Nature in every stitch and patch of quilt
- Alice’s creations are made from waste fabric and naturally produced ink
- She works with natural dyeing, embroidery, patchwork, quilting and 3D textile construction
- She is a creative practitioner for the Royal Horticultural Society
Alice Burnhope stitches artworks that engage with the natural world and the communities around her. “Every piece I make has so many conceptual layers hidden within it. I often struggle to put them all into words, but they are always there, stitched in,” she says. When struggling with dyslexia in her younger years, Alice found ways to express herself beyond the written word in doodling and creating. Today, her creations include wearable art and socially-engaged pieces, such as Earth’s Embrace, a human-sized fabric cocoon inspired by the shape of rocks. "To me, a well-made piece shows someone's true creative voice," she says. Alice emphasises the importance of community in her work, which invites others to engage and create too.
Interview
- How do you choose the materials that you work with?
- Textiles hold us at birth, stay with us through life, and at the end, we leave wrapped in them. They embody comfort, identity, shelter and dignity. I love working with something so embedded in the human experience, with origins in nature.
- How does your work process usually start?
- My process usually begins with touch and experience. I walk or run in nature, feel textures, notice colours and sketch. That sensory experience is the starting point for my work, whether I am creating a drawing, a textile piece or an installation.
- What is a memorable moment in your professional life?
- As a creative practitioner for the Royal Horticultural Society, I took a group to a nature park and they painted with natural dyes. A participant later sent me a poem she had written. It became the foundation for our community project, Nature’s Threads.
- What was the first object you ever made?
- I remember making papier-mâché faces with my mum for school and Halloween costumes, perhaps that is where my wearable artwork began. Being severely dyslexic when I was younger, drawing and making things was always my preferred way of expressing myself.
Alice Burnhope is an expert artisan: she began her career in 2016 and she started teaching in 2020
Where
Alice Burnhope
