I was expressly referred to Shirley Nette Williams artistry. Shirley who is a stitch artist living and working in London, not only surprised me, but I was also enlightened as to what being a ‘stitch artist’ entails.  With a background in fashion, textiles and costume design, she “uses her hand and machine to stitch drawings of faces she finds interesting”.   Each face is sui generis, provoking one part melancholy and two parts curiosity.  CD caught up with Shirley where we learned about her intuitive relationship with spiders, women who run with wolves and the importance of the view from the top.

Can you imagine a world without any form of creativity?

I am afraid of spiders! Although I can often sense their presence, I’m still almost shocked out of my skin when the creepy crawlies finally scurry into view.

I need to keep a record of my thoughts and ideas in notebooks and sketchbooks, otherwise they become overwhelming.

They say:  ‘It may also be that a woman’s creative process is misunderstood or disrespected by those around her. It is up to her to inform them that when she has ‘that look’ in her eyes, it does not mean she is a vacant lot waiting to be filled. It means she is balancing a big card house of ideas on a single fingertip, and she is carefully connecting all the cards using tiny crystalline bones and a little spit, and if she can just get it all to the table without it falling down or flying apart, she can bring an image from the unseen world into being.’
- Clarissa Pinkola Estes from ‘Women Who Run With The Wolves’

While riding on the bus, I always sit upstairs and people watch. I’m fascinated by other people and often construct imaginary lives for them from fleeting visual clues, both real and imaginary.

Getting hungry for new experiences is what keeps me going.  Being inquisitive leads me to creativity and adventures!

Christina Jean