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Stroud International Textiles

textile festival 2010

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Stroud International Textiles

textile festival 2010

contents

sail trimmings

2010

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Contents

Jo BarkerNoela BewryKate BleeSara BrennanHenny BurnettJanet Hinchliffe McCutcheonAnnie HutchinsonDeirdre NelsonJo NewmanCaroline SharpNorma Starszakowna

p2 introduction

p6 essay

p10 artistsp46 information

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IntroductionDr Jessica Hemmings Associate Director of the Centre for Visual and Cultural

Studies, Edinburgh College of Art

Textiles communicate1. They express joy that language

renders as cliché; withstand abstraction that words try to

qualify and contain; record pain without evoking

sympathy or condolences.

Thankfully the voice of contemporary textile practice

conforms to no particular rulebook2. This might seem a

little odd, considering the other strength of textiles: they

work3. Textiles are the first material to touch our skin at

birth and what many of us will lay upon at the moment of

death. Textiles are the material that covers our bodies

every day of our lives; the material we rest between each

night. It is the textile that is used to staunch the flow of

blood from wounds and protect us against cold and wind

and excessive light. They are quite literally an inescapable

presence, trailing close behind air, water and food in our

list of needs and wants.

The sheer hours textiles spend absorbing life have left

them well prepared for the messages they carry. Textiles

already know what we aren’t saying. They know what we

are too excited to mention or can’t bare to remember.

Textiles already understand how to say two things in one

breath without fretting over seeming contradictions.

This poses a bit of a problem, because humankind is

a vivid vocabulary

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quite enamoured with the written word. We’ve been

working at it for a while now. We were quick to dismiss

the rich flexible narratives of oral traditions and replace

them with static written language. We were even more

pleased with ourselves when we harnessed the printing

press to tell us the same stories ad infinitum. Our newest

romance is with the World Wide Web, a system that

speeds and shares astounding amounts of certain types

of information. Yet the Internet that has not come to terms

with several of the textile’s most articulate modes of

communication. Colour is as arbitrary as the settings on

our individual computer monitors. Texture is all but

nonexistent. Touch, for now, remains impossible.

In Dreaming by the Book the American literary critic Elaine

Scarry tries to understand why “monotonous small black

marks on a white page” can conjure such vivid images in

our mind’s eye4. She notes that “the verbal arts ... unlike

painting, music, sculpture, theatre, and film – are almost

wholly devoid of any actual sensory content”5. Her

observations share one thing in common. Scarry, to my

eye, determines that it is qualities we commonly associate

with the textile that are instinctively used by authors to

make fiction vivid. Descriptions of stretching, folding and

tilting, for example, are needed for our imaginations to

function. The more things are described with textile

attributes, the more readily our brains can translate text

into an imagined world.

The artists exhibiting at the Stroud Textile Festival this

year all enjoy their own vividness of vocabulary. Many

have connections to Scotland, but this is where their

similarities end. Each has built a career on the refinement

of their particular visual language. Like Scarry, each, in

their own way, understands what is needed to create a

convincing experience for the viewer.

Jo Barker6 uses the time intensive tradition of tapestry to

weave surfaces full of speed and light. Somehow,

Barker’s tapestries betray none of the labour their

construction demands. Instead she records flourishes of

drawn lines, watery edges of painted colour and mottled

shadows of photographed light. Fibre brings its own

unique sensibilities to these observations. Varying

tensions of thread cut deep channels across tightly

packed surfaces; loose fibres create halos around spots

of rich colour.

The intangible associations we have of the landscape are

the subject of Sara Brennan’s7 tapestries. A sobering

sense of vastness is apparent in her modestly sized work.

Light and cloud mutate. The concrete remains just

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a selvedge edge demand quiet observation on the part of

the viewer.

