Weave education project at Ruthin Craft Centre

Stripy weaving exploring colour mixing, texture and proportion



Weaving on a 4 shaft Ashford loom

 

Exploring colour mixing with multiple wefts




View through the loom



  

Mixing different textured yarns and exploring colour mixing through plain weave



The final collection of samples before I cut them up ready to mount



The final piles of samples ready to be mounted and sent to the schools

 I've rather neglected my blogging recently as I've been SOOOOO busy! But over the next day or two there will be a couple of posts updating you on what I've been up to and what exciting projects and events are in the pipeline.

Firstly, to coincide with the Anni Albers and Inspired By: The Legacy of Anni Albers exhibitions at Ruthin Craft Centre, I was invited to contribute to a very exciting 'START' education project funded by the Prince's Foundation for Children and the Arts. Between December and February I undertook 8 days of teaching of about 250-300 primary school age children to learn to weave! They came from various schools around the Ruthin locality, and most hadn't visited the Centre before. They spent an hour with Elen Bonner the RCC Education Officer in the gallery looking at the exhibition and doing some drawing, before spending an hour with me in the studio. I talked to them about my job as a weaver, and they were invited to touch, feel and play with my textile samples (unlike the 'do not touch' policy in the gallery space). Then, working in pairs they then had a go of weaving on 4 shaft table looms.  Taking it in turns to weave a stripe in plain weave, they were encouraged to think about colour mixing and texture. Without exception they all loved it. It was brilliant to watch them start off rather nervously, then build in confidence and excitement. Once the hour was up the were all reluctant to leave, asking if they could return, where they could buy a loom etc. The best comment I had was that 'weaving was better than playtime'! Job done methinks! Am hoping that there may well be an influx on North Walian weavers in about 15 years time......

Inspired by the legacy of Anni Albers, Ruthin Craft Centre

Just thought I would share a few photographs of the exhibition currently on at Ruthin Craft Centre which includes two new pieces of work of mine.  Alongside the rare treat to see some of the woven and printed works by the legendary Anni Albers, there is an exhibition entitled Inspired by the Legacy of Anni Albers.  I was deeply honoured to be invited to exhibit in this show, as Albers is such icon in the world of textiles, who has been a major source of inspiration to me over the years.

The exhibition continues until the 6th February 2011.  Many thanks to Elen Bonner the Ruthin Craft Centre Education Officer who sent me these pictures after I forgot to take my own!

'Three x Five' (on wall), Horizon I-V (on plinth)

'Three x Five' hand woven strips, rewoven in a triaxial structure (the yellow is a brighter acid-yellow colour than that in this image)

Dorte Behn's work in foreground

Anni Albers exhibition

Ptolemy Mann to left, Wallace Sewell on back wall

Anni Albers rug produced by Christopher Farr, Ptolemy Mann to right

Fiona Mathison

My other blog.....

Just a quick little reminder that I have just set up another blog, where I will be collecting together all the interesting weave related 'stuff' that I come across on my travels and online research.  I hope in time it will build up to become a valuable source of information for everyone interested in contemporary woven textiles in art, design, craft, fashion, science and industry.

Please do follow this link to the warp and weft blog and if you like what you see, subscribe and forward the info on to your contacts.

Many thanks.

Some more photo's from the warp+weft exhibition at Oriel Myrddin

Have been delivering a series of gallery talks at Oriel Myrddin over the past few weeks, and took the opportunity before speaking to my West Wales School of the Arts textiles students last week to take some more pictures of the exhibition. The show is on until the 31st October.

Ptolemy Mann in foreground, Peter Collingwood, Ann Sutton and Hiroko Takeda on wall.



Ainsley Hillard

Ismini Samanidou with Gary Allson

L-R Ann Sutton, Hiroko Takeda

Laura Thomas

Reiko Sudo, Nuno

Reiko Sudo, Nuno

Priti Vega

Sue Hiley Harris

Makeba Lewis

Ann Sutton

Hiroko Takeda

Ann Richards

Kathy Shicker

Lucy McMullen

Ann Sutton

Hiroko Takeda

Priti Vega in foreground, Peter Collingwood and Ann Sutton on wall

warp+weft: cross disciplanary approaches to weave symposium at The National Wool Museum, 11th Sept 2010



Dr Jessica Hemmings. Photo: Kathryn Campbell Dodd.

 To mark the opening of the warp+weft exhibitions at Oriel Myrddin and the National Wool Museum, Dr Jessica Hemmings kindly put together a brilliant symposium exploring the unexpected connections with weave.

