Meet Nao Nagamura who joined the Future Tutors programme in 2019 and is currently in her second year.  Nao explains her journey to the RSN and her aspirations for when she finishes her course.

“I began to learn hand embroidery as a hobby and have grown very fond of its diversity and long tradition.  I am also very interested in understanding more about the craft.  My former embroidery teacher in Japan knew about the RSN, and suggested that I look into courses and classes. After I moved to the UK in 2018, I found out about the Future Tutors programme on the RSN’s website.

The course is very demanding as we learn all the techniques that are taught at the RSN within three years.  It contains a broad range of topics from embroidery techniques and history to art & design and how to teach. I feel now that I am having the busiest/hardest days I have ever experienced but I am happy that I can devote all my time to what I love.

I have been working on projects with my own sub theme, re-creating masterpieces with embroidery, such as Man Ray’s “Glass Tears” in Blackwork, Picasso’s drawings in Whitework, Bonnard’s “Dusk (A Round of Croquet)” in mixed Canvas Stiches. I wanted to explore new possibilities with embroidery and think about the relationship between art and craft. Now I am working on creating portraits of artists and more art related pieces are yet to come!
I have liked all of the techniques that I have learned so far, but I found ‘shading’ work (such as Silk shading, Canvas Shading and Blackwork) to be the most interesting.

Also last year (when Covid restrictions were eased) we attended a dyeing class for making backgrounds to our projects. Since then, I have experimented on natural dyeing methods, using vegetables, tealeaves and plants.  In addition, this year we studied about Adult education as a part of this course and it helped me understand embroidery from a teaching and education perspective.

As you may see from above, Future Tutors Programme gives you a broad range of opportunities and experiences related to embroidery and teaching. I am sure you will spend the most intense but fruitful three years on the Future Tutors Programme.”

« back