Sarah Monroe

Stretched, flat, sweater with text on yoke

Sarah Monroe is a textile artist and designer who currently specialises in knit. She is fascinated with the intersections of design, technology, and art. Sarah runs her own business, with her family, designing knitting patterns and hand dyeing yarn. She designs patterns and motifs on hand and machine knits. Working with domestic and industrial knitting machines Sarah works with software to explore the capabilities of these machines.

Using her background in design and her knowledge of technology Sarah has incorporated these skills into her contemporary art practice. Through her time at the RCA she has discovered an enthusiasm for curating and organising shows, enjoying the puzzle of working with different personalities and wide ranging contexts. In the future she plans on continuing with her business, seeking out opportunities to share her art, and working with other like-minded people.

Towards the end of this MA I made a piece of work, that in thinking of it afterwards, expresses much of what I value as an artist. It is a screen-printed work on a scrap piece of pedal-woven woollen cloth. For me, this work is about knowledge and personal connection. The fabric comes from the Isle of Skye, from sheep that live on the island made by hand with a pedal powered loom. The ink is made with natural dye materials, such as indigo, woad, and madder. Finally, the image I chose to print is a grid based on MS Paint, which is software I have used for my entire career as a starting point for designing, for hand knitting and machine knitting.

Unseen

My final project is an exploration into understanding the unseen labour that goes into knitting, a craft that is popularly seen as women's work. In this work I hope to make the unseen visible. In a current climate of erosion of knowledge, free sharing of knowledge is also an important part of this work and a part of my ethos as an artist.

This work uses 5 methodologies of textile techniques.

the start is a woven textile with a screen-printed image. The fabric is 100% Skye wool and the ink is Madder and Cutch natural dye ink.

the middle i is made with British wool on a Shima Seiki knitting machine.

the middle ii is made with the same wool as the industrial knit piece is and was woven on a digital Jacquard loom.

the end is a hand-knit yoke and domestic machine knit body and sleeves. This piece is made with British Shetland wool.