Biography

Mandy Southan originally worked as a textile designer in London before setting up her own studio in the small Surrey village of Betchworth producing hand-printed and painted fabrics. After moving to Hastings in the early nineties, she taught painting & drawing and silk-painting at Hastings College for over ten years during which time she gained further qualifications in teaching and counselling. At the same time, Mandy and her husband, Ian, shared a print / textile studio in the Old Town in Hastings until 1996.

Mandy founded The Guild of Silk Painters with Ian in 1994 with a small group of enthusiastic silk painters living in and around Hastings and she is currently President of the Guild.

She is the author of several books on silk painting, the best-selling Beginner's Guide to Silk Painting, Painting Flowers on Silk and Painted Silk Greetings Cards and a design-source book Flower Designs - all published by Search Press. Currently, she is working on another book for Search Press on Shibori, which is due for publication in 2008.

Mandy works from her studio at home on the West Hill in Hastings and teaches a range of courses privately to individuals and occasionally at West Dean College near Chichester. Mandy enjoys travel and studying textile art with a particular interest in Japanese resist-techniques, such as yuzen-dyeing and shibori, and in ethnic textiles.