A TEXTILE artist turned author has spoken of her pride at publishing her second book.

Lynne Stein’s artwork has been exhibited widely, and commissioned for a variety of public, corporate and domestic spaces.

Living in Knutsford, Lynne has taught extensively in a variety of community, educational and healthcare settings, and also runs private workshops.

Having had work featured in books and magazines, and on television and radio broadcasts, she took the plunge to put all her experience and teachings down in written form in her first book, Rag Rug Creations: An exploration of colour and surface in 2014

But during lockdown Lynne felt moved enough to write her second book - Shedding the Shackles: Women’s Empowerment through Craft.

The book is described as being a celebration of female inventiveness and aesthetic sensibility, exploring women’s craft enterprises, their artisanal excellence, and the positive impact their individual projects have on breaking the poverty cycle.

Featuring artisans and projects from across the globe Shedding The Shackles celebrates their vision and motivation giving a fascinating glimpse into how these craft initiatives have created a sustainable lifestyle, and impacted upon their communities at a deeper level.

Lynne explains how her move to produced books came about.

“I’ve been a professional textile artist for the last 40 years,” she said.

“As well as teaching in various situations I run a lot of workshops and hope to do so again post-Covid.

“I guess I just thought I had a lot of knowledge I could impart and write for people that would be inspiring.

“That’s how the first book came about, which I am actually writing an updated edition of now.”

“For the new book, one of the things I love most about travelling is actually looking at indigenous folk art and encountering the people who make the work.

“I’ve been a magpie collector over the years and I suppose enjoy in my own way, curating it around the home.

“So it’s a little bit like selecting music for people really.

“I very much had a desire to share the things I find visually exciting.

“I could envisage all this as like a kind of aesthetically interesting coffee table type book, which is what it is really.

“As the idea took hold, it obviously meant carrying out research far more in depth, which is something I found really interesting.

“It also allowed me to acknowledge that many of these crafts were passed down in a matriarchal lineage, from grandmother, to mother to daughter.

“And its also about how many of these crafts are being revamped and re-surfacing in contemporary ways.

“In many ways, lots of these crafts have also served to break the poverty cycle in communities.”

Knutsford Guardian: Knutsford-based artist Lynn Stein has just published her second book

Lynne with a copy of her latest book outside Waterstones in Knutsford town centre

With travelling for passion or pleasure very much on hold at the moment, Lynne said the Atlas Mountains in Morocco was definitely a place she would like to go back to.

“Particularly the rug making traditions, which is something I would very much like to go back and watch the different weaving traditions,” she said.

“I would also very much like to see Japan and also Mexico, where I was due to go before Covid hit and I had to cancel my plans and hold meetings virtually instead.”