Sarah Pooley

Sarah Pooley studied Fashion and Textiles at Liverpool, graduating with a BA(Hons) before working as a knitwear designer and then in Interior Design and soft furnishings. She is now a full-time artist pulling on her textile/design background and her love of the landscape in Cornwall and Scotland to create these unique embroideries.

Observing the colours, patterns and textures of the land and recording these emotions as expressive paintings is the starting point for all Sarah’s energetic embroideries. The first layers of these textile works are the result of a selection process of an artist’s eye, choosing fabrics that start to tell a story; often a snippet of a sari from a friend or the sleeve of a velvet shirt from her sister. The fun begins here with her trusted sewing machine and free-motion embroidery using loose expressive marks to build up layers that take the viewer on a journey over the surface of the work. The incidental distortions of the fabrics are all part of of the resulting rich textures. Combining velvets and shot-silks with matt and lustrous threads are her tools to develop dynamic layers and balance.