About Me

  Sandra Meech

Training:             Graduate of the Ontario College of Art, Toronto, Canada

Diploma in Stitched Textiles, East Berkshire College, Windsor with distinction

                             Diploma in Adult Education, Part 1 and 2

City & guilds Photography part 1 & 2

                               

Awards:               Member of the Society of Designer Craftsmen – with distinction

                             Championship at Quilts UK, Malvern

                             Various awards in international quilt shows, Canada, USA and Europe

Collections:        Museum of Art and Design, New York   ‘Six Continents of Quilts’, 

                             Braintree District Museum and Study Centre                               

Quilters Guild UK  Collection

                             Various private collections in the UK, Canada, Hong Kong and the USA

Selected Exhibitions –

                             All touring exhibitions with Quilt Art – the international group              

 European Art Quilts IV, Textile Museum Tilburg, N.L., Haydon Gallery, Lincoln, Nebraska 

 Contemporary Art Quilts I, II and III, Morley College, London and Uffington UK

                              Quilts 2000, 2001,2002,2003 and 2005 Festival of Quilts, UK

                              Six Continents of Quilts,  Museum of Art and Design, New York

                              Contemporary Art Quilts, Shipley Art Gallery and Museum, Gateshead, UK

                              Solo exhibitions at Textile Museum Alsace, Wesserling, France, 
                              Millennium Embroidery Gallery, Sunbury -on-Thames, London
                                                               

Recent Publications:

                              Author of ‘Contemporary Quilts…Design, Surface and Stitch,  2003

‘Creative Quilts…Innovation, Texture and Stitch’,  2006

‘Connecting Art to Stitch’ 2009

                              selected work in the Embroiderer’s and Quilter’ Sourcebook – Angela Thompson 

                              Collins &Brown

Recent Magazine articles/reviews:

                              Embroidery (UK), Quilting Arts (USA), British Patchwork and Quilting, Magic Patch,

Textile Forum (Australia), Maggie Grey’s workshop on the web, Creative Stitches, and Stitch magazine.

                               

SHORT ARTIST STATEMENT

                                With a background in art and graphic design, contemporary quilts have become my preferred form of expression.  A love of photography with the detail and textures in nature provides a starting point that often includes transferred images that are combined with painted or dyed fabrics.  Sketchbooks and collage with photos, words and line drawings begin my journey and also provide inspiration for stitch.  Recent themes have included the Arctic landscape, urban life behind walls and the effects of global warming on forests and woodlands.
Since moving to Somerset 2 years ago, I have been very inspired by the local landscape and changing seasons.  The flooding on the Levels last year has been the most recent inspiration for a new series of work which I will be posting regularly on this site.

Other Experience

Graphic designer and Art director – Maclean Hunter Publishing, Toronto and London, UK

Tutor for working design in C&G Adult Education, East Berkshire College, Windsor

Judge at  Festival of Quilts.

Exhibiting member of Quilt Art, Studio 21 (UK) and Connections (CA)

Lectures

 Journeys  - An Artist’s approach to Stitched Textiles – Inspired Sketchbooks – Connecting Art to Stitch

Workshops  

I am drastically cutting back on workshops in the future to concentrate on my own textiles and art.  However my experience teaching has been extensive - The Textile Forums Australia, Textile Museum of Canada, CQA conferences Edmonton, Ottawa and Calgary, V&A Museum (UK) workshops, and residential summerschools at West Dean, Missenden Abbey, Farncombe Estates, and stitch workshops across Europe.
I may consider getting back to teaching workshops in the future, so what this space.... but for now I want to concentrate on 'making'.