Laura Thomas Woven Textiles: warp+weft, Oriel Myrddin Gallery, Carmarthen

Monday, September 20, 2010

warp+weft, Oriel Myrddin Gallery, Carmarthen

It's been nearly 2 years since I first started talking to Meg Anthony, the curator at Oriel Myrddin Gallery about warp+weft, an exhibition celebrating contemporary woven textiles. Two years ago, September 2010, seemed like light years away...... well it soon came around!

The last couple of months have been an absolute hive of activity - I now have a much better appreciation of the background work that goes into curating an exhibition! The catalogue itself was a huge amount of work, and I don't think I have ever laboured so much over my words. The photography sessions with Toril Brancher were fantastic and even though it was agonising making some of the graphic design decisions such as what to put on the cover, I hugely enjoyed working with Heidi Baker, our wonderful catalogue designer. With Meg, I think we made a formidable team.

You may have read on my earlier posts that the connecting thread for the exhibition was that all the selected weave artists and designers take a decidedly unexpected approach to weaving. Ainsley Hillard incorporates a transfer print process to integrate ghostly images; Ismini Samanidou is collaborating with Gary Allson to make CNC drawings and milled wood surfaces deriving from her hand woven samples; and Priti Vega works with fibre optics, magnets, light reflective yarns, amongst other intriguing materials to create her striking works. The show also includes some icons from the world of weaving - Ann Sutton, Peter Collingwood and Reiko Sudo (NUNO) - inspirations for all interested in the construction of ingenious textiles.

Below are a few images from the exhibition. There will be more to follow. Please do try and visit the show which is on until the end of October. Please also buy the very lovely catalogue..... a bargain at £12.50!