Kathleen McFarlane won international recognition for textile works created from string, cotton, sisal and wool. She was an artist whose weaving, tapestry and crochet was imbued with disturbing and menacing undercurrents. Her work imagined strange forms and visions, of fungal growths, bodily parts and flayed animals that were both colourful and dark.

Into her eighties, McFarlane spun out work that never conformed to the gentle stereotype of needlework or crafts. She embraced the juxtaposition, both in her work and in herself, of something that appeared to be mild-mannered but was surprising and provoking. Natural substances such as minerals, animals and vegetation proliferated in her work, which was in part inspired by the gentle countryside of Norfolk, where she had made her home. However, the same pieces depicted twisted and mutated creatures from beneath the earth’s surface. McFarlane had a flair for mixing colour and texture and her textiles and paintings were expressive and full of her own personality. They also allowed the imagination of each person who looked upon them to run riot.

Images of Norwegian landscapes — she often visited the country with her husband — also wove their way through her art. In Norway, where looms were part of many household itineries, she was moved to buy her own. At home in Norfolk, whilst bringing up her three children, she used it to create series of rich tapestries.

McFarlane was never trained as an artist and was unashamedly proud of this. She was born in Sunderland, Co Durham in 1922. She picked up strands of knowledge attending evening classes at Newcastle University in the 1950s where her husband, the scholar James McFarlane, taught. Here she mixed with artists such as Victor Pasmore, Lawrence Gowing and Richard Hamilton, who all left a mark of influence on her early works of abstract oil paintings. Her bolder work, which won her recognition, began to appear in the 1960s, influenced by the sculptural designs of the Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz.

McFarlane was an energetic woman — as energetic as her artwork — and involved herself in numerous projects. Her first solo exhibition had been at the Weaver’s Workshop in Edinburgh in 1973, followed by the Crafts Centre in London. In 1973 she also displayed her work at The Craftsman’s Art exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Norwich Castle bought one of her pieces which hung in the castle’s entrance for three decades.

She also had an association with the University of East Anglia and the Sainsbury Centre. Her tapestries hang in the Elizabeth Fry building at UEA and in the Council chambers. A major retrospective of her work, Fabrications, was held at the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, in 2002.

McFarlane’s husband, James, died in 1999. She is survived by their three children.

Kathleen McFarlane, artist, was born on January 8, 1922. She died October 18, 2008, aged 86