UNmaking, Remaking and Rediscovering: A Conversation with Textile Artist Ruth Issett

How a former tutor's influence continues to shape the way we think about colour, materials and creative development.

Sometimes an exhibition or a piece of artwork makes you think about someone who influenced your own creative journey many years ago.

That happened to me recently when I came across UNmaking, an exhibition by the Textile Study Group, and discovered that one of the exhibiting artists was my former City & Guilds tutor, Ruth Issett.

I studied with Ruth at Ashford in Kent during the 1990s, and although many years have passed, there are things she taught me that I still remember and apply to my work today.

Three things stand out particularly clearly: her fearless approach to colour, her insistence that we interpret rather than simply copy what we see, and her willingness to take existing work apart to discover something new.

That last lesson was particularly memorable because Ruth encouraged me to deconstruct a piece of my own work during my studies.

I still have that piece today.

So when I read about UNmaking, I was intrigued. Here was Ruth, all these years later, exploring ideas that had been part of her teaching philosophy decades earlier.

I decided to get in touch.

To my delight, Ruth remembered me, and our subsequent correspondence developed into a fascinating conversation about her work, her teaching and the importance of continuing to experiment.

A Teacher Who Encouraged Us to Think Differently

One of the strongest memories I have of studying with Ruth is her approach to colour.

She encouraged us to be adventurous, to move beyond familiar combinations and not be afraid of making bold decisions.

Colour was never simply something added at the end to make a piece attractive. It was fundamental to the development of the work.

When I mentioned this in my email, Ruth confirmed that colour remains central to her practice today.

Another important lesson concerned interpretation.

As students, we might begin with a photograph, drawing or piece of research, but Ruth wanted us to develop those initial ideas rather than merely reproduce them.

She explained that the process involves transforming an idea through materials, techniques and design decisions until it becomes something individual.

This approach has remained with me throughout my own textile practice.

I often begin with photographs or observations, but the challenge is deciding what interests me about the original subject and how I can communicate that through fabric, thread, colour and texture.

The aim isn't necessarily to create something that looks exactly like the original image.

It is to make something that expresses my interpretation of it.

What Does UNmaking Really Mean?

The Textile Study Group's exhibition, UNmaking: An Exploration of Process and Practice, challenges our assumptions about how textile work is created.

Normally, we think about making as a process of construction: adding layers, stitching pieces together, building surfaces and working towards a finished object.

But what happens when we reverse that process?

What if we remove threads, unravel fabrics, cut apart existing pieces or deliberately take something towards the point of destruction?

Can the act of taking something apart become a creative process in its own right?

These questions lie at the heart of the exhibition.

For Ruth, however, unmaking isn't a completely new idea.

She explained that revisiting, altering and reconstructing work is an important part of developing an artist's individual visual language, or what she calls their creative handwriting.

Over time, we develop preferences, recurring themes and ways of responding to materials. These don't necessarily disappear when we begin a new project.

Instead, they continue to develop and reappear in different forms.

That is something I find particularly interesting because it suggests that no creative experiment is necessarily wasted.

Something we made years ago might still contain an idea worth exploring today.

Structural Disintegration: Taking Fabric Almost to Destruction

For UNmaking, Ruth developed two related pieces titled Structural Disintegration I and Structural Disintegration II.

These works explore her long-standing fascination with delicate, transparent and translucent fabrics.

She told me that working with Mandy Clayton during a weekend of experimentation had encouraged her to push some of these ideas further.

The challenge was to take a selection of fabrics almost to the point of destruction, yet create something extraordinarily delicate and ethereal.

In Structural Disintegration I, Ruth worked with white, undyed fabrics, gathering them, removing threads and creating small pleated forms.

These delicate pieces were then arranged inside a transparent specimen case.

I find the idea fascinating.

Fabric is usually something we associate with strength, flexibility and construction. Yet here, through a process of removing and manipulating its structure, it becomes fragile and almost weightless.

The specimen case gives the pieces a sense of importance, as though these tiny fragments are objects requiring careful preservation and examination.

