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Alex Friedman

  

 

For anyone who has tried tapestry weaving the anticipation and excitement of cutting the tapestry off the loom after days, weeks, months or even years of weaving never ceases to be a memorable event. Here is Alex Friedman’s tapestry Shift being woven with the cartoon behind, and then waiting to be finished, which involves dealing with the long strands of wool, hemming and preparing the tapestry to be hung.

To find out more about Alex visit her profile page or visit www.alexfriedmantapestry.com

Jacquard Tapestry Exhibition

 

From top left: Gypsy Fortune Teller, Kehinde Wiley, 2007; Guernica, Hank Willis Thomas, mixed media (sports jerseys) 2017;  Mask Series, Havana, Alexandre Arrechea, 2016; Tra la terra e il cielo (between heaven and earth) Alighiero Boetti

‘Nomadic Murals; Contemporary Tapestries and Carpets’, is a fantastic exhibition showing over 40 tapestries and carpets from different artists. All of the work is original, not just copied from existing paintings.  Rather like the ancient tradition where artists designed historical tapestries that were then woven by artisans, the artists haven’t woven their tapestries but they’ve been made in collaboration with studios using mainly the Jacquard weaving processes. The resulting exhibition has a breadth of styles, colours and subjects that is a wonderful refection of what contemporary textiles can be.

Nomadic Murals; Contemporary Tapestries and Carpets is on view from April 24th – October 21st 2018 at the Boca Raton Museum of Art,

www.bocamuseum.org/nomadic-murals. 

 

Marta Santos in her studio

    

Marta Santos lived in Madrid until the early 1990s and then in Paris, New York and Toulouse before settling in Marseille in the South of France.

If you are in the area in late September take a visit to her inspiring workshop which is open on September 28,29,30 as part of the OAA 20th edition in Marseille.

For more information visit  www.marta-santos.com

 

Weaving New Worlds exhibition

           

Credits from top left: Ripples and Ribes by Jennie Moncur; New World by Jilly Edwards; Kim by Pat Taylor; The Challenge by Caron Penney; Reflections On the Other Side by Miyuki Tatsumi; Brittle, Little and The Brutal Truth by Tonje Hoydahl Sorli; Regeneration by Barbara Heller.

 

I’ve wanted to visit the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow London since it opened in 2012 and it exceeded expectations. Housed in the beautiful Georgian house that William lived in from 1834 – 1896 it features a comprehensive history of his stunning work that covered everything from wallpaper, tiles, stained glass and embroidery.  The collection shows how influential he still is today and his adage “have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or be beautiful,” is particularly relevant and still regularly quoted.

Another reason to visit is the ‘Weaving New Worlds,’ exhibition which is on display until 23rd September. Curated by Lesley Millar 16 tapestries by different women artists cover themes such as urban decay, the New York grid system and drunk driving. My only slight criticism is I don’t really see why the artists have to be women, it could have been non gender specific. Apart from that to see so many high quality pieces in one room is such a rarity and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Weaving New Worlds is on until 23rd September and is open Wed – Friday 10am – 5pm and is free.

 

Anne Stabell

Above: Anne Stabell and her tapestry Symbiosis (Lichen)

 

Anyone who reads this blog regularly will know I’m particularly passionate about tapestry weaving so I’m thrilled to feature Anne Stabell. So much tapestry weaving is done in wool it is brilliant to see an artist who uses another medium too. Anne uses nylon as well as wool so her tapestries are partly transparent. This contrast between the solid wool and the fine nylon gives her art a delicate quality that is also strong, a bit like the nature that inspires it. See her page on this site for more of her beautiful work, or visit www.annestabell.no 

 

 

Shuying Wang and Madeleine Wright

       

Left: Safety Net by Madeleine Wright.     Right: Uncanny by Shuying Wang

 

I’ve often said that the beauty of textiles as a medium is the sheer diversity of what can be created. The final two artists chosen for our graduate showcase illustrate this perfectly. Madeleine Wright explores social issues through her work and Safety Net aims to raise awareness of Charles Thompson’s mission which was founded in 1892 and still helps people today offering them a ‘safety net’.

Shuying Wang uses colour, tension and different yarns to embody the creativity of knit, while exploring the concept of human environmental connections.

Visit our graduate showcase to see more.

Kate Whitehead

 

Kate Whitehead is the second artist to feature in our Graduate Showcase. This collection is from ‘Not From The Stork’ which challenges the traditional view of what family is. Her Family pieces are handwoven from silk and Back Cloth is printed fabric with embroidery. Kate will be exhibiting at New Designers in London from Wednesday 27th June – Saturday 30th June www.newdesigners.com

Find out more on our Graduate Showcase or visit www.kate-whitehead.co.uk.

GRADUATE SHOWCASE

    

 

Winnie Yeung has just completed her MA in Knitted Textiles from the Royal College of Art and is our first student in our Graduate Showcase. Find out more here

 

(Knitwear by Winnie Yeung. Photographs by Valerie Yuwen Hsieh, Styling by Alex Po)

Kenris MacLeod

We have featured quite a few textile artists who discover their passion for the medium after another career and  Kenris MacCloud is one of them. It was while studying at Edinburgh College of Art after a 15 year career with the BBC that she found her talent for machine embroidery.

“I knew I wanted to create but didn’t know what my medium was. I found myself having to do a module on stitched textiles, the idea of which appalled me due to enforced sewing lessons at school and many struggles with recalcitrant sewing machines! However, I quickly got over my previously ingrained fear and realised that I could use the sewing machine needle as a pencil and draw freehand with thread instead of lead. It felt like a revelation and I was hooked.” 

Twenty One Trees is exhibiting at Art and Vintage in Abbeyhill, Edinburgh until June 24th www.artandvintage-edinburgh.co.uk

 

 

Cas Holmes

Above from left: Work from Tea Flora Tales recently exhibited in Nadelwelt, Germany. The cover of the upcoming book Textile Landscape: Painting with Cloth in Mixed Media (Batsford)

 

Cas Holmes has been a textile artist for over thirty years and her work continues to be exhibited and enjoyed around the world. Her pieces grow organically from her sketchbooks where she records things that interest her, such as her local landscape. “I gather cloth, paste, colours, papers and other found materials together and build layers as I would a painting. I then cut and tear into the layers to see what’s underneath. This is then worked with further paint and machine stitching,” she explains.

This inspiring process is detailed in her new book, Textile Landscape: Painting with Cloth, which is her fourth book for Batsford. A series of linked exhibitions are taking place including a one person show at Rochester Art Gallery in 2019. The natural landscape has always been important to Cas and she started Tea Flora Tales, an ongoing community project to support native habitats and wild flowers at the Knitting and Stitching Show in 2012. Supported by the Embroider’s Guild it is now in its sixth year and returns to the Knitting and Stitching Shows in the UK during Autumn.

Cas is also exhibiting at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC Birmingham in August as part of the textile group Art Textiles Made in Britain. Busy times ahead for this inspiring artist.

 

To find out more about Cas, read her profile page here or visit www.casholmestextiles.co.ukTextile Landscape: Painting with Cloth in Mixed Media (Batsford) is released in September 2018.