Viva Lewes Issue #143 August 2018

ART
Deborah Manson
Collage quilter
Artwave, the annual artists and makers festival, is in
its 25th year. Opening her house for the first time
as part of this year’s festival is textile artist Deborah
Manson, whose work combines collage with quiltmaking,
bringing in elements of fabric printing and
hand-dying techniques.
Deborah says: “I’ve always made things from
textiles. My early career was in illustration, mainly
doing commercial work like greetings cards and
wrapping paper, and even then, I would create a lot
of my designs using textiles.” Some of the key pieces
that will be on display are her handmade quilts and
cushions, which she creates with ‘found’ fabrics:
“I prefer to re-use things, both from a sustainable
point of view and because I find used fabrics more
interesting. I use vintage linens – I once found a
sheet from the 1800s at a market that I go to just
outside London – or things I’ve found in charity
shops, or my own clothes. They have a past and
a history. Repurposing things and giving them a
new life, or a new meaning, is something I’m really
interested in.”
Deborah’s designs usually begin through drawing
and collage. “I’m stimulated by composition and
colour and the relationships between colours and
shapes,” she says. “I often look at abstract painting
for inspiration; I’ve been looking at the work
of Agnes Martin quite a lot recently, and Patrick
Heron’s show at the Tate in St Ives was amazing, so
inspiring.” A selection of Deborah’s collage works,
composed of layers of papers dyed with fabric pigments,
will be exhibited alongside her textile pieces.
“Something I’ve been experimenting with recently
is using natural dyes rather than acid or chemical
dyes,” she explains. “I’ve been working with
brazilwood, indigo, madder root – using them
traditionally as dyes, but I’d like to be able to screen
print using them. There’s the environmental aspect,
of course, but you can also get much more subtle
colours using natural dyes. It’s the same process,
it’s just working out how to get them to the right
consistency. I’m in quite an experimental phase at
the moment…” Rebecca Cunningham
Deborah’s house (40 Hamsey Crescent, venue 89)
will be open on the 25th & 26th August and on the
1st & 2nd September and she’ll be running drop-in
screen printing taster workshops on both weekends.
deborahmanson.co.uk
Photos by Rebecca Cunningham
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