Profile

Michelle House is an established printed textile artist and designer, working from her South London studio. She studied textiles at Goldsmiths college and creates unique one-off, hand-painted and printed wall hangings and textile panels. Exhibitions include SOFA Chicago, Collect (Saatchi Gallery) and the Bicentenary exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery.

My love of printing began during my time at Goldsmith’s college. It was the second year of the course in which we were given a print workshop, and I remember thinking “yes, this is it, this is the medium for me” – printing just clicked for me, it’s what I loved doing, and ever since it has been my main way of working.

Inspiration comes in many guises, frequently abstract patterns and geometry within architecture and the landscape discovered during London walks, along with the physical act of mixing and layering of colours, the texture of fabrics, and the printing process. Smooth and textured fabrics reflect and absorb the light in different ways. I love to play around with dye pastes and pigments, layering imagery and pattern by screen-printing and painting onto a variety of textiles, so creating opacity and transparency within the print

Whilst photography and sketching are the starting points for a new piece of work, I am increasingly using the computer to design and plan, and for adjusting and editing sections of photographs before they are transferred onto screens. These screens are then used in conjunction with hand-cut stencils to layer and build up the composition.

Quite often, I create my work as a group, to be displayed together or independently. Two or more pieces will be worked on side-by-side, and viewed as one composition. I use imagery and colour in an abstract way to create focal points, balance and space. Sections of photographs join with floating forms and flowing lines that wind their way over the surface, passing through and connecting imagery and different fabrics.

In the future I would love to create new works that combine both my hand-printed textiles and the digital, and to explore the interplay between the two.