Kindness
Revolution Community Textile Artist | Amber Valley

Amanda Haran is a contemporary community textile artist based in Amber Valley, Derbyshire. Her practice centres on collective making, creative wellbeing, heritage, and environmental responsibility, connecting people through stories, skills, and materials. Carbon literate and formally qualified in textiles and industry at UMIST, Amanda brings over twenty years’ experience working with underrepresented communities, always striving to repurpose and reuse materials to reduce environmental impact.

 

Amanda’s work is rooted in the fibre traditions of the UK, particularly the heritage of flax growing and rope making in Amber Valley. She grows flax in Riddings and works from seed to fibre, uncovering local histories of labour, community resilience, and pride. Her qualifications in psychotherapy inform a person-centred approach that creates safe, inclusive spaces for participation.

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Flagship projects include Beneath Our Feet with Derbyshire Makes and the University of Derby, and community engagement for the Turner Prize with Array Collective, where Amanda encouraged over 250 banners to be made in Coventry, sharing powerful stories that moved her to tears at the project’s launch. This work became the subject of a published paper on community engagement. Amanda is sector-leading in creative listening, formally evaluating and responding as an artist within an experimental Arts Council project.

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Amanda’s artistic influences include Lorina Bulwer’s stitched narratives, Harriet Goodall’s fibre-based sculpture, Alice Kettle’s expansive thread work, and Stephen Willats’s models of social engagement. These figures shape her understanding of creative practice as a tool for communication, care, and collective meaning-making.

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Her work continues to foster new friendships, revive pride in local achievements, and inspire creative, inclusive communities.