Welcome!
Studio Sessions is the place to find Linda and Laura Kemshall, the mother/daughter creative team behind DesignMatters Art & Craft School. Working together since the 90s they’ve brought their passion for art, drawing, sketchbooks, painting, print and stitch to thousands of students all over the world.
Their online video courses and workshops are recorded in their studios. With their warm and friendly teaching and generous sharing of ideas and knowledge you’ll feel like you’re right there in the room.
Alongside teaching, Linda and Laura have exhibited their work all over the world. They’ve written books such as the Painted Quilt, and collaborated on projects like thr3fold Journals, and Through Our Hands Magazine. They’ve been columnists for Quilting Arts Magazine and been featured in many other titles.
Laura…
I always find these introductions and bios the hardest things to write, it feels more than a little weird to talk about yourself. Fortunately, I love writing about the art that I do and the things that I make. Drawing has always been my favourite and best thing; I love nothing more than the first page of a new sketchbook and all the potential that those pages have. My sketchbooks are the place I go to to figure things out, to ask the questions and capture the things that I’m fascinated by. The pages are sometimes messy, disconnected and unresolved but at the same time they are mines of information that feed everything else that I do.
Those other things that I do? Well from time to time I make quilts. Sometimes, after a particular involved and time-consuming quilt, I swear I’m never going to make another, but every time I’m drawn back. Why? I like the format, that big square on the wall. I like the wrestle with the cloth under the needle of the sewing machine. I like challenging myself to see if I can do something. I like the surface, the magic of a coloured line of thread, the pattern, the freedom of cut, sew, cut, apply, sew, print, quilt, paint, quilt.
I think I’d like people to think of me as a painter, but at the moment I don’t paint enough for that to happen. I’m working on that. Painting is the most difficult and so I find it the most appealing. It’s the code I want to crack, the mountain that I most want to climb.
I feel very lucky to be able to do what I love every day. I hope that I can inspire you to do the same.
Linda…
I agree with Laura in that it’s painful having to write about yourself. It inevitably ends up like, “I did this and I did that” and always sounds so self obsessed. Suffice it to say I’ve been involved with art in its many varied forms for more years than I care to remember. I’ve exhibited in many different countries and been fortunate to win several prestigious awards for my quilts. I’ve taught here in the UK as well as in Europe and North America and for over twenty years online. Laura and I offered the first ever online City and Guilds certificated textile and sketchbook courses in the UK and I was honoured to be made a Licentiate of C&G for services to training when I was their National Advisor for Stitched Textiles. I have been a quilt judge both home and abroad and have loved travelling to meet so many people who share my love of all things creative. How lucky am I to be able to work at something I love?
My passion for painting transcends all other creative interests but quiltmaking comes a very close second and in my ideal world I do my best to combine the two things. I’ve been painting my quilts since the mid nineties. In fact, I don’t really distinguish between quiltmaking and painting. Whatever I can do in my sketchbook or on canvas I can do on cloth. I just see the elements of design regardless of how I use them.
We both hope that you’ll enjoy following our posts here and that if you are new to us and our work you’ll find something that will appeal to you and get you itching to be creative yourself!
Why are we on Substack?
We’ve accompanied our online classes with a weekly newsletter for years. Alongside we’ve also blogged, written for magazines and had books published and self-published. It makes sense to bring all of that into one place. Our weekly newsletter is, and will always be, free for everyone to access. Substack provides us with a platform where we can offer our writing to you in an easily accessible and affordable way.
We’ve always been so grateful to everyone who has supported our work in one way or another. Maybe you just enjoy the free newsletter, have taken online courses with us, enjoyed our books or magazine features, or even bought one of our original artworks. Please know that we very happy to have you join us for this creative life.
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