Henny Burnett responds to personal connections she

makes with history’s objects. Here the fragility of materials

she gathers and illuminates are from sources that relate to

Stroud’s wool industry. Both Burnett and Glasgow-based

artist Deirdre Nelson11 are sifters and sorters, making

sense of huge amounts of material and bringing to the

surface poetic responses to local settings. Nelson, who is

currently Artist in Residence at Stroud’s Museum in the

Park, often adopts narratives for her work. Folklore, oral

traditions and humour all play a part in a practice that has

come to be known for its accessibility and democracy.

Like Burnett, Nelson finds details in the gems of wisdom

she is expert at teasing from objects and communities

alike, reviving history and inviting participation.

Each of these voices is as divergent as they are assured.

All make use of the enormous vocabulary contemporary

textile practice enjoys.

I think the textiles should be allowed to say the rest.

Dr Jessica Hemmings Associate Director of the Centre

for Visual & Cultural Studies, Edinburgh College of Art

beyond our focus. Instead there is a sense of the

insignificance our daily concerns can begin to have when

placed in a broader perspective.

In Snow Country the Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata

writes: “The thread was spun in the snow, and the cloth

was woven in the snow, washed in the snow and

bleached in the snow. Everything, from the first spinning

of the thread to the last finishing touches, was done in the

snow”8. Brennan’s palette has its own softer hues than

the frozen landscape Kawabata describes, but the same

sensibilities are evident. It is as though the threads she

selects for her tapestries are shaped and coloured by the

landscapes they record.

Norma Starszakowna’s9 printed and embellished panels

are covered with complex textures that overlay fragments

of text with surfaces that could be crumbling plaster

walls, letters or graffiti. Her techniques are her own

invention rather than a particular tradition of making.

Because of this, technical concerns are impossible to

compare and the unfamiliarity of her surfaces enjoys

priority. In stark contrast to this is Kate Blee’s10

vocabulary of confident blocks of colour that speak

through their simplicity. There is a bravery needed to work

with such bold shapes and here details such as texture or

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a vivid vocabulary

�

I say this with the knowing apprehension I might be writing myself

out of a job!

Clarifying the rules of textile art, as Lynne Truss does for grammar

in Eats, Shoots and Leaves: the Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation,

would not create a best seller.

Joan Livingstone and John Ploof note in their introduction to

The Object of Labour: “Originating with the history of survival, cloth

manufacture, and its accompanying division of labor, expands to

impact all spheres of culture and power.” (page vvi)

Scarry, Elaine. Dreaming by the Book. (page 5)

Scarry, Elaine. Dreaming by the Book. (page 5)

Edinburgh College of Art (Postgraduate Diploma 1986)

Edinburgh College of Art (BA Hons 1986)

Kawabata, Yasunari. Snow Country

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art (BA Hons 1966)

Edinburgh College of Art (Postgraduate Diploma 1986)

Glasgow School of Art (MPhil 1992)

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EssaySome Thoughts on Tapestry in EdinburghMaureen Hodge

The Tapestry Department at Edinburgh College of Art

(1963-2008) was unique in the UK, both in the innovation

of its teaching and because of its close association with

the Edinburgh Tapestry Company, where many of the staff

and students worked. The Department was an offshoot of

Stained Glass, run by one of the Studio’s former Artistic

Directors, Sax Shaw, and included among its students

Archie Brennan and Maureen Hodge. The Edinburgh

Tapestry Company had a radically different approach from

other ateliers, where the artist’s cartoon was diligently

copied, in a process akin to painting by numbers. Instead

in Edinburgh, the original designs were translated from

one medium to the other to produce a totally new object.

The Studio was staffed by a combination of apprentice

and college trained weavers; the former, from their vast

experience, knew what would work, the students

wondered if something would. In College from the very

beginning, technique for its own sake was viewed as of

secondary importance. Sax Shaw believed that if you had

something to say you would find a way. The College had a

wonderfully liberating attitude encouraged by Sax Shaw

one of the Directors; so the students sought the best way

to express their initial concepts and instead of limiting

them, it acted as a spur to greater achievement and the

development of a strong personal technical repertoire.

The aim of the department was to consolidate and extend

tapestry in edinburgh

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every student’s individual abilities. They were taught

gobelin, felt, papermaking, structures, electronic media

and drawing, as well as accumulating a personal research

archive, referred to as contemporary archaeology.

