My art has developed from a life-long love of working with textile and stitch. The tactile nature of cloth envelopes me in feelings of wellbeing and brings with it memories of people long gone. I can trace my path from making clothes to making bed quilts, from buying printed fabrics to dyeing and printing my own. From following others to developing my own ideas. From craft to art.
Many of my abstract quilts are inspired by the city I live in (Manchester, UK) and by the surrounding region’s strong industrial heritage. I am particularly struck by how man-made buildings and structures shape the urban landscape. My ‘Ruins’ quilts are inspired by old industrial buildings that exist around us, some re-purposed and some abandoned. ‘Agecroft’ is part of a series on coal mining, an industry that has been eradicated from the landscape but remains in the collective memory of those old enough to remember slag heaps and winding wheels.
Other pieces, such as Happy Today? are inspired by the affect of place on my mental and emotional state. More recently the process of ‘making’ has become a source of inspiration leading to my Cadence series. In an uncertain world the physical processes of printing, cutting, stitching bring comfort and a sense of purpose.
My process starts with colour and mark. I work directly onto fabric often utilising breakdown, or deconstructed, printing to create a cohesive collection of fabrics characterised by dense mark and complex, often neutral colours. I cut my fabrics and reconstruct into quilts which are then layered and quilted. In some pieces I use stitch, fused applique or additional layers of print to reference specific sources of inspiration and to create harmony between individual quilts within a series.
Solo Exhibition
‘Beneath Our Feet’ Salford Museum and Art Gallery, UK 16th December 2023 - 5th May 2024
‘Deconstruction-Reconstruction-Evolution’ Birmingham, UK, 1 – 4 August 2019
Juried Exhibitions
2022
CQ ‘Uncharted’, touring UK 2022-2023
Excellence in Fibers VII, Schweinfurth Art Centre, New York, USA
Quilt Visions 2022, Visions Art Museum, San Diego, USA
SAQA ‘Wide Horizons VIII’, touring Europe 2022-2023
2021
SAQA Virtual Gallery ‘Structures’
2020
‘T’ is for Textiles, Rheged Centre, Penrith (cancelled due to Covid-19)
2019
‘Quilt=Art=Quilt’, Schweinfurth Art Center, Auburn, New York, USA
2018
SAQA ‘Wide Horizons VI’, touring Europe 2018-2019
36th Annual ‘New Legacies Contemporary Quilt’, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
2017
‘Quilt=Art=Quilt’, Schweinfurth Art Center, Auburn, New York, USA
‘Quilt National’, touring US and Europe 2017-2019
SAQA ‘Layered Voices’, touring US 2017-2019
2016
‘Breakout: Quilt Visions 2016’, Visions Art Museum, San Diego, USA
SAQA ‘Wide Horizons V’, touring Europe 2016-2017
‘Fine Art Quilt Masters’, Birmingham, UK
CQ ‘Elements’, touring Europe 2015-2016
2015
‘Structures’, The Old Fire Station Gallery, Henley-on-Thames, UK
‘Fine Art Quilt Masters’, Birmingham, UK
Group Exhibitions
With Helen Conway (2018)
‘Traces’, World of Glass, St Helens, UK
‘Fragments’, Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery, Cheshire, UK
With Etcetera (2015-2016)
Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery, Cheshire, UK
Ryedale Folk Museum and Gallery, North Yorkshire, UK
Platform Gallery, Clitheroe, UK
Awards
‘Festival of Quilts’, Winner Art Category (2021)
‘Quilt=Art=Quilt’, 1st Prize (2019)
‘Quilt=Art=Quilt’, Best in Show (2017)
‘Festival of Quilts’, Winner Art Category (2016)
Publications
‘Breakdown Your Palette’ by Leah Higgins (ISBN 978-1-9995858-2-2)
‘Colour Your Palette’ by Leah Higgins (ISBN 978-1-9995858-3-9)
