Meet the Maker – Irish Lace, A New Tradition
Fiona Harrington – Irish Lace, A New Tradition
Fiona Harrington once again brings her wonderful lacework to Dublin Maker 2015. Handmade Lace has existed in Ireland for almost 200 years, but today only a handful of lacemakers remain. It is a highly skilled and a very rare practice. This year Fiona has been working with a group of scientists trying to find new ways to show how climate change is affecting the world’s marine ecosystems. She is exploring this through a series of petri-dish studies showing how handmade lace can reflect microcosms created in nature. As well as this, Fiona will be bringing samples from a commission piece where she combined traditional lace techniques with CNC engraving and plexi-glass. Come see how this traditional practice has been kept alive and revitalised through her innovative approaches to making.
Fiona Harrington uses Fine Art techniques to depict Irish landscapes through handmade lace. A fine artist, Fiona has replaced paint with a needle and thread. Inspired by the Irish landscape, she combines traditional Kenmare needlepoint with Carrickmacross Lace creating her own unique style of artwork. Each piece is meticulously worked by hand with thread as fine as a human hair. This thread is delicately intertwined to create a network of patterns using the single buttonhole stitch. Through her innovative approach to lace, the heritage and history of lacemaking in Ireland is reinvigorated and preserved.