OUR TEAM
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Management Team
Chair Iona Ramsay
Treasurer Lynn Cranfield
Secretary Karen Harris
Participant's representative Rhada Rajan
Ordinary Member Sandra Elliot
Ordinary member Sameena Kazmi
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Project Workers
Joint Leader Sonia Tuttiett
Joint Leader Celia Ward
Joint Leader Rachael Matthews
Lead worker for learning disabled groups Sophia Ramsay
Finance officer Keith Dixon
Project Volunteer Sindy Jackson
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Sonia Tuttiett
Leader
First studied as a violinist before becoming a textile artist, studying at Morley College and working in textile social enterprises making designer clothes and silk screen printing before becoming a leader of East London Textile Arts. With ELTA she has been involved in projects and exhibitions with The Watts Gallery, Tate Exchange, the V&A, Art Workers’ Guild, amongst others with funding from The Arts Council and The Arts and Humanities Research Council and many other funders. She has also illustrated books with her embroideries. In 2015 she won the community section of the Beryl Dean Embroidery Prize and is now one of its judges. She is a member of the Art Workers’ Guild.
Iona Ramsay
Chair
Iona grew up with ELTA, making films and helping mount exhibitions. She studied Theology at Cambridge where she joined the bobbin lace making society, and is now studying for an AHRC-funded PhD in history and memory politics at the University of Exeter, where she tends a dye garden in her spare time. She previously worked as administrator at the Art Workers' Guild, has organised international conferences and workshops, and is a keen darner.
Rachael Matthews
Leader
A mover and shaker of the knitting world Rachael joined ELTA as a leader in 2021, to set up a weaving workshop at School 360. She also teaches textiles at Central St Martins, University of the Arts, London. Between 2007 and 2016 she set up and ran Prick your Finger, a gallery/habershery for which she won the Women to Watch prize from the Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC, USA in 2012.
In 2009 she won a Jerwood prize for textiles. She has written 3 books on knitting and crochet and is now embarking on a book about rag rug weaving. She has taught with numerous museums including the V&A, Tate Modern and The British Museum and is a member of the Art Workers' Guild
Sophia Ramsay
Consultant for adults with learning disabilities classes.
Sophia has worked with adults with learning disabilities since 2012 and ran craft classes for adults with learning disabilities for ELTA between 2012 and 2018, when she left to train as an Occupational Therapist. She is now Programme Manager for Hopeful Futures, a community interest company working with adults with learning disabilities. In her spare time she enjoys experimenting with hand dying techniques.
Celia Ward
Leader
Began life as a painter with many solo London shows exhibiting also at The Royal Academy Summer shows and other mixed exhibitions. She has painted portraits, murals and illustrated books and has work in the Ashmolean Museum Collection, Between 2002 and 2006 she set up an art centre in Bucharest and her paintings made in Romania where shown by the British Council in Romania and Luxembourg. After moving to East London she founded ELTA in 2007. For ELTA she fundraises, designs booklets, cards, textiles and decorated papers and is in charge of the website and social media. She is a member of the Art Workers' Guild.
Rhada Rajan
Pariticpants' representative
Member of ELTA since 2010, with long experience of working in the community. She represents the Malayalee Association for ELTA where she has been an active member since 2000. Before retiring she worked in the civil service. She has been a textile enthusiast all her life and had a solo show of her work at St Mark’s Church, Newham. She was an ELTA tutor at a day course for the V&A in 2014 and has taken part in every ELTA project since joining over 10 years ago.
Kaushika Vaghela
financial planning
Kaushika worked in a finance department for twelve years in a private company in Hackney. She worked for Iceland while her children were growing up. In 2000 she joined the civil service and worked there till 2017, working in finance as Head of Financial Planning.
After retiring in 2017 Kaushika worked as a volunteer in the East Ham Library and there met Sonia and joined ELTA. She have also volunteered in Altomer children centre and Altomer Primary School as a teaching assistant.
When young she studied sewing in Kenya and used to make garments for her sisters. She used to do a lot of embroidery for her mum’s sarees. She has enjoyed helping to make the turtle costume and working on the River Roding project.
Karen Harris
Textile tutor
Karen joined ELTA in 2017 after taking early
retirement from primary school teaching where I was
art co ordinator.
Karen has been involved in several projects with ELTA, including tutoring in a variety of community groups.
She has made many individual and collaborative pieces and is particularly interested in combining embroidery and applique as well as learning new stitches and techniques.
she is a registered volunteer with Newham Council and is currently involved with the Reading Volunteer scheme and Home Library service.
Karen co-runs the Monday East Library Textile Class.