11 November 2015, Carol-Anne Conway - "Learning Japanese"

We have established a practice of inviting, at least once a year, one of our own members to deliver the monthly lecture. Carol-Anne Conway has been a branch member for 15 years and thanks Oxford’s extensive range of guest speakers for introducing her to Japanese embroidery.

© Carol-Anne Conway

Prior to joining the Guild, Carol-Anne taught herself to embroidery using kits and magazine articles. Upon joining Oxford branch, she took every opportunity to attend workshops and discover a wealth of techniques previously unimagined by her. Although Carol-Anne enjoyed every workshop attended and always learnt something new, over time the most important thing she learnt was that she enjoyed hand embroidery above and beyond any other form of textile art. When, in 2004, Margaret Lewis gave a talk on Japanese Embroidery, Carol-Anne knew instantly that this was a technique that she wanted to learn. Little did she know that there were 46 techniques, taught over 10 phases, and that she would still be learning Japanese embroidery and Japanese bead embroidery 10 years on!

© Carol-Anne Conway

During the talk, Carol-Anne told us a little about the history of Japanese embroidery which developed from Chinese embroidery that was introduced to Japan by Buddhist monks.

The main part of the talk focused on Carol-Anne’s own experience of learning Japanese embroidery and the phase pieces she has stitched. Her presentation included detailed pictures of each of the techniques and we discussed the similarities and differences between Japanese and European embroidery.

© Carol-Anne Conway

In addition to the traditional silk embroidery, Carol-Anne has been learning Japanese bead embroidery and the talk concluded with a look at her bead work.

© Carol-Anne Conway