Debbie Lyddon is an artist based in North Norfolk.
Her inspiration comes from being out in the natural world – from walking, noticing, collecting, being curious and learning. She makes mixed media cloths, sculptures, installations and drawings which originate from thoughts and memories that are a consequence of experiencing place and paying attention.
‘Cloth and traditional utilitarian hand-stitching are at the foundation of my work. Cloth is found in coastal environments in the form of tarpaulins, boat covers and sails and I allude to their functional purpose in my work. The materials that I use in conjunction with cloth – salt, bitumen, wax, varnish – are substances that are found in a coastal location and they play an integral part in relating the cloth objects I make to their surroundings.
My practice aims to evoke a multi-sensory interpretation of my surroundings to promote an awareness of the relationship between the visual, aural and tactile landscape.’
My work is informed by:
Things I have noticed and things I have remembered.
The light, water, the weather.
The processes and rhythms of natural phenomena.
Remoteness.
Impermanence, change and degeneration.
Sound, stillness and silence.
Education
MA Contemporary Textiles (2009-2011) University of Hertfordshire
HE Dip Stitched Textiles (2005-2008) Bucks New University
Royal Academy of Music (1978 -1981)
Professional Activities
Member of the 62 Group of Textile Artists
Chair of the 62 Group of Textile Artists, 2018-2021
Trustee North Norfolk Exhibition Project
Publications:
Fragments, 2021
Moments of Being, 2016
Work also in:
Martyn Howe: The Coast is our Compass, Bradt Travel Guides, 2026
Shelley Rhodes: Fragmentation and Repair: For mixed media and textile artists, Batsford, 2021
Hannah Lamb: Poetic Cloth: Creating meaning in textile art, Batsford, 2019
Shelley Rhodes: Sketchbook Explorations: Mixed Media Approaches for Textile Artists, Batsford, 2018
Andra Stanton: Dimensional Cloth: Sculpture by Contemporary Textile Artists, Schiffer Publishing Limited, 2018
Alannah Moore: The Collage Ideas Book, Ilex Press, 2018
Mandy Patullo, Textile Collage, Batsford, 2016
Alice Fox: Natural Processes in Textile Art: From Rust Dyeing to Found Objects, Batsford, 2015
Julia Triston, Contemporary Applique, Batsford, 2014
June Barnes, Exploring Dimension in Quilt Art, Batsford, 2012
Sandra Meech, Connecting Design to Stitch, Batsford, 2012
Kim Thittichai, Experimental Textiles, Batsford, 2009
Teaching
Fibre Arts Take Two, Online Workshop. Sensing Place: A Material Response
Press
Embroidery, The Sewing Room, Quayed Up, Sept/Oct 2024
Kings Lynn Magazine, Issue 92, May 2018, p110-112
Handmade magazine, winter 2017, p38-41
Embroidery, Ebb and Flow, July/August 2017
Art Quilting Studio, Marshscapes by Rice Freeman-Zachery, Summer 2015
Web Articles
Textile artist.org, Responding to environment 2016