About

Lynn Gray Ross

Lynn lives on the Isle of Arran in Southwest Scotland.

You can see her work on the Gallery page of this website

She has an MA(Hons) degree from the University of Stockholm in Linguistics and English as a Foreign Language.

Lynn has been a textile artist on the island for the past 32 years funding and managing many craft-based community projects on the island.

Lynn was born in Kilmarnock and spent her teens and twenties in the USA and Sweden.

She learned to knit as a child and studied weaving in Stockholm at Handarbetetsvänner.

Lynn was the director of Silverbirch Workshop in Whiting Bay for many years, teaching students who came to her from colleges worldwide.

She has travelled extensively in the UK, the US & Europe, as a delegate from Scotland, teaching practical skills and advising on the development of craft projects as a tool for regeneration in rural communities.

Lynn has been an advisor to the government of Lesotho and the Tristan da Kunha Administration on the reintroduction of traditional craft production to the local economy.

Her work is exhibited on Arran and in textile exhibitions worldwide.

She says about her work:

“The inspiration for my knitting and weaving comes from the island, reflecting the constant changes in the natural surroundings and from the culture and history of the people who have lived here before me.

I use natural raw materials. They are the touchstone each time I start a new piece. The colours in my work are from natural dyes from a rainbow spectrum I have developed which is environmentally friendly both in the dye process and to the people involved in production.

I try to capture reflections of the sea or shapes of the mountains & rocks, or a fleeting glimpse of a figure like the Celtic monk who came to Arran to nurture his spirit or Blind Peggy who dyed wool with plants which she recognised by taste. Through my textiles I can share my experience of colour, texture and the world about me in a way that would otherwise not be possible.”