Vinny is an artist, based on Mersea Island in  Essex. 

She works primarily in textiles, but has also created digital ,sculptural and glass artworks .

After gaining a degree in Printed Textiles, her career has spanned working as a textile designer, artist and lecturer/teacher. 

She has exhibited widely and has created projects for many community arts projects as well as public and private commissions.  

She recently developed a workshop as part of  TextileArtist.Org’s  Stitch Club.

 

Fragility & delicacy are key factors of her work ... 

With  ‘Mersea Floriligeum’ 2020/21 , she has explored the natural ephemera of the fringes and plant-life of the Blackwater Estuary, sometimes literally on her ‘Saltmarsh Safari’ - drawing trips where she gathers observations and information that nourish the work. By developing processes  to create many fragile root-like layers, she has used this to express the qualities of the intertidal zone, where the delicate roots of the plants, mesh together to protect the fragile shoreline becoming stronger, preventing the incursions of the sea and tidal erosion. 

This work, was recently exhibited as part of the EAST textiles group at RHS Hyde Hall. 

 

She is also fascinated by family history, the collecting of information and and legacy that this can  have on the living. 

By layering delicate materials (often family fabrics or lace) and incorporating faded imagery  & mixed media they become distressed and more fragile, the memories becomes harder to read, just as they are more difficult to recall as she has experienced with her mothers dementia.

Current work is exploring the  vulnerable and  the darker side of femininity .

 

The materials she uses are often transparent or sheer, whether they are vintage finds or delicately constructed  web like veils she has created using a combination of  processes , sometimes weaving in binary code or adding text to symbolise the digital communication that was so crucial over lockdown or geo locations of plants. Veils have always fascinated her and the feel of the finest silk tulle veiling when working for a wedding dress designer when she first came to London, left its impression, so delicate so sheer , so intriguing. 

The use of veils can express a variety of very contradictory concepts, such as  of youthful innocence, alluring beauty and  fading or blemished beauty; they can be  intruiging, secretive, feminine, mournful, hopeful and respectful. 

 

 She finds stitch to be  an emotive medium whether echoing the rhythmic nature of the the ebb and flow of the sea or to communicate a range of emotions, almost a meditative, immersive and  mindful process where ideas evolve as the work progresses.  

Other processes, such as screen-print, digital print and painting, are combined freely and instinctively to produce mixed-media work in a variety of formats from sculptural pieces and installations to textile panels.

 

A small range of artworks are available to buy from her studio or can be created to commission.

 

I am available for group workshops or talks, please contact me for further details .