The realisation of the importance of drawing was a major

factor in their subsequent progress. Drawing is as

important to the visual artist as scales are to the musician

and from this rigorous practice came the confidence

which enabled the rapid development of ideas and

allowed the risk-taking necessary when venturing into

their personal unknown. Harold Cohen, who designed a

series of great tapestries said, an artist has to possess

some significant theory of operation about the making of

art and the place of art in the world – something every

student had to address. He also pointed out that a chair is

meant for sitting on and that the working drawing of a

chair is meant to tell you how you make it.

Open-mindedness and self-motivation were allied to

enthusiasm and self-discipline and, as far as possible,

assumptions were to be questioned. Make do and mend

was the order of the day bringing a creative approach to

everyday problems with often brilliant, utilitarian solutions

– scaffolding looms, fishing line warp and abandoning

weaving from the back of the tapestry, watching the

progress in a mirror, in favour of weaving from the front,

giving direct contact with the woven surface.

The freshness of this attitude was reinforced by an

openness to what tapestry could be, rather than teaching

how it was and ought to be. For art, of any kind, to be

relevant it must relate to its own time and although the

students were expected to be aware of the traditions –

and in tapestry there were many – more importantly, they

were expected to work within their own cultural context,

because otherwise the concepts and media would

atrophy and die.

Thus tapestry, in Edinburgh, embodied a range of

techniques, and above all the need to ask what if?

So, what is tapestry, then? Meanings of words are based

largely on usage and so within the College, the

cognoscenti knew what ‘tapestry’ was; but so did other

people and what they meant was often not the same.

Grannies knew that it was needlework, just as the Custom

and Excise was equally adamant that it was something

that covered upholstery and was subject to VAT. This was

not just a bit of local difficulty, in the wider world, purists

believed such definitions really mattered. Tapestry was

turned down in craft shows as Art, and in art shows as

Craft. No doubt in this Festival there will be people who

call themselves tapestry weavers, tapestry artists, artist

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weavers; some may call themselves simply artists, others

craftspeople, designers, makers, even sculptors. Naming

is merely a convenience, a help if you get what you expected,

nothing more, so what the work is called is a matter of

personal choice and really does not matter too much.

But whatever ‘it’ is, the work should be able to hold its

own in the Fine Art world, on equal terms with sculpture

and painting and without any special pleading.

Stephen Hunter wrote in Tapestry in Edinburgh:

“There are dangers in choosing to retain categories.

Mediocre work can be overrated because it is ‘typical’,

and shows perfectly the defining features of a particular

area. On the other hand traditional authority can be

invoked to stifle experimentation or to exclude work from

exhibitions because it does not measure up to the

criterion of the medium. We must be careful not to be

dogmatic or to try to forge an identity from our tradition

which prevents it from being open-ended enough to

accommodate future development but which is not so

vague as to be meaningless. The definitions should flow

from the work and not from an external historical

authority. Thus we oppose the authority of tradition

with a functional authority which itself has risen out of

the tradition”.

In 1973, it was decided that the Department should

pursue a Fine Art approach using the criterion for fibre art/

tapestry as laid down by the Lausanne Tapestry Biennale.

Some students have chosen traditional gobelin, while

others have launched off in completely different

directions. As is so often the case there are many correct

answers. Surely, “Does it work?” is a lot more relevant

than “Does this conform to the rules of tapestry

methodology?” whatever that may be.

When tapestries left the wall and began to fill the space

those walls contained, then all the old restraints died. It

was not Lurcat who revolutionised tapestry, but

Abakanowicz, the Jacobis and Jagoda Buic who filled

space with fibre and made site specific and installation

work, which led directly into the art mainstream. So what

is tapestry? For us, in Edinburgh, tapestry was a woven

structure or a fibre process which contained the

embodiment of an idea. It could be as diverse as a

gobelin hanging or a woven shed, as different as woven

fibre optics and hundreds of pigment-stuffed cloth bags.

