Burbidge was trained in fashion and textiles at St Martin’s School of Art and began creating quilt art in the 1970s. Since then her technique has continually evolved, and her work has featured in several high-profile exhibitions, including ‘Quilts 1700–2010’ at the Victoria and Albert Museum. In Lindisfarne Revisited, Burbidge attempts to capture the essence of her visits to Northumberland: ‘I love to visit on a fine clear day as the tide is receding, leaving crinkled sand and standing pools of water. The atmosphere is electric to me; to me, it creates a spiritual awareness of those who came before, as well as a sense of oneself as but a speck of sand on the earth.’ The fabric has been dyed using sand from the Lindisfarne causeway, and gathered stitches are used to emulate the texture of rippled sand. While Burbidge’s earlier works were made to preconceived designs, Lindisfarne Revisited was created intuitively, using the sewing machine as a freeform drawing tool.

Provenance

The artist.