About

NOW Gallery invites multidisciplinary artist Daisy Tortuga to host a rug-tufting demonstration in response to My Head is a Jungle, the first exhibition of work by Birmingham-based illustrator Manjit Thapp. The session takes inspiration from textile pieces developed specifically for the show by Manjit. They mark a new exploration for the artist of the intimately tactile potential of realising her illustrations in this way.

The demonstration begins with an introduction to the rug-tufting process, with an overview of tools, yarn colour matching and image transfer. Daisy then demonstrates how to combine all these elements by working live on a new rug piece created directly from a Manjit Thapp illustration. Each attendee takes home a small tufted textile artwork as a gift at the end of the session.

About Daisy Tortuga
Daisy Tortuga is a multidisciplinary artist with a body of work centred around craft and creation. She uses found objects and making to communicate complex emotions and statements, while pushing the perceptions of traditional illustration. Daisy takes an intuitive approach to making, with a process both emotional and cathartic, expressing this in a range of mediums such as quilt, furniture, clothing, wax sculpture, writing and sound.

There is a nostalgic element to the work, bringing domestic spaces into the gallery and distorting them so they can be viewed with new meaning.