Debbie Lyddon MSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

About Debbie
Debbie Lyddon is a textile artist and maker. Her work explores landscape and place and her inspiration comes from experiencing and paying attention to her surroundings. Debbie’s practice combines traditional stitch techniques with non-traditional materials such as bitumen, salt and wax to make ambiguous 2-D and 3-D works that evoke the sights, sounds and touch of coastal environments. Debbie has an MA in Contemporary Textiles from the University of Hertfordshire and is an exhibiting member and the current chair of the 62 Group of Textile Artists.
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Debbie’s creative practice explores landscape and place and includes mixed media cloths, sculpture, installation and drawing. Her inspiration comes from experiencing and paying attention to her surroundings.

Debbie’s interest lies in how we perceive natural phenomena – air, wind, water, light and sound – in the environment. Her inspiration comes from walking, noticing and collecting. As an artist and a musician her work is not only inspired by things that can be seen but also by things that can be heard and touched. Debbie’s current practice explores coastal locations and the processes of change that are engendered on the landscape and the objects in it.

Cloth and traditional utilitarian hand-stitching are the foundation of Debbie’s work. Cloth is found in coastal environments in the form of tarpaulins, boat covers and sails and she alludes to their functional purpose in her work. The materials that she uses in conjunction with cloth – salt, bitumen, wax, varnish – are substances that are found in a coastal location and they play an integral part in relating the cloth objects to their surroundings.

Debbie’s practice aims to evoke a multi-sensory interpretation of her surroundings to promote an awareness of the relationship between the visual, aural and tactile landscape.

Resumé Back to top

Education

MA Contemporary Textiles (2009-2011) University of Hertfordshire

HE Dip Stitched Textiles (2005-2008) Bucks New University

Royal Academy of Music (1978 -1981)

Selected Exhibitions

2020

28 May – 14 June 2020, Place: Sight, Sound, Debbie Lyddon and Mary Morris, Handa Gallery, Wells Maltings, Staithe Street, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk NR23 1AN *POSTPONED*

2019

Ctrl/Shift, 62 Group of Textile Artists, 20-21 Visual Arts Centre , Scunthorpe

CONSTRUCT, 62 Group of Textile Artists, Sunny Bank Mills, Farsley, West Yorkshire

Moments of Being, Handa Gallery, Wells Maltings, Staithe Street, Wells-next-the-Sea,

CTRL/Shift, 62 Group of Textile Artists, The National Centre for Craft and Design, Sleaford

2018

Autumn 2018, Colour Notes (Studio 21) – Knitting and Stitching Show, London, Dublin, Harrogate

CTRL/Shift, 62 Group of Textile Artists, MAC Birmingham, Birmingham

CLEY 18, ‘The greater the distance the clearer the view’ – St Margaret’s Church, Cley

CONNECTION: OPEN 2018, Wells Maltings Trust, Wells Maltings, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk Wells Heritage Art Trail – The Quay, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk

Contemporary Textile Fair – Landmark Arts Centre, Ferry Road, Teddington

2017

The Sewing Machine Project, Studio 21, The Knitting and Stitching Shows, London, Harrogate and Dublin.

The Makers Art, Society of Designer Craftsmen North Surrey Group, Cranleigh Art Centre

Cley 17, Connectivity – St Margaret’s Church, Cley-next-the-Sea

The Archive Project – The Cello Factory, London

Making Space, The 62 Group of Textile Artists, Knitting and Stitching Show, Edinburgh,

Making Space, The 62 Group of Textile Artists, Spring Knitting and Stitching Show, London

2016

Moments of Being (solo show) – The Knitting & Stitching Shows, London and Harrogate

CLEY16: In Norfolk Now – St. Margaret’s Church, Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk

Making Space (The 62 Group of Textile Artists) – Macclesfield Silk Museum, Macclesfield

The Sewing Machine Project (Studio 21) – SIT Festival, Lansdown Gallery, Stroud

The Archive Project – Haslemere Educational Museum, Haslemere

2015

The Sewing Machine Project, Studio 21 – The Bracknell Gallery, South Hill Park Arts Centre

The Sewing Machine Project Preview, Studio 21 – Select Showcase, Cheltenham

Chinese Whispers Selection, Studio 21 -The Well House Gallery, Horndon on the Hill

The Makers’ Art, Society of Designer Craftsmen North Surrey Group, The Robert Phillips Gallery, Walton-on-Thames

The 62 Group Now – Upfront Gallery, Unthank, Penrith, Cumbria

Designer Crafts at the Mall 2015 – The Mall Galleries, London

2014

Caught by the Tide (solo show) – Society of Designer Craftsmen Gallery, London

Landmark Autumn Art Fair – Landmark Arts Centre, Teddington,

Fine Art Quilt Masters – NEC, Birmingham

Preview of Fine Art Quilt Masters Shortlist – New Designers, London

2013

Chinese Whispers, Studio 21, The Bracknell Gallery, South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell

Reflective Space,The Crypt Gallery, London

Landmark Contemporary Textiles Fair, Landmark Arts Centre, Teddington

The shop within the show, Designer Crafts at The Mall 2013, The Mall Galleries, London

2012

Everyday Encounters, William Morris Gallery, London

Surface II, The Crypt Gallery, London

Group Exhibition, Hastings Arts Forum, St Leonards on Sea, Hastings

The Duration of Surface, The Attic at Lines of Pinner, Pinner

Newland House School (solo show), Vinery Gallery, Twickenham

Designer Crafts at the Mall, The Mall Galleries, London

Press

Handmade magazine, winter 2017, p38-41

https://issuu.com/ukhandmade/docs/uk_handmade_magazine_winter_2017

Ebb and Flow, Embroidery, July/August 2017, p44-49

Art Quilting Studio, Marshscapes by Rice Freeman-Zachery, Summer 2015

Work appears in:

Hannah Lamb: Poetic Cloth: Creating meaning in textile art, Batsford, 2019

Shelley Rhodes: Sketchbook Explorations: Mixed Media Approaches for Textile Artists, Batsford, 2018

Mandy Patullo, Textile Collage, Batsford, 2016

Alice Fox: Natural Processes in Textile Art: From Rust Dyeing to Found Objects, Batsford, 2015

Julia Triston, Contemporary Applique, Batsford, 2014

C. June Barnes, Exploring Dimension in Quilt Art, Batsford, 2012

Sandra Meech, Connecting Design to Stitch, Batsford, 2012

Kim Thittichai, Experimental Textiles, Batsford, 2009

Web Articles

TextileArtist.org e-book, Textiles: A response to Landscape, 2016

Debbie Lyddon: Art that Inspires, www.textileartist.org, 2016

Debbie Lyddon: Responding to Environment, www.textileartist.org, 2013

Aeolian Pipes and Air-songs Booklet

Professional Activities

Member and Chair of the 62 Group of Textile Artists’

Member of the Society of Designer Craftsmen

Committee member North Norfolk Exhibition Project

Other Makers in Stitched & Constructed Textiles