Kay Leech was reaching retirement and wanted to try something creative. She jumped right into courses and studied with City and Guilds. Now she enjoys creating her textile art with a variety of techniques and loves adding stitches to her pieces.
How did you find yourself on an artist’s path?
I studied A Level Art and would have loved to do an Art degree. However, in the early 1970’s, this was not considered to be a suitable option by either my parents or the school. So, I went on to study Law!
Then, 15 years ago retirement was starting to feature in our plans. We love walking and had spent many happy holidays in the Lake District in the north west of England so we bought a house in Cumbria in the Eden Valley.
I decided that now was the time to try something creative and I was fortunate that Arty Bird ran courses in Carnforth, only a 40-minute drive away. So, in 2010 I started to study City and Guilds Creative Embroidery and from the first day I was hooked.
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I love the feel of the materials, the textures, and the quiet contemplation of hand stitch. I love using all sorts of artistic techniques like painting and printing on fabric and paper. However, my work never feels complete until there is some stitch.
Since then, I have gone on to exhibit through Open Studios, in local galleries, at the Scottish Quilting Show and at the Festival of Quilts. I also run a variety of workshops for embroidery and textile groups.
Describe your creative space
Despite the fact that I have been creating textiles for over ten years, I do not have a studio. My workroom is the room that the grandchildren sleep in when they come to stay and because our house was built in the 1700s the window is rather small. That is where I do my machine sewing.
When I want to dye, print or paint I take over the kitchen and in the evenings, I sit it in the sitting room and do my hand stitching. So, in reality, I take over the whole house. It is a good thing that I have a very tolerant and supportive husband
Where do you find your inspiration for your work?
I have traveled extensively in a wide range of beautiful and dramatic landscapes, but nowhere else speaks to me like the north of England and, in particular, Cumbria. For the first time in my life, I have put down roots. There is a bond with Cumbria that I have never felt before and my work is my response to our house, garden and the landscape that I have come to love.
How has your work evolved over the years?
Initially my work focussed on flowers and trees. I used painted backgrounds, a small amount of print and embroidery. Gradually I became interested in dyeing my own materials, incorporating different print techniques and creating backgrounds from pieced fabrics. I went through a stage where I primarily used free machine stitch. However, recently I have gone back to incorporating more hand stitch.
I have become more aware of the impact of producing and dyeing materials, and I now try to use recycled materials like old sheets, tablecloths and napkins. I keep my scraps and failed pieces of dyeing and printing and rework them. I have also tried eco-printing and Claire Benn’s technique of colouring with earth pigments, which are both techniques that I want to explore in more depth.
Is there an overarching theme that connects all your work?
Stitch and walking have become intertwined within my life. The steady rhythm of walking is echoed in the rhythm of stitch. Walking the varied landscapes, from windswept crags to old abandoned quarries, provides the inspiration. My work, so far, has focused primarily on capturing impressions of walking in the fells. The landscape, the rocks, and the plants.
How often do you start a new project?
I always have a piece of work on the go which will range from working on small experimental samples to a larger piece which might be for a competition, for an exhibition or just because I want to! I can’t sit and do nothing so as soon as one piece is finished, I start on the next, creating pieces at whim.
Ideas for new pieces are not a problem. They come swirling in – the views of the fells, the detail in lichens and mosses, the texture of different rock surfaces, the shapes of tree silhouettes in winter, the colour of flowers. For me the problem is focusing on either a technique or a topic. However, I am now trying to take a more disciplined approach to my work. Focusing on one project at a time for the larger pieces. It is difficult as I think that I have a butterfly brain.
Can you tell us about the inspiration and process of one of your works? How does a new work come about?
Ideas for a new piece of work are constantly bubbling around in my mind. Sometimes, they ferment for a few years before coming to fruition. My current body of work is a case in point. Cumbria has an amazingly industrial past with extensive mining and quarrying, water-powered mills creating a huge variety of products ranging from bobbins for the local textile industry to pencils and iron and steel foundries and engineering works.
I love exploring the decaying industrial buildings and artifacts found on the hills. There is a raw beauty in the rusting objects and my latest body of work will focus on this industrial heritage. In particular, Threlkeld Mining Museum which is a fascinating place. It has a steam train, a collection of vintage excavators and a display of rocks and minerals. It is my grandchildren’s favourite museum and we have been visiting it every year for the last 8 years.
From the first time that I visited I thought that I would like to create some work based around the wonderful old machinery with its rust and peeling paint. In February this year I finally started on my first piece using it as inspiration.
I start with the ideas in my head, photographs, and my sample workbooks. I might use Snapseed to merge photographs. I then dye and print a range of materials. Sometimes, the materials themselves dictate the direction of a piece.
I play with different ideas in my workbooks and experimental samples. You never know when something is going to spark a new idea. Today I was revisiting using Markal oil sticks in my sketchbook and I suddenly realised that they could work perfectly in the industrial pieces that I am currently working on.
Do you do Series Work? How does that affect your approach.
Working to a theme might involve working in series to ensure that there is a continuity between the pieces. When I am working in series, I start by deciding on the number of pieces that the series will include.
For example, I studied the City and Patchwork Diploma and the theme for the final piece was ‘Walking the Wainwrights’. The Wainwrights are 214 fells in the Lake District that are listed in a series of 7 books. In 2022. the group that I walk with decided to walk all 214 Wainwrights in the year. I created one panel for each book based on memories of particular walks.
I started with some dyed fabrics – a few metres, some breakdown printed fabrics and a random collection of other printed, dyed and painted fabrics that fitted the colour palette that I wanted to work to.
For these panels, I was using a sort of disappearing nine-patch. I created 80 squares ensuring that pieces from the larger dyed fabrics repeated throughout the squares. From the 80 squares, I created 7 panels made up of 9 squares.
Although the colours varied across the panels, there was a common base palette that linked them. then worked into each piece adding layers with Markal oil sticks, additional print, various dyed sheer fabrics and machine and hand stitch.
Using pieced, hand-dyed, printed and painted materials enable me to capture the textures, patterns and colours which combine to evoke a feeling of place.
Do you enter juried shows?
I am an active member of Contemporary Quilt and regularly take part in their challenges. I have also entered pieces in the Scottish Quilting Show where I won a Silver in 2019 and this year I won a Gold for ‘Regeneration’ which was made entirely from recycled tablecloths, table mats, and napkins.
I don’t change the way I work when I am entering shows. I just try to make sure that I am happy with my work and that I feel it fits the brief.
I haven’t had the nerve to enter any of the international juried shows. Perhaps that is a personal challenge for the future?
Where can people see your work?
On my website: https://www.kayleech.co.uk/
Interview posted March 2025
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