2016 #made in Easterhouse
Artist in residence, Platform Arts Easterhouse
2015 m a p MAKING
Maker in residence at Timespan Museum and arts centre
"Made possible by Helmsdale’s success at the Creative Place Awards 2014,Serendipitous North is a creative mapping project and residency programme that celebrates the creativity and vibrancy of Helmsdale and its community, and inspires others with the unique culture of our small village in the far north of Scotland. From Summer 2014 – Spring 2015, Serendiptous North has been investigating six creative artforms: writing, music, dancing, sculpture, painting, and craft.An established creative practitioner from within each field will be invited to work in Helmsdale over a period of 6 weeks. They will find and map the creative activity existing that already exists in Helmsdale related to their artform, making visible the often unseen and unrecognised creativity of Helmsdale’s inhabitants and celebrating the vibrancy of our community in the far north of Scotland. Inspired by the unique culture of our village, each resident will then create a new work that draws on all that they discover"
2014 The KIldas
The two names of the island group Hirte and St Kilda , have aroused discussion and controversy for over 200 years and much studying of maps and books can be done to investigate their origins. One fact is clear .. There is no ‘Saint’ Kilda .
Deirdre would like to celebrate contemporary ‘Saint’ Kildans and create a series of crafted awards which celebrate people/‘saints’ she meets along the way. The project links both past and present, north and south and the people who inhabit the Kildas. It is hoped the project will present contemporary insight into St Kildas rather than the often over romanticised view of the Scottish island.
2013 Sexy Peat
Beyond their initially austere or barren appearance the peatlands reveal an abundance of colour, texture and life forms in constant interaction with dynamic weather systems. These features have inspired the people who have lived with the moor for generations. This project will investigate and celebrate that land, those people and their heritage'
2013/4 Atlas. Skye
the project:
Spin Cycle : In a multi-disciplinary project looking at visual culture, performance, music and crafts, In collaboration with Atlas Skye we are exploring the theme of spin, revolution and all things that revolve
and turn. The project will encompass workshops, work-in-progress
presentations, community events and exhibitions of new work across all
art forms. You can follow the Spincycle-Skye tumblr blog here.Lùb | Loop is a contemporary project which celebrates socks, culture, and the communities producing wool in present day Skye.
I visited crofters from a range of stock clubs across Skye and Raasay. Crofters have each donated a fleece that will be spun by a spinner from Skye. Creating a LOOP, from fleece to spun wool to knitting, individual socks have been made to highlight wool; crofting, craft skills and the feet that walk the land. Lùb | Loop celebrates the collaborative skills of the people involved but also highlights the value and potential use of local wool. Each unique sock has been created using Skye wool and celebrates and places value on both wool and all those involved in wool production. Wool is a natural, resilient, biodegradable fibre and it is hoped that each sock will walk the land of Skye and have a long life beyond the project.
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2012-2013 An Tobar Isle of Mull . Scotland
The project
Artist in residence at the arts centre An Tobar on the Isle of Mull researching and developing new work relating to contemporary communities on the Island. I am working with individuals creating bespoke design/craft items in return for their stories.
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2012/3 Woodend Barn. Banchory
the project:
Residency with Third Stage. (Third Stage offers a varied programme of arts based activities with friendly and informal classes for older people on Deeside). Inspired by the allotments at Woodend Barn the group are designing their own range of digitally printed textiles and developing a range of gardening aprons for sale.
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2012 Birdyarns with An Tobar +Capefarewell
the project:
birdyarns brought together a community of knitters in response to the changing migration
patterns of seabirds across Scotland’s islands. artists diary here
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2012 Jepsom gardens: residency with Craftspace Making Moves
the project:
As artist in residence at Jepsom Studios in Leamington Spa I worked with Los Amigos hispanic group in creating 'mantel mas grande' ( a large tablecloth) and mentored recent graduate Stewart Easton. I have developed new work relating to the residency in Leamington Spa and Portugese migrant groups in the area. The work comprises of a hand embroidered napkin stitched in traditional Portugese embroidery and a series of printed paper napkins to be distributed to Portugese cafes in the town.
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2011 Kantha Sleepover :24 hour micro residency at Dovecot Studios
the mini project:
2011 Kantha Sleepover :24 hour micro residency at Dovecot Studios
the mini project:
the tumblr blog Kantha Sleepover is a collection of web gatherings, information and observations throughout the 24 hour micro residency. The blog rapidly documented the residency at Dovecot Studios as part of Edinburgh International festival . -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011 Sirius arts centre. Cobh Co Cork. Ireland
the project:
the project:
following a residency in 2010 a return visit in 2011 allowed time to develop new work for 'contemporary souvenir' a solo exhibition in October 2011. a community project involving textile groups in the area was developed and celebrated local history and both contemporary and traditional traditional skills. With
an interest in social history I have explored the colourful town of
Cobh and its stories of lace makers, knitters, ships, emigration, and
the sea. i attended lace making classes with local groups in order to
learn techniques and to hear new stories. Many stories uncovered were of
sinking ships (Titanic and Luisitania ) and of emigration. with an
interest in presenting positive stories of the area and its people,
Contemporary souvenir presented a series of positive 'souvenirs' for
Cobh playing with the colour and characters of the area.
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2010 wigtown book festival and spring fling
the project:
for the duration of the ten day wigtown festival writers, visitors and locals to donate their favourite word. visitors were invited in to print their word and the words were hung in the window on the main street of wigtown. after the festival some words have been donated to writers and the scottish poetry library. as a result new work was developed for spring fling in may 2011. over 600 individual words were gathered (with a only a maximum of ten words repeated in suggestion). many ideas were explored. one of which is wordbespoke where I invited word donators to allow me to embroider their favourite word onto a piece of clothing . each garment donated was photographed by Alison Marr and the photographs were presented as a series of portraits throughout The Book Shop in Wigtown. the work was on exhibit during spring fling 28th - 30th May 2011. visitors were invited to a word exchange where they were free to take an embroidered word in exchange for a new word to the collection. an online word sale took place on Ebay which played with ideas of the value of words raised money for Gannets Adventure school in Malawi providing enough costs to cover books for the entire school. .. a successful outcome exploring books to words to books again .
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2010 cove park
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a period of research and time to develop new work and reflect on old work.The work was developed for an international group show 'buffer zone' curated by Ihor Holubizky, and Allan Giddy for the Armoury gallery Sydney Australia 2011
threading conversation: an event organised to complete the residency. exploring the themes of 'following' ( blogs twitter ) i invited Dominic Wilcox who i follow and in turn he invited Sam Hill. Check out Dominic Wilcox on Friday Five HERE
threading conversation: an event organised to complete the residency. exploring the themes of 'following' ( blogs twitter ) i invited Dominic Wilcox who i follow and in turn he invited Sam Hill. Check out Dominic Wilcox on Friday Five HERE
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2009/10 stroud international textile festival and stroud museum
the project:
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| punctuating a collection |
a
trail of red tennis balls ( made by Miliken the last mill in town )
were placed within the museum collection 'punctuating the collection'
allowing the visitor to stop and think at each object. each red tennis
ball was embroidered with words associated with the trade of stroud red
cloth.
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2009 Museum of Wales
The project:
The project:
With an interest in the human stories behind collections and
objects In No Bed of Roses and the sound piece Shift (in collaboration
with Matt Hulse), focus was on the Nantgarw China Works in South
Wales. Using the lowly 10% success rate of ceramics in the firing
process an installation was created exploring the gulf between the luxury
of the finished object and the poverty, disappointment and determined
perseverance involved in its production. 
