Veronica Thornton
Veronica Thornton is a textile artist based in Cambridge. She has a degree in art and education from Goldsmiths, University of London, and an MA from the Royal College of Art.
She taught art in comprehensive schools in south-east London and was head of an art department at a sixth-form college in Lewisham, later teaching at sixth-form level in Cambridge. In 2017 she wrote and self-published a novel, 'The Screaming Alice', based on real events that linked an old railway with paintings by Pissarro.
In 2014 she set up a community textile workshop based at her local library, after being commissioned to make a banner commemorating local men who died in the First World War. That workshop became the Rock Road Textile group, which continues to work on community projects. She has taken part in Cambridge Open Studios and has exhibited at Espacio Gallery in London.
Artist Statement
Maps, aerial photography and local history have been a long-standing interest, consistently featuring in my work. I am interested in the psychological associations of cloth and the role clothes play in identity. Previous projects have made use of fabric and details of clothing.
Recent textile pieces have been inspired by an old apartment in Madrid, the Spanish Civil War, and the coastal erosion of East Anglia, making use of maps, both historical and current.
Techniques are varied and include fusing natural hand-dyed fabrics with an embellisher to create layers and texture, enhanced by hand stitching. Photo transfer, screen printing and mixed-media have all featured in previous work.