Amanda Wright

The textile artist Amanda Wright has a lifelong passion for hand-stitching. Growing up in the U.K., Wright trained in ceramics in Bristol, before completing an MA in Staffordshire. Throughout, she experimented with different mediums, and eventually, after completing her MA, found that her preferred imagery and motifs were better-suited to two-dimensional mediums like the embroidered textile hangings she now creates.

Wright uses only two stitch types, but to great effect. Wright’s use of chain stitching and back stitching of coloured yarns onto a quilted cotton surface enables a foreground and a background to be clearly discerned, while the raised, cushiony texture of the textile adds layers of depth to Wright’s work. The variety of coloured yarns ensures that natural colours of the world, like the pink gradient of a shrimp, or the manifold shades of yellow on a seagull’s beak, are painstakingly hand-stitched into existence. Wright’s work is heavily influenced by themes that are present in nature; courtship, motherhood, feeding, and the ordinariness and comfort of everyday life provide ample sources of inspiration for Wright’s pieces, and the exhibition of these themes through Wright’s more recent exploration of the abundant flora and fauna of the U.K. is particularly enchanting.

Wright’s personal experiences have always influenced her work, but her approach remains the same no matter the subject matter, as handstitched embroidery is a long, slow process, one that allows significant reflection time as the work is brought to completion. Wright notes that she maintains a positive attitude toward life, and hopes to share her enjoyment at the natural world through her work. As such, Wright and her husband, the ceramicist Daniel Wright, set up the Goat Street Gallery in St. Davids, to provide the artistic community with an exhibition space and share her and her husband’s love for art. Additional to the Gallery, Wright has been commissioned by the St. Davids cathedral, and has exhibited frequently around the U.K. throughout her over 30 years of practice.

The Boat – A boat crossing the seas to Ireland flying pennants with the words “bid ben, bid bont – He would be a leader, let him be a bridge”.

These were the words in the Mabinogion spoken by Bendigeidfran, the giant King of Britain as he lay across the River Shanon for this army to cross and rescue his sister Branwen from the Irish King. The ship’s sail depicts the raven of Roch Castle holding a bundle of kindling in tis talons and a snake in its beak.

The Raven – A Raven in flight holds a Roch fish in its talons. In its beak is a pearl, symbol of the orient, Roch Castle appears together with St. Brynach in a boat traveling across the ocean. The Fleur de Lys refers to the Norman knight, Adam De la Roche who built Roch Castle in 1190.

Roch Castle – A collage of images of the castle includes the names of historical figures of significance associated with the castle and which the rooms are named for. A peregrine falcon blind in one eye would once frequent the castle. Other local birds fly through the air. The dove, symbol of St David is on the right.