We interview Kate Talbot
Kate Talbot swapped the corporate life for a creative career making art with needle and thread. She invited CrossStitcher into her colourful world
An embroidered bottle of brown sauce... Hand-sewn comic book art… Kate Talbot’s work is both incredibly unique and instantly recognisable. A lover of all things vintage and eclectic, Kate let us into her creative secrets – and told us more about life with her husband and two cats Neville and Wilson in a former funeral home. Spooky! Can you tell us about your creative journey so far?
I have always been creative, although at school it was known as ‘daydreaming’ and not encouraged. My family emigrated to Canada when I was a teenager and I ended up working in the oil industry. When I returned to the UK in 1987 I met my husband who was a graphic designer. He encouraged me to follow my dream and so I returned to [art] college as a mature student. I have always loved writing so graphic design was a natural fusion of word and image.
What made you turn to stitching?
I needed to produce a portrait to support my dissertation. I wanted to convey a sense of someone who was so comfortable in their own skin that they were like a comfy old jumper. I went to Leeds city market and found some flesh-coloured wool and a crochet hook – it took me six months but I managed to create a threedimensional portrait which perfectly expressed the mood that I was after.
I do not use a hoop or a thimble when I work as they feel completely alien to me, in fact, I don’t even refer to my work as sewing. I am simply drawing with thread.
You’ve mentioned your work is a “fusion of many styles and influences” – can you tell us a bit more about that?
My taste is completely eclectic. I adore the paintings of the Tudor portrait artist Hans Holbein the Younger but I am equally enthralled by the work of [realist painter] John
Bratby or the kitsch works of Jeff Koons. My influences come from whatever catches my attention at the time. My work can come to life simply from something I overheard. I enjoy the colour in the ordinary as well as the extraordinary.
What first inspired you to start embroidering food?
Graphic design is everywhere in our world and particularly on iconic food items which we associate with feelings of contentment, tradition, family values and home. The same feelings are often associated with stitch as most of us grew up in homes where sewing was a vital necessity in creating or mending our clothing. It seemed a perfect combination to pair the two together to create my stitched food pieces.
And how about your amazing comicstyle work?
As a child I would eagerly await the next issue of my comic every Saturday; that thrill has never gone away. I have always loved the simple but creative use of line in comic book imagery. In my work I break the image into block colours using different colours or patterns of cloth and work over them with simple line drawing in stitch.
What still inspires you these days about stitching?
It allows me a freedom that painting or drawing do not. Although I try to maintain a likeness and keep correct perspective, the thread still maintains a life of its own. The more you stitch into something the more the surface tension will change, and so each piece is essentially a collaboration between me and the medium. We are equal partners in the creation of the work and it keeps it interesting.
We love being nosy – can you describe where you work?
Our home was once a funeral parlour and my studio is the place where they used to make the coffins! When we bought it, we threw our cats in first to see if they arched their backs or shrieked at anything unseen but they were fine. Despite the history, it is a bright and sunny home with no bad vibes.
My studio is full of books, comics, toys and old boxes which in turn house every type of craft object including hundreds of threads and pieces of cloth in every shade. My wool collection is too large to be indoors and so takes up a third of the garage. If I lived to be 150 I’d never be able to use up all the wonderful things but I enjoy just knowing they are there if I need them.
I tend to sew anywhere and everywhere. As I don’t drive, I have made many pieces on public transport to while away the time on my journeys.
Is there something else that you would really love to capture in stitches in the future?
Having already created a six-foothigh portrait of David Bowie in stitch, I think I’ve learnt my lesson with grand ideas: the trouble is that you have to find somewhere to put them afterwards!
I don’t even refer to my work as sewing. I am simply drawing with thread