Grace Gatley is an embroidery artist whose work is inspired by heritage buildings, particularly churches, cathedrals and the Arts and Crafts movement. Working with natural dyes and pressed flowers, she translates the atmosphere of historic architecture into contemporary embroidery, preserving the delicacy of nature in stitch, print and cloth.
Grace has spent the last two years refining her contemporary embroidery practice, including during a recent artist residency, and she won second prize in the 2023 Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery. Grace is currently developing a body of work that reimagines stained glass through fabric and thread, alongside running hand-embroidery workshops within her local community. Her teaching stems from a desire to keep traditional embroidery skills alive while blending time-honoured processes with fresh, modern design.
The Emerging Maker Grant will support two key areas of training, the Certificate in Technical Hand Embroidery at the Royal School of Needlework, and a bespoke natural dye programme with Kate Turnbull at The Secret Dyery. These will deepen her technical mastery, strengthen her studio practice, enhance her teaching, and support a possible future pathway into heritage restoration.
