Introducing Our Tutors

Alison Cole

Alison has been embroidering for over 25 years, but had always been around embroidery as a child, as her mother was a professional seamstress. She has fond memories of sorting her mother’s threads into colourways. Alison is a regular contributor to Embroidery and Cross Stitch and Australian Country Craft Magazines with projects also appearing in Handmade Magazine and UK Publication Stitch with the Embroiderers’ Guild.
Furthering her studies in embroidery, she gained an Intermediate Certificate through the Embroiderers’ Guild in Melbourne and completed numerous other courses including Train the Trainer Adult Education Course and Art for the Stitch – a design and colour course for embroidery artists.She has also been the recipient of a local Embroiderers’ Guild Branch Scholarship and the prestigious Ethel Oates Scholarship, of which she used part to research the history of metal thread embroidery. Alison has also been the recipient of the Florence Monod Award for Excellence – to top prize awarded at the Royal Melbourne Show – judged over 150 categories.Achievements in 2005 included receiving a Commendation for Stitching Excellence from the Embroiderers’ Guild United Kingdom for their ‘Picture This’ competition and the People’s Choice Award at the Embroiderers’ Guild Victoria Annual Exhibition for the piece Jacobean Elegance. Alison also created a three dimensional floral arrangement of Goldwork Liliums for display at the Johnston Collection’s exhibition ‘Taking Tea with English Bodies’ and is also represented in their collection of decorative arts. During 2006, Alison was a featured artist at the Craft and Quilt Fairs, touring Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and Craft and Quilt Fairs, touring Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and Adelaide, exhibiting and teaching the art of Goldwork. 2007 has seen Alison participating as Artist in Residence for a project with the South Western Branch of the Embroiderers' Guild of Victoria. Her first book 'All that Glitters', featuring Goldwork and Stumpwork embroidery, was released in August 2006 followed by her 2nd book 'The Midas Touch' in 2008.

Lesley Turpin-Delport

All the way from South Africa, Lesley has taught at our events many times, she has a fine arts degree and graduate diploma in teaching and has been an enthusiastic tutor, lecturer, author & designer of art and needle craft since the 1970’s. During her career she has travelled to many countries to exhibit and teach, and had numerous books published. As a designer she has a big focus on using many different textures and techniques in her designs, encouraging her students and giving them the confidence to incorporate their own ideas into their work. There is never a dull moment in Lesley’s workshops.

Nikki Delport-Wepener

Nikki has attended numerous courses in embroidery & needlework (The Royal School, Embroiders Guild and City and Guilds) and has qualified in different styles of embroidery throughout career as well as having Lesley as her mentor. Her latest specialty is creating embroidery art forms in the third dimension using traditional stitches and a wide variety of mixed media techniques. Nikki has delivered accredited embroidery courses and classes in the UK, as well as teaching and lecturing worldwide in freestyle embroidery with Lesley. Nikki currently resides and teaches embroidery at private clubs for the Hong Kong Textile society and the YWCA in Hong Kong.

Gary Clarke

Originally a designer, Gary is now known as much for his dexterity with a needle. Being a male in a female dominated world has been a great advantage, the stereotype being broken enables Gary to look freshly at the subject without rules. The line of design and colour are different from a male perspective, evident from the work of such male designers as William Morris and McIntosh. Gary has studied at Launceston Matriculation and Art Colleges, receiving distinctions in both. He began work with an apprenticeship as a textile designer serving under Rudy Jenny from the Bauhaus School of Design Germany with Universal Textiles in Hobart. Gary is also proficient at water colours, oils, pen and pencil, printing and fabric painting.

As well as travelling Australia and the world teaching, Gary has also written six books on embroidery and textile art and co written 3 books. He is a very creative and inspirational tutor and looks forward to sharing his time with you.

