Gillian Bates is a lady who does like to be beside the seaside!
She is a professional designer-maker who specializes in embroidered textile art. I discovered her when my quests for blog subjects took me East to an old haunt of mine – the elegant seaside town of Eastbourne.
Gillian is a self confessed fabric lover who produces textile art in the form of wall hung canvases. ‘I’m a little bit obsessed, it’s perfectly true’ she says ‘I go funny around fabric’.
She collects vintage and reclaimed fabric to incorporate into her work.
Gillian is heavily influences by her local environment. ‘The brilliantly idiosyncratic, seaside towns of Sussex, their wonderful residents and stunning architecture continue to be the single, greatest driving force behind my work and a constant source of enjoyment and inspiration’ she says.
She goes on to explain that other influences include seaside postcards, vintage film footage of seaside holidays and mid 20th century tourism advertising.
I know what she means exactly – I’ve
got such vivid images in my mind! – old black and white images of people sporting amazing retro swimwear, donkey rides, deckchairs, windbreakers…. Punch & Judy! Even wandering along the promenade in Brighton or Eastbourne these days you’ll be struck with a whimsical sense of nostalgia… the bandstand, seagulls stealing your 99, tourist shops selling sticks of rock and ‘kiss me quick’ hats, the amusement arcade…
Anyway – I digress!
Gillian explains why her work is so heavily focused around her local area ‘I believe that habit and habitat draw a veil over our eyes. We become so accustomed to the people and places we see everyday that eventually we fail to see them properly at all. My aim is to pull back the veil and in doing so reveal the extraordinary and beautiful wonder of everyday life’.
In 
addition to textile canvases Gillian also produces a range of other contemporary textile products. Her quirky and colourful textile postcards are particularly popular – the debut collection having completely sold out. The handmade textile postcards are created using digital images of the original, textile canvases. They are printed on cotton and backed with a white 260 gsm postcard. Postcard designs include ‘Brighton Pier’, ‘Eastbourne Pier’ and ‘Bournemouth Pier’ and are an absolute bargain at just £3.50!
Gillian’s obsession for all things textile led her to successfully gaining a BA(Hons) in Textile and Surface Design in 2007 . During her studies she was shortlisted for the RSA Fashion Interiors Bursary Award.
