2026 Summer School Review with Siân Martin, Ruth Issett and Vivienne Beaumont

Every year, we host our Summer School: a residential space designed to bring makers together, away from everyday distractions. Guided by expert textile tutors, it’s always exciting, inspiring, and supportive of artistic growth.

Now that the dust has settled on our recent event, the tutors are taking a moment to reflect and celebrate everything our makers accomplished.

Siân Martin,  ‘Come Dance with me’

With about two months to prepare, I took on teaching the workshop—a great opportunity to explore the umbrella topic of "Animation," which I’d already been mulling over for a while. I’ve often used suggested movement in my own work—such as my 2024 piece Dispatched with a Kiss for "Disrupt," and an earlier 2000 62 Group piece exploring figure movement for the UK Olympics.

Dispatched with a Kiss traced the journey of Ahmed, a young man who fled Afghanistan for the UK after the Taliban attacked his home. His mother "dispatched" him to save his life. Supported by Freedom from Torture, Ahmed spent a brief respite in Somerset, where I met him and heard his moving story. I used a long, pleated textile piece created on the Princess Pleater—using fine steel wire to slide changing fabric swatches—to symbolise his epic journey across the continent.

Students began by researching a simple shape with movement and rhythm, translating it into coloured marks and stencils on paper. They then transferred these ideas onto various fabrics, stitching into them and gathering them on the pleater to accentuate those rhythmic movements. Further stitch and stencilled shapes were added before passing through the pleater once more—resulting in the longest textile piece at Summer School! Everyone was also invited to create a short moving story using a flick book and simple lines, with a prize awarded for the most ingenious design.

To introduce additional ways of exploring rhythm and movement, students experimented with a zoetrope—a spinning cylinder adapted from an old record player turntable. By placing long paper strips with repeating shapes inside, they discovered how varying the size and spacing of their marks created different dynamic effects when spun.

Vivienne Beaumont, Floral Figures

The 2026 Summer School was my first time as a TSG tutor, working alongside Ruth and Sian around our shared theme, ‘Animate’.

Despite coming from varied textile backgrounds and experience, the group bonded almost instantly—forming an authentic, collaborative community. Watching them share ideas and encourage each other’s creative processes was a beautiful reminder of why we do what we do.

To launch the workshop, I shared a PowerPoint exploring medieval Millefleur tapestry alongside inspiring contemporary artists. The Millefleur style features individual plants dotted across a background—usually green or red, mimicking wild plants in grass. By avoiding overlapping forms and regular patterns, these early designs possess a flat, charming quality that translates beautifully into modern textiles. Prioritising storytelling and visual rhythm over realistic depth, medieval artists filled every space with pattern—an aesthetic the students eagerly embraced in their own unique ways.

A popular motif to emerge was the Flower Crown. Historically worn during spring and summer festivals as a form of Sympathetic Magic, these crowns offered a joyful escape from daily labour. Woven with specific herbs and flowers to ward off misfortune, wearing the earth’s abundance was thought to ensure bountiful harvests, symbolising the sun's path and the infinite cycle of the seasons.

Using personal and historical symbols, students developed their own figures. I encouraged them to consider the narrative: Who is this character, and what is their story? When making design decisions, the golden rule was simple: trust your instincts—what feels right usually is.

Our process was playful and experimental, moving through three distinct phases:

• Creative Drawing to pinpoint the story and main protagonist.
• Mono-Printing to translate drawings into print, turning timid lines into bold, impactful marks while allowing for soft, atmospheric shading.
• Stitch to bring the prints to life.

Students played with their loose design elements, arranging them freely until the composition felt right before the sewing began. While most worked with their machine, one student amazingly kept pace using exquisite hand-stitch alone.

It was a joy watching the group turn simple thread and ink into rich, narrative-driven art, with every student fully committed to telling their unique story.

Ruth Issett Sumptuous Articulated Colour

The intention of my course was to offer students the chance to experience the vibrant energy of colour by exploring depth and richness—using collage, building fabric compositions and surfaces, and perhaps adding stitch. The centrepiece of our studio was a glorious, untamed floral and ethnic cloth still life placed in the middle of the room, which served as a magnificent, vibrant starting point.

Students quickly began with simple line drawings, searching the still life for interesting patterns, rhythms, and compositional ideas. From this initial research, I guided them through selectively building their compositions in two key stages:

• Paper Collage: Students looked at a range of different paper qualities and surfaces, creating some personally coloured fragile papers to use alongside a shimmering pile of hand-painted papers. I placed emphasis on torn and cut edges, as well as the layering and overlapping of colour combinations designed to thrill and inspire. By recording the differing palettes and combinations within the still life, students investigated and created a series of small, personal responses.
• Fabric Layering: These collages then led us into working with fabric, using a rich collection of glorious textiles that I have accumulated over many years of teaching and fabric colouring. Together, we explored the possibilities of using transparent, translucent, and opaque surface qualities in both paper and fabric to bring light, atmosphere, and depth to their samples.

Through these stages, everyone was able to explore a variety of personal interpretations. The students’ pieces were a true celebration of a shared love and my lifetime’s experience of sharing articulated, sumptuous colour.

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