Profile

Artist and illustrator, producing 2D and 3D, functional and non-functional work.

Artist Paddy Killer has an international reputation for her work. She exhibits widely and is included in many public and private collections worldwide, as well as giving lectures and teaching workshops, and working to commission. Her work is highly individual and detailed, becoming, unashamedly, ever more figurative and narrative.

After graduating from Birmingham Polytechnic, Paddy worked as embroidery designer in London and Montreal. In late 1973 she set up her studio in Canada, returning, to work in the UK in 1981. “Anything you can do on paper you can do on fabrics, but with the added beauty of texture” is a maxim of hers, illustrating her interest in historical art, architecture, music, gardens, textiles and glass.

In the mid-90s, following an Arts Council grant to develop new work, Paddy began drawing on fine silks, using technical drawing pens and Indian ink, remediating textures and pattern found in fine and applied art. In 2005, whilst working on the commission for a life-size portrait of Mary Tudor, Paddy remediated the queen’s clothing with drawing. Thus commenced a new body of work informed by lace, embroidered, woven, and printed textiles. Recently, with the help of another Arts Council Grant, Paddy has been exploring drawing onto laserjet cut glass at Sunderland University, using the imagery of lace, this time making wearable glass jewellery.

Drawing and research have always been the bases of Paddy’s work; now she uses the computer as a sketchbook, drawing with digital tablets and pens. She has employed wood, plaster, ceramics and glass in her practice, but working with textiles is the medium to which she always returns.