Naoimh Larkin is a hand weaver, who recently has move back to Northern Ireland from Scotland to take part in the artist in residency programme at Creative Spark.

After completing her undergraduate degree in Textile Art, at the Belfast School of Art, Naoimh’s desire and passion to continue working in a creative environment enabled her to experience working in a wide range of textile careers, from teaching, working in costume for T. V, Film and Theatre productions to falling in love with weave and working for luxury hand weaving studios in both N. Ireland and Scotland.

Gaining part time employment as a hand weaver and design assistant at Araminta Campbells Scottish Designs, Naoimh decided to continue to explore her passion by completing an MFA in Textiles at the Edinburgh college of Art. Initially inspired by the research of Patricia Belford and her Shadow Tissues revival, Naoimh decided to explore other combinations of weave and print. During her MFA experience Naoimh was been able to undertake extensive research in yarns and materials, exploring and developing methods which enable her to combine traditional handweaving with more contemporary screen-printing processes. Her work explores themes of cloth construction, deconstruction and how one can influence the fabrics weight and density through a combination of these weaving and screen-printing techniques.

Taking inspiration from light and architecture, Naoimh incorporates the sun-bleached colours of her travels and the shapes and structures from her sketches to create hand woven interior pieces. While taking part in the artist in residency Naoimh is excited to continue the development of her own practice, refining the knowledge she has gained from her previous experiences and to push her making skills, to challenge her question of ‘can hand weaving and screen-printing work together?’