Our third venue in Kington Langley is the wonderful textile artist, Fi Redmond. Fi is a returning artist to the Trail, and this year is offering free activities on a drop-in basis every day. Do check your brochure or our workshop page for more details. Find Fi at the white house on the corner by the A350 traffic lights.
Fi is influenced by “a fascination with history and art history; it is figurative, and largely reflects interiors, ceramics and landscape”.
A typical day involves exercising “the hound”, getting the children to school and a certain amount of coffee and baked goods before Fi starts playing with fabric – “it usually takes far longer faffing about with textures and planning a piece than it does to stitch it”!
Fi’s interest in fabrics was sparked by playing for hours with her “Granny’s ragbag”. Fabric collage and crazy patchwork led Fi to realise her “creative self”. Fi is inspired by the beautiful Wiltshire landscape, as well as the smaller details of life such as a crockery cupboard and a particular stack of bowls. She tells us, “some of the processes of my practice can be slow, planning can be interminable but that’s because I’m not great at snap decisions; but that moment when a piece is coming together and you experience that frisson of hope and triumph, that’s rather fine”.
Fi’s first experience of exhibiting was on the 2017 Peacock Arts Trail which ultimately led her to apply for commissions, including the Chippenham Tapestry with Chippenham Museum and the Armistice Centenary Project. Fi also volunteers for Arts Together, the Wiltshire charity involving the elderly with art practice. Fi tells us, “it’s a great idea to exhibit with others, it’s mutually supportive, but also visitors enjoy seeing the artists in their natural habitats”.