© Ruth Issett, courtesy of the artist

Ruth described the work as incredibly challenging, particularly as she was experiencing difficulties with her eyesight at the time.

Despite those challenges, she completed a piece she clearly feels very strongly about.

Then came an interesting reaction.

People who knew Ruth's work began asking where all her colour had gone!

And so Structural Disintegration II developed.

This time, she returned to the same basic principles but introduced strong colours and softer, more fluid fabrics.

The gathered and fringed pieces became much less controlled, arranged on a shelf where they appear almost ready to tumble down the wall.

In Ruth's own words, they were "sort of out of control!"

I love the contrast between these two pieces.

One is restrained, delicate and enclosed. The other is exuberant, colourful and almost escaping its display.

Both begin with the same exploration of fabric, yet the results are remarkably different.

It demonstrates how an idea can continue to develop without simply repeating what has already been achieved.

© Ruth Issett, courtesy of the artist

Knowing Your Materials

One of the most interesting parts of my correspondence with Ruth concerned her relationship with the materials she uses.

Over many years, she has worked with a particular selection of fabrics, learning how they respond to different treatments.

She understands how they tear, fold, pleat, stitch, layer, dye and behave when combined with other materials.

That knowledge hasn't come simply from reading about techniques.

It has come from handling materials repeatedly, experimenting with them and discovering their characteristics through experience.

I think this is such an important point for anyone interested in textile art.

It is possible to learn how to perform a technique by following instructions, watching a demonstration or attending a workshop.

But understanding why something works, and how we might adapt it to achieve a different result, takes time.

We need to handle the materials ourselves.

A fabric that behaves beautifully when stitched might react very differently when painted, heated or combined with another surface.

Sometimes we can anticipate the results. Sometimes we can't.

And occasionally, the unexpected result becomes the most interesting part of the experiment.

The Value of Old Sketchbooks and Unfinished Work

I was particularly interested to hear Ruth discussing her sketchbooks.

Like many textile artists, she has accumulated a considerable collection over the years.

Some document journeys and the development of particular ideas. Others record colour combinations, dye experiments and memories of places she has visited or taught.

Recently, she has been revisiting these books and recognising themes that have continued throughout her working life.

Sometimes an old idea suddenly seems relevant again.

Ruth made the point that there is little value in starting from the beginning every time if something you have already explored offers a useful starting point.

I think many of us can relate to this.

How many sketchbooks, fabric samples and unfinished experiments do we have tucked away in cupboards and drawers?

We often regard them as things we made in the past, perhaps even as unsuccessful projects that were never completed.

But perhaps we should look at them differently.

They are records of our creative development.

A colour combination that didn't seem quite right ten years ago might be perfect for something we are working on now.

A fabric experiment that never became a finished piece might hold the answer to a new problem.

Sometimes revisiting the past is exactly what we need to move forward.

Knowing When to Stop

Another observation Ruth made really struck a chord with me.

As textile artists, we can become so absorbed in making that we forget to stand back and look properly at what we are doing.

We enjoy stitching, machining, adding layers and developing surfaces.

But sometimes we simply do too much.

Ruth described how she likes to pin work up, live with it for a while and move elements around before making final decisions.

Colours, shapes, patterns and textures can be rearranged until the composition begins to feel right.

A piece might be left for several days before she returns to it with fresh eyes.

And what seemed essential at the beginning might no longer be needed.

This is something I think we can all learn from.

There is a temptation to measure the value of our work by the amount of time we've spent on it.

If we've spent hours stitching something, it can feel almost impossible to remove it.

Yet those hours don't necessarily make the work better.

Sometimes taking something away, simplifying a composition or completely changing direction produces a stronger result.

And occasionally, we need to accept that a piece has gone as far as it should.

The Importance of Working with Other Artists

Ruth has been a member of the Textile Study Group since the mid-1990s, and she speaks warmly about the opportunities it offers.

The group brings together professional textile practitioners with different backgrounds, skills and approaches to making.

Their work involves much more than simply gathering finished pieces for exhibitions.

