British artist Jane Walkley ‘explores the interplay between memory, place and attachement,” She uses tapestry weaving and eco-friendly resin jesmonite to create sculptural woven textiles in colours that reflect the area she is researching. “It is the tactile nature of the material that excites and appeals, the slow mediative process of making and the physicality of the materials passing through my fingers.

Firstly where did you grow up and where do you live now? 

In the North East of England, near Guisborough on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors. I now live in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

What is your background in textiles? 

In 1989 I undertook a degree in Contemporary Crafts at Manchester Metropolitan University, specialising in Ceramics and Textiles.  Whilst there I split my time between casting plaster, building with clay and weaving with a discontinued weft on floor looms. I introduced basket cane into my work for my final project, soaking the woven cane around objects so the weave became three dimensional.  The manipulated cloth was held under tension with ceramic blocks that I had fired.  Although the materials were combined it wasn’t until I undertook my Masters in 2017 that I started to fully integrate the casting and textiles, building this into a woven piece.  It took 20+ years to truly understand and consolidate the combined material element from my first degree.  However, building texture and having the ability to be able to construct into the warp has been a constant since those early days.   

What is it about textiles as an art form that appeals to you?

I was introduced to tapestry weave whilst studying for my BTEC in General Art & Design at Cleveland College of Art and Design (now the Northern School of Art) in 1989.   I loved how the warp provided a structure to build on and into. I never thought of the warp as a mechanism to weave cloth, it was a gateway to build 3D textures from scratch, and I found that so very exciting.  I started weaving with paper, deconstructed cloth and natural found objects, I don’t even remember the department having yarns so consequently have never associated my own tapestry with cotton, wool or linen other than to bind the three dimensional element to the warp. 

It is the tactile nature of the material that excites and appeals, the slow mediative process of making and the physicality of the materials passing through my fingers. 

Can I call you a tapestry artist?

I certainly have no objections to you calling me a tapestry artist.  However, I feel visual artist is a better description. I use tapestry techniques in my practice for 50% of the time, the remaining 50% is in my casting workshop where I work with jesmonite.  Jesmonite is the material that brings the texture and movement to my work.  It’s the material that I use as my weft.  It’s also how I bring a lot of the concept around memory and attachment into my tapestries.  If I called myself a tapestry artist it wouldn’t recognise this other skill set that I work with.

How do you describe your work?

I make sculptural woven textiles that maintain a physical and visual connection to the site I am researching, linking place, memory and attachment.

Why do you use Jesmonite?

It is a very exciting material that enables me to replicate found objects from the site I’m investigating, whilst embedding elements such as dust and debris that have a direct connection to the place.  It’s a material that is open to so much experimentation and can be cast to my own designs so that it sits within the warp.  Once woven it produces a very tactile, 3D surface that creates movement and sound.  It’s considered the chameleon of the creative industry for its ability to replicate any surface – this is a very important quality for me to have access to when I’m trying to capture visual elements of a building.  It’s still a relatively new material having only been invented in 1984 and there is so much more for me to explore here and the opportunity to find new ways of working with it

How do you create a piece?

I carry out rigorous research prior to making.  I’ll start by digging around the relics of derelict buildings, looking for clues to past activities.  I then talk to the community that worked and lived in its shadow to gain a deeper understanding of the events that led to the building ending up in the state it is in.  It’s an important starting point, if I did this in a vacuum then the work would be based solely on my own storytelling.

I take photographs on site as well as sketches, rubbings or impressions in clay.   And with permission I borrow artefacts from the site to cast.  This provides me with a wealth of material to work with and consider.  Sampling is important for trialing new ideas and working out whether the warp will support the weight of the jesmonite and whether I have the right colour palette.  Preparation before warping and weaving is crucial as mistakes are costly in time.  There is a surprising amount of maths involved with weaving as the warp and jesmonite units are calculated.  

Once I start making, my time is divided into producing the units in jesmonite, and weaving.  It’s a long slow process.

Where do you work?

I have two studios.  One is based at an old textile mill, Sunny Bank Mills, in West Yorkshire and this is where my jesmonite workshop is based.  It’s a wonderful space amongst other artists and is housed within a wider community that is hugely supportive of the arts.  The weaving takes place in my home.  I do rather like this as it connects me to how the mill’s weavers used to weave at home taking materials from the mill.  

I know this is a hard question but how long does a bigger piece take?

I estimate the current piece is going to have taken over 120hrs making time. It will measure approx. 84 x 70cm.  I have 2 studio days a week and one day equates to one row of jesmonite with which to weave.  I started the current piece at the end of March and I estimate I’ll finish it in August.  It’s not unusual for a tapestry weaver to take anywhere between 6 and 12 months to complete a piece.

What are you most proud of in your art career so far?

Being accepted into a professional exhibiting textile group and being invited to exhibit my work alongside artists I have long respected.

Do you have any advice for aspiring textile artists?

Identify what you love and find a way to work it into your practice, that will give you a narrative for your work and will help define you as an individual artist.

Use a sketchbook, they are invaluable, get those ideas down before they vanish forever.  Find your people, if there is a society or guild in your specialism, then join it.  Talk to people, don’t be afraid to start chatting with people on social media and build a community of like-minded people.  Make friends and help each other.  Don’t be put off by not having much time, no-one has time but a little and often can produce more than you think.

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