It could even be the work of the student, desperate to

come to Tapestry, but equally determined not to be a

traditional weaver, who produced a 20-minute

performance where the audience watched “ideas being

woven” and then was asked to sign a statement to that

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effect. And so you can see how Jo Barker, Sara Brennan

and Henrietta Burnett, in all their glorious differences, can

all come under the heading of Tapestry in Edinburgh.

Maureen Hodge was in charge of the Tapestry

Department at Edinburgh College of Art from 1973 until

her retirement in 2006, becoming a Reader in 1994.

After studying Stained Glass at ECA she worked at the

Edinburgh Tapestry Company, leaving in 1970 to

concentrate on her own work and teaching, but

returning briefly as interim Artistic Director in 1975.

She has exhibited all over the world and her work is

included in many public and private collections here

and abroad.

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resonance tapestry photo: roger hyam

jo barker

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Jo Barker

Jo Barker’s completed tapestries are always abstract

and evolve from drawn, painted, printed and

photographed marks, which are manipulated on the

computer creating consciously ambiguous images.

She aims to create a sense of something rather than an

identifiable object or picture.

To create a sense of movement,of being drawn in or spun

around. Of being wrapped in colour. Starting points come

from patterns and marks in nature, plants and qualities of

dappled light.

Her designs come alive when translated with yarns and

threads using the Gobelin tapestry weaving technique.

The slow, reflective method of making imbues the finished

work with a quiet power.

“People often say ‘you must be a very patient person to

weave tapestries’. Strangely, considering that a large

tapestry can take up to three months to complete I don’t

think I would describe myself in such a way. There is a

kind of nagging curiosity to keep going and going based

on ones desire to see just how the finished piece ‘turns

out’. Dogged maybe…patient…I’m not so sure.

A love of working with my hands, of making things, and

a very long-term interest in colour are essentially at the

heart of what I do.

I benefited greatly from a rigorous grounding in

drawing whilst studying in the Tapestry Department at

Edinburgh College of Art, always being encouraged to

really look closely at the world around you.”

Jo has exhibited widely nationally and internationally and

has work in several collections including the V&A

Museum, London. She has completed numerous

commissions including tapestries for the Royal Victoria

Infirmary, Newcastle and the House of Lords, London.

drift tapestry photo: roger hyam

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Noela Bewry

Printed textiles are often about colour, rhythm and layering

rather than subject matter. Working with them influenced

Noela Bewry’s abstract work and has been important in

freeing her approach to painting.

Her other starting point is contemporary jazz:

“The beginning of a piece is like the under layer, then

solo instruments take over, new rhythms emerge, and

an increasingly complex picture builds. Musicians talk

about texture, colour and tone, understanding them in a

musical context has enabled me to apply these

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considerations to my practice as a painter without

having to think about figurative representation.

Once I have a painting underway, it has a life of its

own. The image on the paper becomes the sole point of

reference. I develop and respond to what I’ve put down

and there are many stages of reconsidering and rework

until it is resolved.”

Bewry’s vibrant and energetic placing of colour

onto canvas is inspiring and a close stepping stone to

interpreting into dye or stitch.

spring notes variation acrylic on paper �8 x �8cm

1�noela bewry

melange bleu acrylic on paper 19 x 26cm

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shawls photo: sarah blee

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Kate Blee

Kate Blee is an artist whose work relates to control and

response, order and disorder. When she works on cloth it

is the cloth that demands a particular approach. She

observes and reacts, creating the beginnings of

something and working within the parameters or

limitations of the process. The language is about the

component parts. With fabric it is the water, the pigment,

the cloth, the movement and the force of gravity. Within

each cloth a complete and unique journey can be traced.

The imagery is a marking of that journey.

“Colour is my greatest challenge, my greatest pastime,

my constant interest. I will never come to the end with

colour. It is personal and universal, it has, like taste, and

smell, a strong emotional connotation with everyone,

our response is often subconscious. Colour is an

enveloping journey of understanding relationships – the

colour and the medium and for this there are no rules.”

