Blog - Textile Curator

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August 30, 2015 In Uncategorized

New featured artists

We aren’t gender focused at Textile Curator, but purely by co-incidence this month we are featuring three male textile artists. Aiming to show the diversity of textile art internationally it’s incredible to see the range of creativity from all corners of the globe. American quilter Luke Haynes is based in L.A, Japanese born Takashi Iwasaki lives in Canada and Faig Ahmed lives and works in Azerbaijan.

Luke Haynes is currently working on an incredibly ambitious project ‘The Log cabins of Donald Judd,’ and is producing 50 quilts all 90″ square. The theme is taken from the Donald Judd installation at the Chinati foundation ‘100 untitled works in mill aluminium, 1982 – 1986.’ As he explains, “in learning my trade and the vernacular of quilting I have been practicing block types and learning history of piecing. The log cabin is arguably the first repeatable quilting block and therefore that is where I started. The reason it’s alluding to Judd is the material and iteration and to suggest that the show is objects in space and sculpture and remove the ‘Quilt’ pre-conception of bed and private and valueless.”

In neighbouring Canada Takashi Iwasaki is continuing his hand embroideries, that are so immaculate at first they appear to have been machine stitched.

Finally, we are thrilled to featured Faig Ahmed, who’s diverse work continues to inspire. It’s fascinating to see his reinterpretation of classic rugs from his native Azerbaijan that he exhibits worldwide.

July 12, 2015 In Art, Uncategorized

Textiles used for Advertising Campaign

It seems as if we are constantly surrounded by advertising, from your Facebook page to turning on the radio. The media seems so saturated with ads that at times they all seem to blur into one, which is why the ‘Lovingly Crafted,’ campaign caught my attention.

It’s rare to see textiles and indeed any craft used in a commercial capacity so when I was flicking through Jamie Oliver’s ‘Jamie,’ magazine and saw an image of embroidered Kettle Chips by Louise Gardiner, it made an impression. In the following issue there was a woven interpretation by Stella Harding so I decided to investigate this genius campaign. This led me to London Advertising firm 101 and an interview with Creatives Tim Donald and Misha Newby to find out more.

The ‘Lovingly Crafted,’ campaign has been in running in the UK since 2012 and the concept originated to match the hand-made quality of the product (Kettle Chips use real ingredients and are cooked by hand). “The more we saw, the more we realised that for Kettle it’s not just about producing chips to sell, they treat it like a craft,” says Tim. “It’s full of love, so we came up with the line, ‘Lovingly Crafted.”

The campaign has featured ceramics, wood and glass, although obviously for Textile Curator it’s the textiles that resonate the most. 101 knew the crafts they wanted to showcase so looked for good artists in each genre. Louise Gardiner gave Kettle Chips her machine embroidered and painted touch, while basketry weaver Stella Harding brought woven texture to the page. “We asked everyone to do work which was full of love and would showcase their craft at its best,” explains Misha. “There were obvious things, like making sure the product would be clearly legible in an advert. Beyond that it was a pretty open brief, and a really collaborative process with everyone.”

Interestingly, the campaign delivered growth double the market rate, substantiating Tim and Misha’s view that “there’s a huge trend now for things which have a bit more love in them.” If you’ve missed the ads don’t worry as there are a few more coming out this year. With their parting words being “It’s been a pleasure to see people so passionate about creating something special and offer them a platform to showcase their talents to a broader audience,” hopefully textiles will continue to appear more frequently in the media.

Many thanks to 101 – www.101london.co.uk

June 15, 2015 In Uncategorized

Welcome to Textile Curator

Welcome to Textile Curator. If you’re reading this you hopefully have some interest in textiles, whether you are a collector, student or simply someone who enjoys sewing and creating.

This website evolved after I was struggling to find some yarn and I was trying to find out about textile exhibitions. There are very few websites devoted to quality textile art so I started Textile Curator.

Each four to six weeks there will be an online exhibition of three talented textile artists from all disciplines as well as an in depth interview to discover their motivations and techniques. Along side this is a regularly updated directory of resources and book reviews are coming soon.

Our first exhibition features the beautiful work of Louise Gardiner. One of the most high profile artists today she has an enviable c.v that includes work in the Collect exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery and decorating Liberty of London’s window.

Her latest work is The Lighthouse of Liberty Love. A large linen quilt with embroidery, paint and appliqué. 2015. 230cms x 175cms. It was commissioned by Liberty and had to be completed in an awe inspiring 20 days. It is on display in their haberdashery department until 2016.

I first became aware of Sara Impey‘s work when I saw it at the Shipley Gallery in Gateshead in the UK. Her impeccable quilts have stitched words that address relevant topics of today and one of her newest pieces ‘Identity Crisis’ contains a list of passwords and lists that she usually keeps secret. “I wanted to create a sense of life unravelling by wrapping the quilted ‘tape’ around a giant spool,” she explains.

It also challenges the conventional idea of what a quilt is, yet as it is three layers of fabric held together with stitch the almost 8 m long finished piece is indeed a quilt.

Marie-Thumette Brichard is the third featured artist this month. While she usually specialised in tapestry as you can see on her gallery page she also diversifies such as this weaving from a series called ‘Transparancies’ that incorporates old nets, lames, fishing yarns and synthetic and metallic threads. The interplay of light on the textured hanging contrasts with her flatly woven tapestries and proves what a versatile artist she is.