Rosie James: Art therapist, Artist, Maker, Researcher, Teacher

Emanuela D'Amico 6 April 20206 April 2020

Rosie James is an artist working mostly in textiles. Her work explores the use of the sewing machine as a tool for drawing. Her focus falls mainly on people and the kinds of crowds that form when people gather, she is looking for the individual within the crowd. Her work also encompasses the use of the stitched line to create drawings which explore the whole world of stitch, textiles, fashion, craft etc. The ways in which stitching and textiles figure in our everyday lives is a continuing fascination. Rosie using screen printing as well as machine stitching and applique to create layers of imagery. Recently she has become interested in the ways in which a line is created on the sewing machine and how lines are everywhere we look. These lines link us together.

How she describes his work: “I take my first point of reference from crowds and large gatherings of people, looking for the detail in the ordinary but also the commonality within the group. Photographs are used to still movement and to reveal details, these photographs are then used to create drawings. I sew these drawings onto fabric using a sewing machine. I use transparent fabric and I leave loose threads, thus revealing and celebrating the process of sewing. Transparent cloth alllows me to layer the drawings on top of each other and so to build up a crowd which allows us to see through it. My work also includes screen printed buildings, windows, roofs and skylines. These elements create a sense of atmosphere and build links between the people and their location. The black line of the thread is a seductive one, raised from the surface it is tactile and sightly fuzzy at the edges, velvety. This is one of the things that draws me to the sewing machine rather than the pencil.”

One of her workshops is: “Illustrative embroidery on fabrics”. Very very interesting

https://www.axisweb.org/p/rosiejames/