Our speaker on 21 January 2015 was textile artist Gilda Baron, a textile designer and artist.
As a child, Gilda grew up knowing that she would want to do something practical rather than academic and she decided that she wanted to go to Technical School. By age 12, she was an accomplished embroiderer.
Whilst still in education, she launched a part-time career teaching adults how to make pictures and garments with the objects she found. She is a compulsive sketcher, and can often be found working in her small sketch pad with the half size pencils she carries.
She gained significant experience in dyeing and embroidery work before moving on to batik, a technique where wax is used to prevent dye being taken up by the base fabric. Artistic use of the wax allows visually interesting pictures to emerge after a dye has been used. Differently dyed threads and shreds of fabric can then be added, giving the finished picture an unusual three-dimensional appearance. You can view her website here.
Gilda currently has an exhibition in Central London, and we were all invited to visit and to purchase the works of art for sale there! Gilda still runs courses for adults on her techniques, and we think that at least one member of our Club will be going on the next course. An interesting and inspiring talk with some wonderful photographs of her work.
