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About Moira Simpson
I grew up in a family where art was all around us – both of my parents were art teachers and my mother was a glass engraver. I followed in their footsteps by attending Edinburgh College of Art, where they had met and married. I took sculpture as my main subject and ceramics as a subsidiary, working primarily with clay modelling, plaster, stone carving, bronze casting, forged metal and soft sculpture. However, I was drawn to the emerging field of fibre art, inspired by artists such as Magdalena Abakonwicz and Sheila Hicks, and since then I have primarily used a mixed media and experimental approach to creative textile arts.
In the 1980s and 1990s, I attended numerous workshops and summer schools to extend my skills in areas such as free-machine embroidery, handmade paper, felt-making, digital design for textiles, book-binding, fabric dyeing and painting, dyeing plastics, and encaustic. These included workshops taught by leading UK textile artists including Valerie Campbell-Harding, Jean Draper, Maggie Grey, Janet Edmonds, Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn. I also began exploring the use of wax as a medium, completing a batik workshop in Indonesia and others with artists Hilary Bower (UK) and an encaustic workshop with Patricia Baldwin-Seggebruch (USA).
In my art practice and workshop teaching I use dyed and painted fabrics and fibres, wax resist, encaustic, mixed media, handmade felt, handmade papers, block printing, and free machine embroidery and hand stitching. I particularly enjoy exploring the semi-transparent qualities of finely woven or sheer fabrics, such as cotton scrim, silk chiffon and organza, and exploit their ethereal qualities to create subtle colour variations and build up layers and depth. As well as fabrics, I also incorporate materials such as metal shims, waxed paper and fabric, cork, and wood, to further explore texture and form and take stitched textiles into three-dimensional forms. My inspiration is drawn from sources in the natural world and I seek to express my ideas through impressionistic and abstract or semi-abstract imagery that focuses on colour, texture and form. The use of sheers enables me to create overlays and distressing techniques to evoke the passage of time as well as suggesting multiple cultural and historical references.
The emergence of encaustic as a contemporary art form is an exciting development, as I have found that encaustic painting has an affinity with my textile interests. I am now using encaustic painting techniques, applying and fusing coloured encaustic paints (made from hot bees’ wax, damar resin, and pigments). I combine the layers of hot encaustic medium with collage techniques by embedding papers, sheer fabrics and fibres into the wax, and applying further colour and imagery with sgraffitto, transfer prints, stencils and Pan Pastels. With both sheer fabrics and wax I am able to explore the qualities of transparency and layering to create subtle colour and tonal variations, with the further potential for adding texture and even moving into three-dimensions. Additional textural effects can be achieved with plaster, tar, shellac and flame offering wonderful opportunities for further experimentation.
I offer occasional scheduled workshops in encaustic painting and collage, feltmaking and other media, taught in my studio to small groups of 2-6, and am also available for one-on-one training and mentoring sessions, by arrangement.
You can see examples of my artwork here and check out the workshop gallery page for images of students’ in encaustic workshops that I have taught. You can contact me here.
In the 1980s and 1990s, I attended numerous workshops and summer schools to extend my skills in areas such as free-machine embroidery, handmade paper, felt-making, digital design for textiles, book-binding, fabric dyeing and painting, dyeing plastics, and encaustic. These included workshops taught by leading UK textile artists including Valerie Campbell-Harding, Jean Draper, Maggie Grey, Janet Edmonds, Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn. I also began exploring the use of wax as a medium, completing a batik workshop in Indonesia and others with artists Hilary Bower (UK) and an encaustic workshop with Patricia Baldwin-Seggebruch (USA).
In my art practice and workshop teaching I use dyed and painted fabrics and fibres, wax resist, encaustic, mixed media, handmade felt, handmade papers, block printing, and free machine embroidery and hand stitching. I particularly enjoy exploring the semi-transparent qualities of finely woven or sheer fabrics, such as cotton scrim, silk chiffon and organza, and exploit their ethereal qualities to create subtle colour variations and build up layers and depth. As well as fabrics, I also incorporate materials such as metal shims, waxed paper and fabric, cork, and wood, to further explore texture and form and take stitched textiles into three-dimensional forms. My inspiration is drawn from sources in the natural world and I seek to express my ideas through impressionistic and abstract or semi-abstract imagery that focuses on colour, texture and form. The use of sheers enables me to create overlays and distressing techniques to evoke the passage of time as well as suggesting multiple cultural and historical references.
The emergence of encaustic as a contemporary art form is an exciting development, as I have found that encaustic painting has an affinity with my textile interests. I am now using encaustic painting techniques, applying and fusing coloured encaustic paints (made from hot bees’ wax, damar resin, and pigments). I combine the layers of hot encaustic medium with collage techniques by embedding papers, sheer fabrics and fibres into the wax, and applying further colour and imagery with sgraffitto, transfer prints, stencils and Pan Pastels. With both sheer fabrics and wax I am able to explore the qualities of transparency and layering to create subtle colour and tonal variations, with the further potential for adding texture and even moving into three-dimensions. Additional textural effects can be achieved with plaster, tar, shellac and flame offering wonderful opportunities for further experimentation.
I offer occasional scheduled workshops in encaustic painting and collage, feltmaking and other media, taught in my studio to small groups of 2-6, and am also available for one-on-one training and mentoring sessions, by arrangement.
You can see examples of my artwork here and check out the workshop gallery page for images of students’ in encaustic workshops that I have taught. You can contact me here.
