10 Facts About Kathleen Whyte

Helen Kathleen Ramsay Whyte MBE was a Scottish embroiderer and teacher of textile arts.

Kathleen Whyte was born in Arbroath, on the east coast of Scotland, in 1909.

On leaving school Kathleen Whyte went to Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen to follow a Diploma Course in General Design from 1928 to 1932.

Kathleen Whyte was a particularly successful student, winning the Founder's Prize as the best student in the second year of the general course, the Alexander Barker Prize as a result of the competition for third year students, and in the fourth year won the Former Students Association Prize for her entry The Fish Wife.

Kathleen Whyte had been making her own clothes since the mid-1920s and in the early 1940s, because of the wartime restrictions, she began weaving fabric, not only for herself but for her mother, sisters and friends too.

Southerland, Head of Gray's School of Art, and supported by Dorothy Angus, Kathleen Whyte successfully applied for the post of embroidery and weaving lecturer at Glasgow School of Art.

Over some years Kathleen Whyte travelled in Scandinavia, visiting weaving and craft centres and developing relationships with leading needle workers and weavers.

Kathleen Whyte visited several English art schools to assess and evaluate the new Diploma in Art and Design courses they were teaching and was later invited to serve on the Dip AD visiting panel as the embroidery expert.

Kathleen Whyte continued to be extremely influential in the development of higher education courses and became an Art Adviser to the Scottish Education Department, planning new examinations.

The work of Kathleen Whyte was featured in "A Scottish Celebration", a touring exhibition of contemporary textiles to mark the centenary of the foundation of the Embroiderers' Guild, which opened at Aberdeen Art Gallery in October 2006.