The day begin with Jessica's introduction, highlighting some wonderful examples of practice within the art textiles sphere which is woven, or references the process of weaving.  My absolute favourite example was the 'Wind up: Walking the Warp' project by Anne Wilson.  I thought the below image was so powerful - a real visual spectacle which to a non-weaver must seem utterly bizarre.  It's also a profound comment on the passing of time, the nature of craftsmanship, and the power of process.  You can read more about this intriguing project here: http://www.annewilsonartist.com/windup-chicago-walking.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28703188@N02/4250155682/

Anne Wilson, “Wind-Up: Walking the Warp,” 2008
Photo: Surabhi Ghosh

The first invited speaker was Professor Lesley Millar, well known for her high profile curatorial projects such as Cloth and Culture, 21:21 and Through the Surface.  Lesley spoke eloquently about constructed narratives implicit in the weave process, a concept harnessed to great effect by many of the artists she has worked with in her curation projects.  At the end of her presentation she told us of her newly launched web gallery / educational resource for textile art, Transition and Influence.

Professor Lesley Millar. Photo: Kathryn Campbell Dodd.

We then had a presentation from Dr Wayne Forster, Head of the Welsh School of Architecture, which recounted much of the dialogue between Wayne and myself exploring the common ground between the architectural and textile disciplines.  You may remember I blogged last year about the Architextiles series of workshops I ran with Wayne at the School of Architecture.  Wayne presented many of the examples of cross disciplinary works in both textiles and architecture we'd come across in our research and how this fed into the workshops we ran for the first and second year architecture students.



Dr Wayne Forster. Photo: Kathryn Campbell Dodd

 Following a very tasty lunch in the Museum restaurant, we returned to lecture from Andy Ross, the Director of ASF Shetland, part of the Centre for Creative Industries in Shetland.  A trained opera singer, Andy ensured that anybody veering towards a post-lunch lull was re-energised.  He opened by singing a traditional weavers song, and then proceeded to explain his absorbing creative journey between textiles and music exploring where the crossovers are, such as in language and rhythm. He even got the delegates singing - quite appropriate for Wales!


Andy Ross. Photo: Kathryn Campbell Dodd

 During a coffee break there was then a screening of two short films by Matt Hulse Light Work: many hands and Anne Wilson’s Walking the Warp.

To conclude Ruth Greany, a textile trend researcher for WGSN talked about her former career as a woven fashion textile designer for Woven Studio and her work now at WGSN, exploring how trends are researched, identified, synthesised and presented to clients.

Ruth Greany. Photo: Kathryn Campbell Dodd

The symposium generated a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm on the day - a real feeling that the weave fraternity is starting to find its voice.  It was referred to time and time again by speakers and delegates that weaving has not been seen as a sexy discipline and as a result just hasn't been in the limelight such as knitting has in recent years.Craft skills are under threat, there aren't many job opportunities for weave students to aspire towards, and there isn't a strong collectors market for art and craft textiles.  But little is to be achieved by just repeating these laments.  Weavers need to be working harder to bring what they are doing to the fore.  The exhibitions I've curated had this very aim - to celebrate the achievements of the creative and entrepreneurial weave artists and designers working in this field, to both inform the public and to act as inspiration to other weavers.  We need to create our own opportunities and keep striving to create the most extraordinary woven textiles thus claiming our rightful place as an important and stimulating applied art / craft / design area.

As a result of spending two days at the symposium and the various exhibition openings talking to a veritable 'who's who' in the world of weaving, I've been mulling over how to continue the momentum of interest and energy thats seems to have started.  Ideas are already forming, and I'll tell you about them once they start to become reality.  One thing I have decided to start now is a new blog which will record all the interesting weave related items I find happening in art  design, craft, science, industry and academia.  I spend a little too much time researching online and it would be wonderful to be able to share the suprising, curious, intrguing, beautiful weave related images and links I find with you.  It will also review exhibitions I go to, books I read, and any other curious snippets of relevant info.  I hope it will in time become a valuable resource for students, researchers and curators who are exploring weave in all its guises, but also the general art/design/craft enthusiast.  There's not much posted yet (only just started!) but please subscribe and tell your friends and colleagues about it too: http://www.thewarpandweftblog.blogspot.com/ 

Warp + Weft exhibitions and symposium...

The following is a press release for a series of exhibitions I am curating or coordinating.....

Ismini Samanidou (Photo: Toril Brancher 2010)

Makeba Lewis (Photo: Toril Brancher 2010)

Hiroko Takeda

Laura Thomas (Photo: Toril Brancher 2010)

Ann Sutton (Photo: Toril Brancher, 2010)

The Oriel Myrddin Gallery in Carmarthen is delighted to be presenting a long overdue exhibition of unexpected woven textiles by contemporary artists and designers who show a respect for tradition, yet are embracing new technology, aesthetics and making methods.

