Between 2005 and 2024, I made all sorts of hats for all sorts of people. It was my dream job and a joy to make hats and headgear for all this time, but now it’s time to move on to other things.
In the last couple of years, I have grown to love spinning my own yarn for my knitting and weaving and now weave my own fabrics to make scarves, wraps, hats, caps and now incorporate this into my textile art.
I have just completed studies for MA Textiles at UCA and have my textile pieces in exhibitions across London. I am also teaching creative workshops for UCA as well as freelance.
I am passionate about re-using existing resources in new and exciting ways, so my art reflects the textile materials available to me at the time.
My recent venture into the world of textile art means that I can express my creativity in new, sustainable and exciting ways.
Artist Statement: Sarah is a thoughtful and intuitive artist who loves creating sustainable textile work that tells a story.
Her ethos as a textile artist is to recycle, re-use and re-purpose existing resources. Her pieces are made entirely from found objects, and fabrics and will take on different forms depending on the the materials available.
Place is important to Sarah and much of her art is in response to an event or a visit to a particular place. She is currently working on pieces that celebrate local suburban structures and themes.
In her studies, she has had the freedom to research the questions that really interest her: how textiles resonate with the place or time they were made or used and especially how to see the new potential uses for an old discarded material.
Her practice is also crossing boundaries by stitching together repurposed textile and other materials in combinations that represent solid real-life metal structures.
Sarah McAlister 