is realised by Bryan’s imaginative and skilful making technique. She says, ‘my objective is to realise the necessities and requirements involved in fairy life – to provide everything a fairy would need during its daily existence.’
Visit Samantha's website at www.brainsfairies.co.uk