I was born and grew up in Yorkshire, England, a center for textiles production for centuries, primarily wool and later also cotton.
Both my mother and grandmother sewed their own clothes and loved beautiful fabrics, and I developed an interest in costume design. My Museums Studies MA dissertation was on the display of historic costume, and on graduating I became Assistant Curator of costume and textiles at the historic house museum Temple Newsam, in Leeds, UK. There I photographed and catalogued an extraordinary collection of historic furnishing fabrics, resulting in the publication of Textiles at Temple Newsam: the Roger Warner Collection, 2000.
After a few years I moved to live with my husband in the heart of the North Carolina Piedmont textile region in a small historic town with two former cotton mills.
Now in my garden studio I'm exploring the rich terrain of weaving, creating functional and decorative pieces using predominately natural fibers, and beginning to tiptoe around the world of natural dyeing.
Both my mother and grandmother sewed their own clothes and loved beautiful fabrics, and I developed an interest in costume design. My Museums Studies MA dissertation was on the display of historic costume, and on graduating I became Assistant Curator of costume and textiles at the historic house museum Temple Newsam, in Leeds, UK. There I photographed and catalogued an extraordinary collection of historic furnishing fabrics, resulting in the publication of Textiles at Temple Newsam: the Roger Warner Collection, 2000.
After a few years I moved to live with my husband in the heart of the North Carolina Piedmont textile region in a small historic town with two former cotton mills.
Now in my garden studio I'm exploring the rich terrain of weaving, creating functional and decorative pieces using predominately natural fibers, and beginning to tiptoe around the world of natural dyeing.
Bower Textiles
I am an independent researcher and consultant on historic textiles, based in the Chapel Hill/Durham area of North Carolina.
I researched, photographed and compiled the catalogue of a fascinating collection of historic furnishing textiles kept at the historic house museum Temple Newsam near Leeds, U.K., Textiles at Temple Newsam: the Roger Warner Collection. Helen Bower Jones
MA Museum Studies, MA Conservation of Historic Buildings |
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