'Beauty is the first test', Pump House Gallery, Battersea, London. 12 September - 25 November 2012

Am really honoured to have had two pieces of work selected for inclusion in this brilliant exhibition exploring the links between craft and maths that has just opened in the Pump House Gallery in London. Curated by craft specialist Liz Cooper, this is a thoughtful and elegant exhibition which will intrigue and delight in equal measure.

From the website:

A group exhibition that will explore how mathematical concepts underpin craft techniques and artistic development, in an attempt to demystify a subject that intimidates both adults and children, by showing unique and stimulating works of art. ‘Beauty is the First Test’ will draw together existing and new artworks to invite in-depth consideration of contemporary craft practice in this wider context. Beauty and playfulness will be evident in the exhibits to illustrate what delights craftspeople and maths geeks alike.

Leading US mathematician Keith Devlin’s recent publication ‘The Language of Mathematics’ describes maths as ‘the science of patterns’ , a description which hardly seems terrifying given that many patterns have pleasing and decorative elements. Yet mathematics is so often the subject that pupils most dread and adults express discomfort with, despite extensive 21st century use of technology based on mathematical models. Perhaps the friendliness of current technology has not only permitted but in fact acerbated this distance from a subject that frightens and overwhelms people. Beauty is the First Test will show that the arts and mathematics are more closely bound together than many perceive and that the enjoyment of one can enhance the understanding of the other.

Exhibitors: Michael Brennand-Wood, Suresh Dutt, Janice Gunner, Lesley Halliwell, Lucy McMullen, Janette Matthews, Peter Randall Page, Ann Sutton, Laura Thomas

There is also a very full programme of accompanying educational activities.

Off the loom: woven explorations and applications in art, science & industry, Stroud International Textile Festival, Sunday 8th May, 2011, 11-4.30pm

I’m delighted to announce that I am hosting a forthcoming day of talks as part of the 2011 Stroud International Textile Festival, that will celebrate some of the innovative applications and aesthetic explorations in contemporary weave practice.

With a respectful nod to tradition, the invited speakers are all forging new ground within the fashion, science, furnishings and art spheres taking weave into dynamic new arenas. From e-textiles to art for architectural spaces, each speaker is a pioneer in their discipline and is taking their expertise into unexpected arenas.


Speakers:

Laura Thomas, artist, curator and design consultant. Well known for her trademark encapsulation of delicate textile structures in acrylic resin, recent significant commissions include a Museumaker project to design a triptych window for The Beaney Museum and Art Gallery in Canterbury and a vessel presented to Cricket Australia from the Welsh Assembly Government to commemorate the Ashes being played in Cardiff in 2009. A recipient of a Creative Wales Ambassador Award from the Arts Council of Wales, Laura is currently developing new bodies of work in residence at the Ruthin Craft Centre.


Asha Peta Thompson, is a founding partner of Intelligent Textiles Ltd (ITL)along with Stan Swallow. Asha is an expert in woven technical textiles, specifically electronically active ‘e-textiles’. The ITL patented processes have been applied to many products and principles from heated bedding to iPod connected garments. Recent press coverage has focused on their partnering with the Ministry of Defence to develop embedded technical functionality into military clothing, predominantly as a replacement for conventional cables in soldier systems.


Kirsty McDougall, is one half of Dashing Tweeds, Britain’s latest tweed textile company. Opening up a contemporary arena for a classic quality fabric, Dashing Tweeds has created a range of tweeds for the 21st century, designed by photographer Guy Hills and weaver Kirsty McDougall. Quirky colour palettes, inventive yarn combinations and sophisticated tactile qualities have taken the traditional tweed into uncharted territory, winning them fans across the fashion world. Of particular note is their LumaTwill™ range which is a fusion of technical sportswear with elegant tweed cloth. Light reflective yarns punctuate the woollen checks, so when worn at night it illuminates as light hits the fabric.

Melissa French, artist, designer and coordinator of the Puff & Flock textile collective. Melissa’s practice sees her span the commercial and conceptual sphere. A graduate of the renowned MA Textile Futures at Central St Martins, Melissa has garnered a reputation for work that questions the expected application of woven textiles. Her Urban Upholstery concept takes textiles beyond decoration. This time-based work integrates various metals in her woven fabrics to enable them to endure time and weather whist evolving through natural rusting or oxidising. Inspired by graffiti, urban guerrilla movements and traditional interior textiles and design, Melissa wants to bring an element of beauty, pattern, design and ultimately surprise to the urban landscape.


Ptolemy Mann, artist and architectural colour consultant. Renowned for her impeccable eye for colour, Ptolemy produces striking ikat dyed woven artworks for corporate, commercial and domestic spaces, which have been exhibited and specified all over the world. Working with a UK manufacturer, she has also recently added limited edition mill woven cloth to her repertoire, suitable for cushions, drapes and other applications. Ptolemy is also in demand as an architectural colour consultant, bringing vibrant palette’s to the usually colour-shy world of external facades, as well as devising internal colour schemes for healthcare environments to aid way finding and psychological well being.


Tickets are available from the Stroud International Textiles website:

Cost: £40/£35 (Students/Friends of SIT)

£5.00 for light lunch


There are limited tickets available particularly at the concessionary rate. The last weave symposium I was involved in (warp+weft at the National Wool Museum) ended up with a waiting list of disappointed people, please do book asap!


