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 her to a whole range of resist techniques
on cotton, silk and paper.
That was over twenty-five years ago, and Anne is still fascinated
by the medium. She says that it is the unpredictability of the
final result that is 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 Anne worked at home, selling her
work at craft fairs. She then rented a studio at Ariundle Centre
in Strontian, Argyll,
for over 13 years where visitors could watch her at work and could
also join a one or two-day batik workshop. Anne thoroughly enjoyed
running these workshops, especially the ones for beginners as their
enthusiasm reminded her of the time she first 'discovered' batik
herself.
Now retired, Anne has returned to doing batik at home and sells
her work through galleries and some local venues. |
