Since leaving my teaching job a few years ago I have been missing the classroom and when I was asked to run a few workshops through the fabulous Timeless Textiles gallery in Newcastle I jumped at the chance.

I ran two workshops; a one day embroidery workshop and a two day embroidery and resin workshop. Both workshops were run out of the rooms at Newcastle Community Arts Centre (NCAC) and I tried to jam pack each one with a range of skills and techniques based on my own personal art practice. We explored resin embedding, mounting techniques for artwork and of course my signature machine embroidery technique.

The resin embedding allowed everyone to be playful and create their own assemblage artworks by encasing found objects into resin blocks of various shapes. When it came to the embroidery even the sewing novices was flying around those embroidery hoops in no time. We also explored various mounting techniques to bring the embroidered creations to life in small box frames.

Participants came from as far as Melbourne to take part in the course (which was a huge compliment) and i

t was lovely to have such enthusiastic and creative students. I was so impressed with what they came up with and my students have been sending me pictures of the pieces they have been creating at home ever since.

Testimonial from one day workshop:

I have been fortunate to participate In Meredith Woolnough's Sculptural Embroidery Workshop!

It was an amazing day! Meredith is an excellent teacher, her skill and knowledge, ensured everyone created a successful finished artwork.

Meredith was generous, sharing her hard earned secrets and techniques. There was lots of personalised attention and meredith is extremely clever at troubleshooting machine peculiarities!

Looking forward to further workshops!

Charisse Devine