Developing ideas, planning projects, organising exhibitions and sharing knowledge are all important parts of the group's activities.

One particularly important aspect is the group's annual residential Summer School, which provides opportunities for members to work, teach, learn and develop their creative practice together.

Ruth also explained that members have regular individual conversations with a group mentor. These reviews encourage reflection, professional development and a critical examination of their work.

I find this particularly interesting because it demonstrates that even experienced professional artists benefit from discussing their work, questioning decisions and exploring new directions.

Ruth describes the collaborative work of the Textile Study Group as another form of creative process.

I can understand exactly what she means.

Working alongside other artists can introduce us to ideas and approaches we might never have considered independently.

Even when everyone is working on their own projects, conversations and shared experiences can provide encouragement and fresh perspectives.

It is one of the reasons I value opportunities to meet and work with other creative people.

A New Chapter in Ruth's Creative Journey

In recent years, Ruth has made some significant changes to her working life.

After many years of teaching, she has largely stepped away from it to concentrate on developing her own work.

Downsizing and moving to a smaller studio required adjustments to both the scale of her pieces and the way she works.

But those changes have also given her an opportunity to revisit ideas, evaluate her materials and explore certain themes in greater depth.

During the process of sorting through her fabrics, she rediscovered pieces she had dyed and printed over many years.

Rather than simply putting them back into storage, she began considering how they might be developed into new work.

This has led to a collection of pieces incorporating richly coloured fabrics, layering and stitch, bringing together ideas connected with the printing and cutting implements she has used throughout her career.

This work is being developed in connection with Implement, another Textile Study Group exhibition, opening at Dean Clough Mills in Halifax in March 2027.

I find this especially encouraging.

After a lifetime of teaching, exhibiting and creating, Ruth is still finding new possibilities in familiar materials and previously explored ideas.

Creative development doesn't have to follow a straight line.

Sometimes it involves returning to something we thought we'd finished years ago and discovering that we now see it differently.

What Ruth's Teaching Still Means to Me

Writing to Ruth after so many years has made me think about the teachers who influence us and the things we carry forward from our studies.

At the time, we might not always appreciate why a tutor encourages us to do something we find uncomfortable.

I certainly remember Ruth encouraging me to take apart a piece of work I had created!

But the purpose wasn't simply to destroy something.

It was to question what could happen next.

Could the work become something more interesting? Could we reuse part of it? Could we look beyond the effort already invested and discover another possibility?

These questions remain relevant to my work today.

I still enjoy experimenting with colour, manipulating materials and developing ideas through different techniques.

And although my work has changed considerably since those City & Guilds days, I can recognise the influence of Ruth's teaching in the way I approach it.

Perhaps that is one of the most valuable things a good teacher can give us.

Not simply a collection of techniques, but the confidence to question, experiment and make our own decisions.

An Ongoing Conversation

Our correspondence has reminded me that making art is not simply about producing finished objects.

It is about developing ideas, understanding materials, recognising our own creative handwriting and being willing to reconsider work we thought was complete.

Ruth's Structural Disintegration pieces demonstrate that even the act of removing, unravelling and taking something apart can lead to something extraordinary.

And her continued exploration of colour, fabric and composition shows that there is always something new to discover.

I'm very grateful to Ruth for taking the time to share her thoughts and experiences with me, and for providing photographs of her work to accompany this article.

It has been a pleasure to reconnect after so many years and to discover just how relevant those early lessons remain.

Perhaps the next time you find yourself looking at an unsuccessful piece of stitching, an old fabric sample or a sketchbook you haven't opened in years, you might consider giving it another chance.

It may not be finished with you yet.

Further Reading and Exhibitions

To explore Ruth's work and find out more about the Textile Study Group, visit:

The Textile Study Group

UNmaking: An Exploration of Process and Practice

UNmaking is showing at the Museum in the Park, Stroud, until 8 November 2026.

Implement – Textile Study Group

Implement takes place at Dean Clough Mills, Halifax, from 20 March to 23 May 2027.