Hand weaving is a way of life for Liz Christy. She studied art and design in Galway in the mid eighties and specialised in hand-woven textiles. Her weaving studio is in a renovated labourers cottage in the village of Annyalla, Co. Monaghan, Ireland where she lives with her husband Pat and dog Aurora.
1998 saw her launch a range of scarves that are inspired by the colour and texture in the paintings of Claude Monet. These are now established in some of the best craft retail outlets in Ireland.
Monet's artist eye saw the world through colour, capturing the changing effects of light under diverse weather conditions and he was able to use colour wonderfully. As a textile designer and hand weaver Liz seeks to echo Monet's visions as he caught the most fleeting of nature's moments. Her scarves drape and flow beautifully giving the wearer a sense of elegance and pleasure, as Monet's paintings give pleasure to the world.Liz Christy was born in 1965, in the market town of Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan in southern Ireland. She is the youngest of five siblings. From the youngest age she had pencil or crayon in hand, always drawing something.
Encouraged by her family, she found a special mentor in her elderly next-door neighbour, Molly. This lady was a painter and dressmaker, and she dabbled in many artistic pursuits. Liz watched her as she treadled away on her Singer sewing machine and was fascinated by her pinking shears. Her first memory of woven fabric is of 'fraying' the colourful threads in the zigzagged scraps on the floor.
Throughout her early schooling, art always featured highly for Liz as she entered the local competitions. Post Primary education introduced her to the wonders of Monet and his paintings as she prepared to apply to Art College. At sixteen years old she stepped into college life to study art and design in Galway and in 1986 she graduated with distinction in Woven Textile Design.
Thereafter she did a business start up course and established her weaving workshop in her hometown of Castleblayney. Three years on, she went travelling in Australia with her husband to be, Pat. On their return a year later she started work as a stitcher in a factory making underwear. They got married and bought and renovated a labourers cottage in the village of Annyalla, a few miles from Castleblayney always with the plan to get the loom set up again. It took a while and eventually six years to the day that it was wrapped in newspaper, it was 'reborn' in the studio at Swallow Cottage.
Liz sat on the floor of her studio surrounded by colourful yarn and thoughts of Monet came to mind. Inspiration had dawned. She lived with the idea for a while, playing with colour and sampling on the loom. Her Monet book, (bought through a book club while working in the factory), became her bible of colour and texture. And so began a contemporary craft workshop, producing beautiful hand-woven scarves and shawls which are inspired by the Impressionist paintings of Claude Monet, 1840 - 1926.
