Pamela Bates

PAMELA BATES
TEXTILE ART

Working with natural fibres has been a passion of mine since I was seven years old and first introduced to huckerback embroidery at school.

I quickly confiscated my mother’s Singer sewing machine and dreamt of coloured threads, playing and manipulating scraps of discarded fabric.

Being third generation in the millinery trade, my career revolved around the fashion industry and I was busy producing three fashion ranges a year in hats.

I was introduced to felting in 2005 and since then have been exploring techniques I can achieve with wool and silk both in wearable pieces and structured forms.

I am involved with the Lismore Embroidery Guild and like to combine embroidery stitches in silks, wools and textured yarns in my pieces. Gliding my needles through the felted coloured wools is a pure pleasure as I travel along the finished textures of the pieces I have created, marvelling at how fibres have combined and settled forming unique patterns during the felting process. Each piece is totally unique and takes many hours to create.

Buttons and embellishments are chosen from antique pieces I have collected on my journeys – each embellishment being selected with care to enhance the piece it is being married to.

I have exhibited pieces in exhibitions at the following galleries:
Grafton Regional Gallery, Lismore Regional Gallery, Northern Rivers Community Gallery, Ferry Park Gallery.

I have taught Felting Classes at Tweed Regional Gallery, Coffs Harbour TAFE and from my private studio.

Awards won at LCACA: 2nd Wearable Art 2007, 1st Wearable Art 2009, 1st Wearable Art 2010, 2nd Wearable Art 2011; Winner of Phyllis Austin 2010 (LCACA); 1st Surface Textile Embroidery 2011, 1st Other Embroidery 2007

Publicly acquired embroidery by Lismore Regional Gallery 2008

Many pieces acquired by private purchasers.

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