Anne Dye hails from South America but has lived in the Scottish Highlands
since 1965. Much of her work is influenced by the scenery she sees
every day.
Anne's interest in batik dates from a short crafts course for
youth group leaders she attended in 1985 in Inverness. There were
six craft 'taster' courses on offer, and although Anne tried all
of them, it was batik that really fascinated her. After a lot of
experimentation at home, she attended a series of batik courses
at West Dean College near Chichester, mostly led by Noel Dyrenforth,
which introduced to her a whole range of resist techniques on cotton,
silk and paper.
That was over twenty years ago, and Anne is still fascinated by
the medium! She says that it is the unpredictability of the final
result that's so intriguing, even on carefully planned pieces which
is the way she tends to work. She prefers using cotton but also
works on silk and paper from time to time.
Initially working at
home and selling her work at craft fairs, Anne has for the past
eleven years rented a studio
at the Ariundle Centre in Strontian, Argyll. Visitors can watch
her at work and can also join a batik workshop - a one-day course
during the summer and weekend courses during spring and autumn.
Anne thoroughly enjoys running these workshops, especially for
beginners, as their enthusiasm reminds her of the first time
she 'discovered' batik herself. |
