#WeAreRydeArts - Carol Ann Eades

I am a textile artist specialising in indigo and rust dyeing. In 2018 I was involved with the Ryde Arts Threads Connect project, a partnership with Abi Wheeler, focusing on the making space in Ryde library. The aim of the project was to create a community based public work of art for Ryde library. The project involved the community in a series of free and accessible workshops over a period of time; indigo and rust dyeing fabrics at Riboleau House with hand stitching at Ryde library where the work is now on permanent display. The fabric was then cut into the shapes of the Ryde ward boundaries taken from the last census and stitched together, each stitch represented a person in the census. Banners were also made and displayed in the Ryde Carnival - the UK’s oldest carnival. Indigo has been used for dyeing fabric throughout history all over the world.

“The Threads project enabled me to work and develop ideas with a wide variety of different participants and has been a springboard for further exhibitions”

Through the eight years that I have been experimenting and developing dyeing with indigo I have used both synthetic and natural indigo on wool, cotton, silk and linen. Rust dyeing utilises found rusted objects to create prints on natural fabric. The Threads project enabled me to work and develop ideas with a wide variety of different participants and has been a springboard for further exhibitions primarily the one earlier this year at Craft Central in London. Teaching people new creative skills in the workshops was both rewarding and inspiring.

About: Carol Ann Eades is a Textile Artist based at Studio 10 Sandown, Isle of Wight. Where she works with dyeing of natural fabrics specifically Indigo and Rust using shibori developed in Japan which are then stitched using Sashiko techniques. Over the past 5 years Carol Ann has also been involved with a project at Ventnor Botanic Gardens researching the many varieties of eucalyptus as a natural dye on both paper and fabric through eco print. This work is exhibited and accompanied by workshops at the Gardens. Carol Ann's current practice involves research and development inspired by Japanese textiles which were exhibited at Craft Central, Isle of Dogs March 2020.

Contact: caeades@btinternet.com web carolanneades.com Insta @carolanneades