My 1985 Fellowship introduced me to the traditions of resist printing and indigo dyeing in former Czechoslovakia. It stimulated my creative practice as a textile artist, informed my extensive career as a senior lecturer in printed and dyed textiles, and formed a foundation for future research.

Subsequent projects have included an EU-funded design consultancy in block printed textiles in Rajasthan, India (1989) and an art residency in indigo dyeing in Mashiko, Japan (2016). In 2018 I contributed to the inscription of resist block printing and indigo dyeing in Europe to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. I am elected Chair of the Textile Society in the UK.

My current research is developing a critical perspective of resist dyeing, exploring metaphorical and performance meanings in the subject. I have learned that, from colour in the dye room to global culture, cloth crosses boundaries. Textiles are at the heart of our humanity, and my creative practice has always been most profound when working in different cultures and communities. In my experience, a mutual understanding and common language through textiles binds us together.