Kate studied at Edinburgh College of Art between 1980

and 1984 and set up her studio in London in 1986.

She has been involved in a wide range of art and design

projects working with textiles and mixed media for

exhibitions, installations and commissions.

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lime shawl photo: sarah blee

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broken band with green tapestry

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Sara Brennan

Woven Tapestry is one of the quieter mediums.

Its realisation demands so much attention and time, that

often it feels like a ridiculous pursuit.

Sara Brennan’s soft muted landscapes convey the feeling

created by the landscapes that surround her home in

Edinburgh. She uses a consistent colour palette, with

usually only one or two predominant colours, and maybe

a hidden line of richness that gives subtle definition

the work.

“I work in two ways. The smaller studies are a more

immediate and direct response to the relationship with

yarn and colour. There are no drawings for this work.

The larger tapestries are taken directly from small

drawings/paintings.

Each of these ways of working are based on a personal

response to landscape, portraying a sense of place that

is kept non-specific, yet its familiarity is gripping.

Lines, boundaries,landscapes and the unspoken

intimacy with in the spaces that these edges create

fascinate me.

My palette is tonal, I always use one specific colour to

high light the tension with in these measured

landscapes. This colour and yarn become obsessive and

become part of an ongoing series of tapestries.”

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bands tapestry

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Henny Burnett

Henny Burnett’s work has a continuing preoccupation

with museums, collecting, fragility and transience.

Inspired by family history, personal memorabilia often

become incorporated into the forms and structures she

creates. Gloves are cast in plaster and printed with

fragmented texts from different eras, resembling fragile

relics. Old recipes are printed and sewn into thinly cast

paper and muslin bowls. Sound and light are increasingly

important in the presentation of her work by incorporating

light boxes, recorded histories and sound pieces.

Past work such as The Grandmother’s Cupboard (2004)

has drawn on personal histories, and family connections

with the county and its industry, her developing work has

a more general historical impact.

The process of working with a museum and its archives

has resulted in work that explores impermanence and

memory; it is rooted in the fabric of the home, yet

presented in an historical context.

The new work created for Stroud International Textile

Festival offered the opportunity further to develop ideas

and techniques that Henny has confronted previously,

in particular while making The Shoemaker’s Shrine, which

was commissioned for Northamptonshire’s JGallery.

Here she used light boxes while working with both

photographic-derived imagery and cast objects.

The process of collecting, arranging and transforming

from a range of sources is important to her working

process. The three light boxes of Stroud Scarlet, display

images of sewn, collaged, drawn, cast and layered

fragments relating to the Stroud Valleys wool industry.

The sources include women menders, Stroudwater

scarlet, broadcloths, tenter hooks, shearers, clothier’s

marks, redcoat soldiers, teasel thistles, Dunkirk Mill,

cochineal beetles and madder plants.

Details of threads, weave and other textures – the very

unravelling of fine threads – have been captured and

given prominence by photographic enlargement. The

Victorian art of decoupage and the cabinets of curiosities

so popular in that era have also been influential in the

approach to this new work.

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Janet Hinchliffe McCutcheon

The exploration of linear form is the visual basis for her

jewellery. Janet has always enjoyed using a variety of

materials including precious metals, metal leaf, ebony and

textiles. Each material contributes particular tactile

qualities to the jewellery with the addition of colour from

the textiles. The combination of materials determines

construction techniques which in turn define the final

design of a piece of jewellery.

earrings folded silver, gold leaf, red cord photo: joel degen

janet hinchliffe mccutcheonianet hinchliffe mccutcheonearrings folded silver, gold leaf, red cord photo: joel degen

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Annie Hutchinson

“Recycled memories stitched with found mementoes,

Signs and Symbols,

Dancing Hares,

Old darned printed dresses,

Parodies of life,

Great Auntie’s slippers,

A rhyme or old timey song,

Cotton wool clouds in Azure blue skies,

Butterflies having fun,

Circus performers and magic,

Mysterium of all sorts………

There really is a BIG BAD WOLF you know….”

