taught digital fabric designer and printer, April Tosch has gone from strength to strength over the last eight years. She has just completed a series of pastiche works, based on Mughal paintings from the 17th to 19th centuries, which will be exhibited for three days at the Park Hyatt Hotel next week on the Jeddah Corniche. I met with her at her studio in a large villa in north Jeddah and we sat in front of her computer, with Adobe Photoshop open on her screen. Now adept at this sophisticated programme, she demonstrated to me how she prepares her designs. “What I have done is to search websites such as the British Library and the New York Public library for Mughal images. I am accessing ones that cover the reigns of the Emperors Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. When I find ones that I like, I fill out a form and then they email them to me. This means that I get good-sized images to work with. I also found original notes from Walt Whitman's long poem ‘A Passage to India' in his handwriting. In all, I have over 600 files – from Universities as well as libraries - and I cut out sections that I really like – such as this border here – and then I use them with elements from other images.” She showed me a selection of other borders, flowers and landscapes, as well as animals such as sheep, deer and peacocks and other birds, which she has taken out of books of flora and fauna from the 1800s. All the images she uses are free of copyright, and she went on to describe more of her design principles: “To begin with I tried not to mix images from the mid 1600s with those of the 1800s, but it didn't always work out that way. In the end, I just did what looked nice. I had no idea at all about India's history, so I have looked at videos and done some reading.” The inspiration for the Mughal theme came about by chance: “I was doing research on something else and came across some Mughal and Persian miniatures. I found the content of the Persian ones a bit too heavy, and preferred the Indian ones with water scenes and horses and pastel colors; there were a lot more things to work with.” Tosch has moved on from her early ‘trial and error' years where she used to waste a lot of fabric, ink and cartridges in the printing process. “It was an incredibly steep learning curve and it is such a relief to have finally passed it. I have now learned how to combine images a lot better, I can pick out elements, like a rock, or a tree, that I know is going to be suitable for another image. All my preparation is on the computer, and then it is printed with a digital printer here. I then send some pieces upstairs to another workroom where I have Indian artisans who sew on beads and do embroidery. Everything is done in-house and I am really proud of that.” She went on to explain how she has also been dying a lot of fabric at home. “I have some silks and chiffons that I have been hand-dying, like tie-dye – and we have gone with pastel colors for this exhibition. We have set up the ‘Mughal Court Boutique' where guests can buy this fabric, as well as bookmarks, wall hangings, framed and unframed limited edition pictures, tassels, scarves, cushion covers – there is something to suit all budgets.” There are also some grand scale wall hangings in the exhibition. All her fabrics are imported natural fibres: cottons, silks and linens, which have been specially treated to stay flat in the digital printer. Tosch describes her pastiche compositions as “whimsical”, and indeed they are. They are recognizably Mughal, but have a dream-like “Alice in Wonderland” quality about them, because of the random mix of elements from different paintings. They are therefore undemanding of the viewer who can enjoy them, and the beautiful colors, simply for what they are – there is no symbolism, and there are no hidden messages – although in the originals there might have been. It is inspirational for other women that Tosch has managed to develop her art and her business at the same time as being a wife and mother of four daughters – but she admits that it is not easy. “I am up at 5.45 A.M. every morning and take the kids to school. Then I come to the studio and work until 2.30 P.M. when it is time to pick them up. I have got them involved in my work and they have developed a love for it with me. hen we are home together and they are sitting in front of me doing their homework, I am working on my laptop, doing research. This summer, my sister-in-law and I are going to use my workshop and run courses for our children and others in the extended family, and close friends. They are going to learn how to dye the fabrics and make tassels, and the mums can come along too.” She also runs a four-session course for women where they can design their own abaya sleeves. “I only take three women at a time so that as far as possible I can work one-to-one with them. On the fifth visit, they collect their ready made silk abayas with custom made sleeves.” Her advice to aspiring artists is to stick with it. “You will find success when you are doing what you love but you also have to have your family backing you, because without your family, you can forget it. My husband is now my new partner and he has been so supportive. Some of the years have been tough but I haven't given up.” Tosch's exhibition is sponsored by Nadia Al-Zuhair Zahid. The inauguration will be attended by Princess Johara bint Khaled bin Misaed and the Sunita Mainee Ahmad, wife of the Indian Ambassador to the Kingdom. The three-day exhibition runs from May 31 to June 2.