Bets Maas

Born in South Africa, Bets has been living in Australia for the last 28 years. She is best known in embroidery circles for barbola. Like stumpwork, barbola uses detached embroidered pieces to decorate a stitched background. Instead of wire the detached segments are stiffened and moulded - giving a finer and more natural look to the finished artwork. Where once old-fashioned starch was used to stiffen the detached elements, Bets has brought the craft into the 21st century by replacing it with new products like Helmar Fabric and Draping Liquid and Craft Smart Fabric Stiffener which both work like a dream. Her name has become virtually synonymous with barbola embroidery - a unique embroidery technique related to stumpwork. Bets is now continually coming up with fresh designs by tracing them from live plant material or other inspiration from nature. Over the years she has created many exquisite pieces - mostly flowers. Her favourite pieces are the Frangipani as taught at the Koala Conventions 2007 event and the Sweet Pea project that she will be teaching in 2008. Always up for a new challenge she is now creating Jewellery; brooches, necklaces and bracelets. Ndebele beading which has an African connotation features in many of her jewellery projects. Bets is a mad supporter of the Wallabies, but welcomes all New Zealand students into her class.

Catherine Howell

Catherine Howell’s style of embroidery is showcased by her upbringing in the picturesque English Cotswold countryside. Having come from a family of artists Catherine spent her childhood drawing and painting small creatures imagined from life deep within the hedgerows inspired by country outings.

Further inspiration came when she graduated from Gloucestershire College of Art with a First Class Honours degree in Fashion and Textiles. She was tutored by luminaries such as Kaffe Fassett, this instilling her strong sense of colour to her adventurous design work. She then spent several years as a fashion designer and pattern maker both in London and Melbourne.

When her two children were small, Catherine created elaborate Wedding dresses, many of them intricately beaded and embroidered. This opened her into the world of embroidery design and tutoring. Having spent over 15 years in this field, she has built up a strong reputation for her own style of 3- dimensional work, often with one of her signature style drawings as a background. She is regularly featured in embroidery magazines and had a piece of embroidery published in “The Heart of the Matter” embroidery book, which raised valuable funds for the Heart Foundation. This year she has been selected as Featured Artist in Residence for the Expertise Craft and Quilt fairs travelling all around Australia and New Zealand.

Delma Moore

For ten years Delma as been the inspiration behind Blackberry Lane, a mail order business specializing in Brazilian Embroidery.

After purchasing the business ten years ago it has grown to an extensive mail order service offering all things B.E. Delma has introduced over 50 of her own unique designs and earlier this year published her first book – “Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery - A Step by Step Guide”. Orders for her designs come from all over the world and her designs are distributed in the US.

She teaches regular workshops at local stitching groups, craft shops and Guild groups throughout Australia.

Jane Nicholas

Jane Nicholas has been researching and working in the field of embroidery for over twenty years. Specialising in stumpwork and goldwork embroidery, she has written seven books and has contributed widely to journals and magazines on the subject. In 1999 Jane was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to further her studies in stumpwork in the United Kingdom and in 2005 was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for her services to hand embroidery as an artist, teacher, and author.

She teaches widely for Embroiderers’ Guilds and businesses in Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America, and continues to research and develop new techniques - particularly in stumpwork. She is recognised internationally as being at the forefront of modern designers interpreting this form of raised embroidery. Jane’s interests include old textiles, oriental porcelain, insect specimens, and film, music and books. Jane and her husband John live in Bowral, NSW and have three grown-up children.

Jennifer Bennett

Currently up dating bio

Maree Talbot

Robyn Alexander

Anne Mitchell

Mala Liddell

Mala has been an embroiderer and quilter for 30 years. She has taught embroidery and quilting to adults and children for the last 18 years. “I love the sense of accomplishment when a student finishes a piece they thought they were not capable of at the start”. “I always say nothing is impossible and we can achieve great things if we just have a little belief in self”.

Mala has had extensive experience in public relations, advertising working with clients such as Pioneer, Ikea, Bolle to name a few and in the music industry with artists such as Brian Cadd, Little River Band, Skyhooks and Tina Arena. She then went on to administrate a showbiz department at Prahran college TAFE college for several years. After leaving these industries to have her children she found she had more time on her hands and went back to embroidering and quilting. It wasn’t long before a local shop asked her if she would teach for them and the rest is history. Mala has taught at numerous shops since then. She has run classes and workshops in embroidery, needleturn appliqué specializing in Baltimore and quilting. Mala runs a quilting business from her home in Melbourne where she also does quilt commissions and designs new patterns for quilts and embroideries.