Jessica Grady is an award winning mixed media embroidery artist based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Her colourful and creative work uses combinations of recycled materials to create tactile 3D wall art and sculptures. Jessica teaches her workshops across the UK and Asia.

In January, Year 10 Art Textile students took part in a workshop, with Jessica, as part of their GCSE coursework. Pupils had previously been researching the artist and were excited to meet Jessica and work closely with her. During the contemporary ‘stitch and embellishment’ workshop, the pupils used everyday recyclable materials,such as bubble wrap, card,wrappers,threads and metal washers to create unusual and colourful textile responses.

The techniques and processes demonstrated by Jessica really helped the students to gain an insight into the create intricate embellishments that they have been researching.

At the end of the workshop all pupils had designed, dyed,stitched and hand embroidered 2 samples that clearly link to Jessica’s work. All work produced will be submitted as part of the students GCSE course work.