Textile Study Group

artists and tutors sharing ideas imagination and skills

Jane McKeating

Those Sneaky Silver Conversations by Jane McKeating. 90 x 90 cm, 2020. Crepe de chine with silk ribbon embroidery. A commemorative scarf which records the veiled conversations going on beyond a meeting room presenting the duality of our interior and exterior selves in the workplace.
Those Sneaky Silver Conversations (detail) by Jane McKeating. 90 x 90 cm, 2020. Crepe de chine with silk ribbon embroidery. A commemorative scarf which records the veiled conversations going on beyond a meeting room presenting the duality of our interior and exterior selves in the workplace.
Those Sneaky Silver Conversations (detail) by Jane McKeating. 90 x 90 cm, 2020. Crepe de chine with silk ribbon embroidery. A commemorative scarf which records the veiled conversations going on beyond a meeting room presenting the duality of our interior and exterior selves in the workplace.
Oo I like your curtains by Jane McKeating. 90 x 90 cm, 2020. Crepe de chine with mixed hand threads and print. A commemorative scarf depicting adapted working patterns necessitated by the pandemic. The characters are playfully situated at home, loosely framed by virtual space with professional and private worlds colliding.
Oo I like your curtains (detail) by Jane McKeating. 90 x 90 cm, 2020. Crepe de chine with mixed hand threads and print. A commemorative scarf depicting adapted working patterns necessitated by the pandemic. The characters are playfully situated at home, loosely framed by virtual space with professional and private worlds colliding.
Ineffective Neon Stain remover (detail) by Jane McKeating. 30 x 30cm, 2019. Cotton Handkerchief with mixed threads and print pigments. A group of handkerchief fragments using stitches in neon to attempt to cover up drawn inky memories and stains.
Ineffective Neon Stain remover (detail) by Jane McKeating. 30 x 30cm, 2019. Cotton Handkerchief with mixed threads and print pigments. A group of handkerchief fragments using stitches in neon to attempt to cover up drawn inky memories and stains.
Souvenir (detail) by Jane McKeating. 30 x 30cm, 2019. Print and stitch on cotton. One of a group of 25 Handkerchiefs made in response to the Gawthorpe Textile Collection recording a visit to Switzerland.
Souvenir (detail) by Jane McKeating. 30 x 30cm, 2019. Print and stitch on cotton. One of a group of 25 Handkerchiefs made in response to the Gawthorpe Textile Collection recording a visit to Switzerland.
Souvenir (detail) by Jane McKeating. 30 x 30cm, 2019. Print and stitch on cotton. One of a group of 25 Handkerchiefs made in response to the Gawthorpe Textile Collection recording a visit to Switzerland.

Artist statement

My playful textile surfaces depict universal themes, telling visual stories of inconsequential events in life, often presented through sequences of images. Drawing is central to my practice and I move between drawing, print and stitch to make textiles at a variety of scales. I enjoy a quirky humour in my work, observing a complex mix of pattern details and personalities within real and imaginary worlds.

Utilising print processes to translate drawn images onto a variety of cloths, I add and subtract marks and threads through stitch, and by erasing and distorting marks through removing warp or weft. The use of print enables images to be endlessly repeated, so frequently drawn characters and objects appear over time in many different guises and scales.

I am interested in the haptic qualities of stitch and cloth and my textiles emerge from an exploration of the relationship between touch and vision. My synaesthesia impacts upon my use of colour and this is explored through the intensity of handstitched patternmaking, resulting in richly coloured and highly tactile surfaces.

Work has taken many forms for exhibition and commission over the last 35 years. Initially large-scale machine embroidered wall hung pieces, followed by collections of small rag books and textile and paper products. Most recently I have been making work utilising found cloths.

Following 20 years of teaching, leading the BA(Hons) Embroidery programme, and 10 years as Associate Head of Design at Manchester School of Art, I am now pursuing a career as a full-time artist working from my studio at home in Stockport, in Greater Manchester. I will be teaching through workshops and lectures on a freelance basis.

I am a member of the 62 Group of Textile Artists.

Information

Browse artists

Show artists by