Amanda Haran
About
Born in Bolton, North West England in 1972, and as an extended member of Horrockses weaving pioneers, her fascination with art textiles was inevitable. Refined during her teenage years, she won the Susan Mary Simpson Art Prize and Bolton School Prize for Textiles; opting for a Bachelor of Science Degree in Textile Design and Design Management at Manchester (UMIST), she rummaged through her passion gaining a course prize and an Umbro Design Award.
Having used artistic therapeutic pursuits throughout her degree, she began further education in creative therapy culminating in practitioner qualifications in hypno psychotherapy and stress and anxiety management. Her knowledge of art textiles and formal therapy practices have taken her to work alongside varied societies.
She currently acts as the artist in residence at King Edward VI College, Nuneaton.
Fascinated by the works of Lorina Bulwer, Agnes Richter, and the Common Threads Project, Amanda’s oeuvre encompasses textiles, embroidery, printing, and repurposing the discarded and lost to encourage all’s innate art ability to express emotion, feeling, mood, and memory. Amanda cherishes the connection her work has with the waste, unwanted and misplaced objects of people, echoing the states of numerous.
Portfolio
She'll Do Anything For A Badge Badge
I am fascinated by the badge works of Peter Blake and the power of badges and external recognition in my life. As part of my adventures in art scavenging, I decided to award myself with badges of personality flaw recognition. This rosette is made from all found items including a teabag, work shirt, broken bracelet, trimmings gathered from gifts, fabric from the Processions mass participation project sash and old underwear.
Rotatable Mini Quilt
Textile mini art quilt made from salvaged and repurposed items. I am interested in the reverse or shadow side and wanted to find a way to share these. The quilt turns around a found handle and is decorated with a string of conscious hand embroidered words.
Rotatable Mini Quilt Shadow Side
I love to use words in my art. I think about how I feel or what is important at that time in response to the piece and stitch the answers. Textiles as therapy. Here in stitch are the things unsaid and unseen on the reverse of a mini quilt.
Wilderness Quilt
Made during lockdown and marriage breakdown. Wholly repurposed components including old ties, shirts, kimono scraps, boot laces, bottle tops, trimmings, badges, Japanese rugby 2019 memorabilia.
Wilderness Quilt Expressing Childhood Memories
Childhood drawing added to quilt to represent my past. Mixed media piece art quilt.
Book Of Kells
Textile sculpture created in response to 'The Book of Kells', Dublin. I was given the stash of a religious embroiderer after her death. This was made to honour Kathleen using her materials.
Book Of Kells Shadow Side
The reverse of the Book of Kells piece revealing the shadow side of the free machine embroidery in this textile sculpture.
Book Of Kells Serenity Prayer
Free machine embroidery of the serenity prayer through the piece. A nod to co-dependency and CoDA.
She'll Do Anything For A Badge Badge
The 'top of the tree' textile hand and free machine embroidered accolade. So bursting with used domestic and discarded fabric it has to have its own ground.
She'll Do Anything For A Badge Badge Face
The face of the textile rosette award showing the hand and machine stitching and the careful interplay or words and found items.