Katherine Seaton

Statement

I am a mathematician, university lecturer and some-time fiber artist. I delight in the mathematics that can be experienced in the construction, by hand, of pieces of knitting, crochet and embroidery, and in the thought that our grandmothers and great-grandmothers constructed mathematics this way, too. I frequently, but not exclusively, use recycled or remnant materials. Sashiko is a stitching technique born of frugality. Its domestic origin, together with its geometry and symmetry, instantly appealed to me when I became aware of this embroidery style.

Artworks

Arranged in the form of a Mrs. Perkins' quilt (a square of squares), are the six rosette groups that can be realized in the hitomezashi variant of the traditional Japanese stitching technique, sashiko. This piece has been worked in traditional colours, and has been designed to incorporate a number of traditional motifs (mountain form, well-kerb, persimmon flower, passes-in-the-mountain, and the ten-cross). It makes a new contribution to the canon of complete symmetry fiber art samplers.