Tamlin Blake

A prominent aspect of Blake’s work is her fascination with materials and manipulating new mediums in ways which take them past the merely decorative or prosaic. She was instrumental in developing beading techniques which are now used by various South African artists. Her own recent work consists of tapestries, woven from re-cycled hand-spun newspaper. She also works closely with various studios including the Spier Artisan Studio and The Keiskamma Arts Project to help produce collative works in mosaic and embroidery.

Visually and conceptually Tamlin’s newspaper tapestries and mixed media artworks explore how stories weave themselves around us. She is interested in how individual identities are affected by the lives of others, how their stories insinuate themselves into other people’s realities and affect our thinking and belief structures.