I bumped into lots of fellow makers and friends at the Hereford Contemporary Craft Fair on Friday.  One whom I hadn’t seen for a while was Angie Hughes.  Angie is the very talented textile artist and tutor, from Ledbury in Herefordshire.

We met in 1994 when studying City & Guilds Creative Embroidery at Malvern Hills College.  Whereas many of us struggled for inspiration, Angie was always full of creative ideas; her sketchbooks were works of art in themselves.

While a student she won the prestigious Charles Henry Foyle Trust Award for Stitched Textiles with her piece ‘Unfolding Word’ which was brilliant in its concertina-like construction.

Unfolding Word, 100cm x 40cm, by Angie Hughes 1997

Angie loved to use text in her work and was often inspired by poems.  Her colour palette at the time was somewhat subdued; she was very fond of tea- and coffee-stained calico and Vilene as I remember.  Slowly she began to add hints of colour and her complex piece ‘Shroud’ was accepted for Art of the Stitch in 1999.

Shroud detail

Shroud by Angie Hughes (apologies for the quality of this pre-digital photo)

Over the years her work has grown more and more colourful.

Memory Ship 2006, poem by Fiona Sampson. This piece was made for Ledbury Community Hospital it is 3.5 metres wide by 1.5 metres high.

On completion of the four-year course, Angie decided to continue her studies to HNC level at Gloscat in Cheltenham, after which she discovered a talent for teaching.

She runs a very successful programme of workshops from her studio Ledbury Artplace and is an inspirational teacher.  She has even written a book which was published last month – she tells me it took over 31/2 years to come to fruition – phew!

Stitch, Cloth, Paper and Paint takes you step-by-step through the process of creating mixed media artworks,

shows some of her own works,

and includes detailed instructions for three projects (Indian Artefact, Sunflower Bookwrap and Sundial Diptych).

Angie’s latest work is inspired by gardens and this piece was for sale at the show.  Angie tells me it is also featured in The Quilting Arts Book by Patricia Bolton.

Hung with Stars by Angie Hughes  “She’s wrapped the sun around her head, tied the moon around her waist and hung herself with stars” (Angelica the gate keeper from Serbian poet Anon)

It’s great to see how Angie’s work has developed over the past 14 years.  She is a hugely popular tutor and enjoys a loyal following.