With generous support from The Laura Ashley Foundation, Warp + Weft will tell the story of contemporary weave in this oft overlooked field with a series of stunning works by the following artists and designers:

Ainsley Hillard
Ann Richards
Ann Sutton
Hiroko Takeda
Ismini Samanidou + Gary Allson
Kathy Schicker
Laura Thomas
Lucy McMullen
Makeba Lewis
Peter Collingwood
Priti Veja
Ptolemy Mann
Reiko Sudo (Nuno)
Sue Hiley Harris

Warp + Weft opens to the public on the 11th Sept and closes on the 30th October. The gallery is open Monday –Saturday 10am-5pm and admission is free. For further information please visit the Oriel Myrddin website.

Alongside this exhibition there will be a satellite exhibition at the National Wool Museum in Drefach Felindre, Carmarthenshire. Warp + Weft: from handloom to production will showcase weavers who have developed their practice into the commercial arena through collaboration with mills to produce contemporary woven textiles products for both fashion and interiors that retain a distinctive craft aesthetic. An exciting array of covetable textile goods will be presented from the following companies and designers:

Cefyn Burgess
Dashing Tweeds
Donna Wilson / SCP / Melin Tregwynt
Eleanor Pritchard
Margo Selby
The Linen Shop
Tim Parry Williams
Wallace and Sewell

The exhibition opens on 4th September and will close on 8th January 2011. The National Wool Museum opening times: April–September: open daily from 10am–5pm. October–March: Tues–Sat
10am to 5pm. Admission is free. For further information please visit the National Wool Museum website: http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/wool/

To celebrate the opening of the two exhibitions, we are delighted that noted textile academic Dr Jessica Hemmings is directing a one day symposium entitled ‘Cross disciplinary approaches to weave’ at the National Wool Museum on Saturday 11th September. Speakers confirmed so far include:

• Professor Lesley Millar, curator of a number of key textile exhibitions in the last decade, including “Textual Space” and “Cloth & Culture Now”.
• Andrew Ross, Creative Director of ASF Shetland and GlobalYell Music will be speaking about the relationship between weaving and music www.creativeindustriesshetland.org.uk
• Ruth Greany, Textile Trend Researcher for Materials at WGSN will be speaking about trends in woven materials.
• Screenings of short experimental films will explore the rhythms of weaving at the Dovecot Tapestry Studio by filmmaker Matt Hulse and Anne Wilson’s recent “Walking the Warp” project.
• Dr Wayne Forster, Deputy Head of the Welsh School of Architecture will talk about the parallels between textiles and architecture.

There are limited tickets available for this event so early booking is highly recommended. Further details and a booking form can be found here: http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/whatson/?event_id=4380

Alongside these events there are two further textile exhibitions for you to visit at The National Botanic Garden of Wales in Carmarthenshire. Fibre Art Wales will be holding its first ever ‘textiles in the open’ exhibition across the dramatic landscape of the Gardens. Fibre Art Wales patron Mary Lloyd Jones will be exhibiting alongside the following members of the group:

Alison Moger
Bethan Ash
Claire Cawte
Laura Thomas
Lisa Porch
Louise Bird
Michelle Griffiths
Ruth Harries
Ruth McLees

In The National Botanic Garden Of Wales gallery, there will be an exciting exhibition showcasing the diverse work of selected graduates, students and staff, from the BA Contemporary Textiles course in the West Wales School of the Arts, Coleg Sir Gâr. Exhibitors include:

Anita Bowyer
Danie Carter
Debbie Smyth
Elspeth Morris
Kelly Jenkins
Lisa Connelly
Liz Miller
Paula Philips Davies
Shellie Holden
Zoe Gealy

Both exhibitions at The National Botanic Garden of Wales open on the 10th Sept and close on the 30th November 2010. The gardens are open daily from 10am-6pm until the 28th October. Between the 29th Oct-28th March the opening hours are 10am-4.30pm.

The National Botanic Garden of Wales admission prices:
Adults £8.00
OAPS £6.50
Children (5-16) £4.00
Under 5’s are free
Family (2 Adults & up to 4 children) £19.50

Further details can be found here: http://www.gardenofwales.org.uk/

For further information about the exhibitions please contact:

• Curator, Laura Thomas, info@laurathomas.co.uk
• Warp +Weft, Kathryn Campbell Dodd, Oriel Myrddin Marketing Officer, KCampbell@carmarthenshire.gov.uk
• Warp + Weft: from hand loom to production: National Galleries and Museums of Wales, Curator, Laura Thomas, info@laurathomas.co.uk
• BA Contemporary Textiles Course Director, West Wales School of the Art, Paula Philips Davies, Paula.Phillips@colegsirgar.ac.uk
• Fibre Art Wales exhibition coordinator, Laura Thomas, info@laurathomas.co.uk