Jane Atkinson

Jane Atkinson has spent half her life pursuing a dream – that bobbin lace could establish a place in modern life. She sees it not as an arcane hobby but as real currency – on the wall as Art Lace, around the house as a colourful furnishing, or as Wearable Art. She has taught lace design around the globe, exhibited across Europe, and counts as her greatest achievement that she persuaded Arts Council England to back her solo show, Ebb’n’Flow, in Dorset in 2018; With Dagmar, Denise and Pierre, she exhibited in ‘Lace, not Lace’ at the Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, New Jersey in 2018, and shared ‘Fils Comuns’ with Denise Watts for Arenys de Mar Lace Museum, Catalonia, the following year. She has also written three books.

Pierre Fouché

Pierre Fouché trained to be a sculptor, but he fell in love with thread early in his art career. Crochet was a gateway drug to bobbin lace for him around 2009, and today he introduces himself as a lacemaker. His work has been shown in Cape Town and beyond, forming a part of the exhibitions Women’s work (2016) and Materiality (2020) at the Iziko South African National Gallery, Crafted: Objects in flux at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (2018), as well as the touring exhibition, Queer Threads: Crafting Identity and Community, first exhibited at the Leslie + Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York (2015). His work is represented in the public collections of the Iziko South African National Gallery, The Norval Foundation (Cape Town) & the Artphilein Foundation, Switzerland. Fouché lives and works in Cape Town.

Denise Watts

Denise Watts’ love affair with bobbin lace started with the doing, but quickly became a fascination with what it could do, and through this process became a language for self-expression. Exploring simple techniques and investigating what they can achieve is her adventure, and using it to make lace that is relevant to today is imperative too. Denise has taught, (to exam qualification standard), lectured (including the National Gallery in London), exhibited (including international juried Exhibitions) but her magnum opus was experiencing women’s change in perspective on how they viewed their lives during her 2019 Exhibition ‘The Little Women” shown in London and Dublin.

Lieve Smets

Lieve's quietly unassuming and delicate art lace shows an interest in the aesthetics of decay, which she uses to elaborate on repeating themes of memory, loss, the body, and nature. It is her acute awareness of how materials, techniques, concept and intention are interwoven that put her on our radar as a perfect candidate to help you take your lacemaking to new heights. We are delighted to welcome Lieve as a TAL mentor.
Lieve is no stranger to the international lace and art world. She achieved a Masters in Fine Arts degree at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp in 1998 and has since then been actively exhibiting and teaching art and lacemaking. Her most recent solo presentation "Raaklijnen" was shown at the Stedelijk Museum Aarschot: an opportunity afforded her for winning the Aarschotse Cultuurraad Prize in 2022. Her work has appeared in numerous group exhibitions and publications, notably "Moderne Gründe", Deutscher Klöppelverband, 2013, "Lace in Flanders/Kant in Vlaanderen" by Martine Bruggeman in 2018, and "La Dentelle dans l’art contemporain" by Blandine Pouzin in 2021. Lieve lives and works in Rillaar.

Dagmar Beckel-Machyckova

Dagmar Beckel-Machyckova fell in love with lace as a nine year old girl in the mountains of Slovakia. While she grew up in Prague, Czech Republic, where she also attended the Institute of Art Manufacturing, earning a degree in lacemaking, she now lives and works in Wisconsin, USA. She is equally fascinated by the historic peasant laces of Central Europe and the potential of contemporary lace. She has taught lacemaking across the United States for local guilds and since 2012 has been regularly invited to teach at the International Organization of Lace, Inc (IOLI) Annual Convention. Dagmar’s articles have been published in both European and American magazines. She has also participated in local juried exhibitions: Arts West, 38 (2017), Confluence of Art (2018); statewide exhibitions: On Wisconsin Fiber Arts Biennial (2019-2020), as well as international ones: Lace, not Lace (2018).

Please note that Dagmar is currently on a Sabbattical, her teaching slot for 2023 will be fulfilled by Lieve Smets.

Marian Tempels

Marian is our first guest teacher on TAL. For those who don't know Marian, she is the Leonardo da Vinci of bobbin lace -  striking an incredible balance between rigorous research and inspiring art. We are honoured to have her share some of her recent lace technique discoveries with us. They are very special, doubly so because we saw some of it germinate in discussions on the Point Fusion Forum (recently migrated to Discord). The title of her course, starting in June 2023 on our Patreon page is "Embellished Clothwork" - where she teaches us how to create otherworldly clothwork with assymetrical stitches on a more open clothwork configuration.

Nicole Gammie

Nicole is our second guest teacher. She had the chance to learn lace at a young age after her mother learnt having seen it being made at a local craft fair in Australia.  Like many others, Torchon was the first option, followed by Buckinghamshire Point and Bedfordshire during high school.  It was a challenge at this stage due to the limited variety of patterns available that young lacemakers would find interesting.  With completing formal schooling and commencing work, Nicole moved around a bit providing opportunities to try other types of lace including Milanese, Honiton and other local variations.  More recently, she is experimenting with lace and embroidery and designing.

Nicole's course "Lace Books" is now available in entirety on our Patreon page.