Teaching textiles.

This is the board inside Neston Community and Youth Centre advertising the textile classes.

Sue demonstrationgthe first stages of making fabric paper.

In my last post I mentioned Textile Artist and Teacher Sue Sercombe.  I contacted Sue via email explaining about my degree and the workplace module. A few days later Sue kindly offered to assist me by allowing me to shadow her through a new project she was about to begin with her students in Neston. Sue has been teaching textiles for over twenty years and it was a sheer pleasure and a joy to see her at work. Her wealth of knowledge in all things textile and mixed media is amazing.  I arrived at Neston Community and Youth Centre a little after nine o'clock which gave Sue and I time for a quick chat and introductions before the class got under way. The first thing on the agenda was a cup of tea or coffee for everyone. Then Sue went over the list of things students should have brought along for the class. There where a couple of things that some students did not have and Sue was able to provide them with these items. The atmosphere in the room was warm, friendly and very relaxed. You could see and feel each one of these ladies transporting themselves to a world of creativity, they where so emerged in the rhythmic flow of pasting tissue paper to muslin that a peaceful calm fell across the room. However, when it came to adding colour to the white fabric paper the atmosphere changed again and it became energised and exciting as vibrant reds, blues, greens and yellows where passed about. Through out the morning Sue answered all my questions and I gained so much from just observing her, how organised and prepared she was, both with equipment and knowledge. Sue has recently gone self employed and she was able to share the pros and cons of working for somebody or working for yourself. I can not thank Sue enough for all the help, support and advice she gave me and I look forward to seeing her and the ladies next week. If you would like to know more about Sue and the course she runs check out her eb site at http://www.texartcreative.com/