I look forward to seeing you there!

warp+weft, Smith's Row, Bury St Edmunds, 12.3.11 - 31.4.11

Just a quick message to let you know that the warp+weft exhibition continues on its tour this month. It opens at Smith's Row in Bury St Edmunds on the 12th March, continuing until the 31st April. I'm really delighted that the gallery has also got the sister exhibition warp+weft: from handloom to production that was previously on show at the National Wool Museum. So for the first and only time you'll see everything together in one very beautiful gallery space.

They have also borrowed an extraordinary Peter Collingwood artwork from the Crafts Study Centre, which was originally on display the British Embassy in Brussels.

Another date for your diary at Smith's Row:

The Legacy of Peter Collingwood

20th April 7.00pm – | £5 (£3 members & students)

Jason Collingwood is a weaver and teacher of international acclaim. Linda Theophilus is a curator, artist and co-author of Peter Collingwood:Master Weaver. Join them in this inspiring discussion and hear Linda ask Jason about the life and legacy of his father and how it informs his own established weaving practice.

warp+weft exhibition on tour to Craft in the Bay, Cardiff

Maelstrom by Lucy McMullen. Hand woven quadruple cloth in Shetland wool and wire

The warp+weft exhibition that I curated for Oriel Myrddin is now officially on tour!  I have just spent the day installing the show at Craft in the Bay, Cardiff, before it opens tomorrow evening at 6pm (please do come along if you are in the area!)

The gallery space at Craft in the Bay is completely different from Oriel Myrddin and so there is a very different visual dynamic. Its been great to rearrange the show accordingly to make new links between work, and to hang some pieces differently too.  Also, as its a bigger space, I have been able to make some additions to the show which I didn't have space for at Oriel Myrddin. Of particular note in the above work by Lucy McMullen.  This was created to mark the launch of ASF Shetland, and is a truly extraordinary piece of work from both an aesthetic and technical perspective.  Three panels of hand woven quadruple cloth unfold to create an extraordinary whirlpool structure.


Kase by Nuno

Another addition is 'Kase' by Nuno. This beautifully translucent woven cloth, has been devore printed post production - a paste is applied which selectively 'burns out' certain fibres leaving the overlapping circles pattern.
We also have two new pleated neckpieces by Ann Richards, and a second framed work by Ann Sutton so if you saw the show at Oriel Myrddin its very worthwhile to see the show in its new format at Craft in the Bay.

As mentioned, the show opens tomorrow evening at 6pm, and then continues to the 20th February.  I'll be giving a free gallery talk on the 22nd January at 2pm.  There are also two weave workshops running to coincide with the exhibition - Silk Inlay Weaving with Sue Hiley Harris on 29-30th Jan and Woven Passementerie with Jessica Light on the 5-6th Feb. Both workshops only have a couple of spaces left, so please book soon if you want to attend.

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 gallery talk at Oriel Myrddin Gallery, Carmarthen, 2pm, 22nd Sept 2010

Just a quickie to let you know I am giving a gallery talk tomorrow about the warp+weft exhibition I've curated at Oriel Myrddin in Carmarthen.  Its at 2pm.  Directions etc can be found here: http://www.orielmyrddingallery.co.uk/

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: from handloom to production, The National Wool Musuem, Drefach Felindre, Carmarthenshire

Being a little bit of a glutton for punishment..... no..... full of enthusiasm for celebrating what's happening in the world of weaving, I decided that I wanted to have a second concurrent exhibition running alongside warp+weft at Oriel Myrddin.  I approached the National Wool Museum with the idea of putting together a show celebrating the achievements of eight weave designers who've developed their practice by working with mills to put their designs into batch production, and I was delighted that the Museum loved the idea.

This is the first time that the Museum has given over a space in the building to a contemporary, temporary exhibition, so there was lots that needed to be considered for the first time.  I was also very keen that the show should have a publication to accompany it and was thrilled that The Worshipful Company of Weavers were able to support this element of the project.

The concept behind this exhibition was to show the initial hand woven samples that the designers produce when developing their ideas, colour palettes, and structural choices, alongside the finished mill woven products.  I wanted to give an insight into the development and refinement element of the design process that many designers go through.  For some the changes made are significant, for others barely noticeable to the untrained eye.  I also wanted to shine a light on this niche area of manufacturing that the British mills are so good at serving.

The designers in this exhibition are:

Donna Wilson for SCP
Eleanor Pritchard
Wallace + Sewell
Fran White, The Linen Shop
Dashing Tweeds
Margo Selby
Tim Parry Williams
Cefyn Burgess

Please do go and see the exhibition, which is on until 8th January 2011. 

Donna Wilson designed Nos Da fabric on the Eadie chair for SCP

Donna Wilson for SCP

Tim Parry Williams fabrics

Tim Parry Williams fabrics made into garments by other fashion designers

Wallace + Sewell

Wallace + Sewell

Wallace + Sewell handwoven samples

Light reflective jackets by Dashing Tweeds

Margo Selby

Fran White, The Linen Shop

Fran White's sketchbook and hand woven samples

Eleanor Pritchard

Cefyn Burgess