These are just some of the things that inspire Annie

Hutchinson to make her weird and wonderful creatures.

Some mirror real life situations, the humour and the irony,

some stem from the imagination or a tale told in

childhood, remembered and forever intriguing.

Annie has always had a love for textures which has

developed consistently since studying Fine Art Sculpture

in Cheltenham. Many traditional skills are performed in the

making of these armature figures, needle felting, hand and

machine stitching, incorporating appliqué and embroidery,

simple lino-cut printing techniques and painted images.

These skills married with Annie’s magpie tendencies to

seek vintage materials and discarded treasures come

together to form the basis for her other worldly folk. Annie

lives and works in a studio near Stroud in Gloucestershire. annie hutchinson

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Since graduating from Glasgow School of Art in 1992

Deirdre Nelson has pursued a parallel career in creating

work for exhibition and commission and in working as a

tutor to various groups. Her art practice has evolved

through experimenting with materials and hand work and

craftsmanship provide both direction and context. Hand

skills are used though the work in a humorous commentary

on social and textile history within the contemporary

gallery. Her textile work employs a variety of techniques

and materials fusing traditional textile skills and

contemporary reinterpretation through photography

and digital manipulation.

Deirdre has been artist in residence in a variety of

locations from Ireland, Sutherland, Outer Hebrides to

Western Australia creating work for exhibition and with

local communities, and in 2008 she was selected for

Jerwood Contemporary Makers being one of seven

applied artists receiving the Jerwood Makers award.

“As artist in resident in Stroud I was particularly

interested in the history of textile production in Stroud

and on my initial visit to the museum, was drawn to

Stroud red cloth and related artefacts. The red stripes

on the Wallbridge painting which hangs on the museum

wall fascinated me as did many of the artefacts

throughout the museum.

Exploring the theme of red and photographing the red

objects within the museum allowed me to take a closer

look at the collection and to begin to make links with

the objects displayed and Stroud red cloth. A privileged

visit to Milliken’s at Lodgemore Mill allowed an insight

into current cloth production of tennis ball cloth in

Stroud. Words associated with the production of Stroud

cloth were of great interest which led to a collaboration

with Tawona Sithole, a Zimbabwean performance

poet, who has had experience of working with a variety

of communities.

As my primary interest is in finding ways to combine

both the historical and contemporary in my work, it was

important to tell the story of Stroud cloth past and

present. My aim was to create a textile work which

would have a ‘use’ beyond the festival so ideas developed

which could become useful in education and interpretation.

A trail of red tennis balls through the collection act as

‘full stops’ in order to stop the viewer and allow them to

view objects in a new light. A ‘forest of swingballs’

allow participants to be active in batting history around

in the form of embroidered tennis balls.

It has been a fascinating experience as artist in

residence at Stroud Museum in the Park and I hope the

resulting works will provide a lively and playful insight

into Stroud Cloth both past and present.”

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Jo Newman

Jo Newman is a contemporary textiles artist who

promotes the value of line through stitch in her practice.

Her work is a combination of found, drawn and

photographed studies that, when transferred to canvas

create a sense of narrative. They can often be quirky

and humorous observations.

“I like to try and capture a moment in time and play

with the idea for a while until I find what I like and

what I want to share.”

She graduated from Winchester School of Art in

Constructed Textiles, specialising in Knit and for several

years she worked with Constructed Costume Designer/

Maker Trevor Collins. She is establishing herself as a

Textiles Illustrator based in the UK and exhibits with the

Midland Textiles Forum, Independently and works to

commission.

Jo’s current body of Textiles Illustrations are based on the

Village Community of Arlingham in Gloucestershire whose

lives are dominated by the presence on three sides by the

River Severn. The work explores the Past and Present

lives of the village, land, people, river and the changes

over time.

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Caroline Sharp

Caroline Sharp has an established career as both a

landscape architect and artist and has shown work

throughout the UK including the recent exhibition Urban

Field at Contemporary Applied Arts in London and 3 solo

shows in 2009.

Caroline has completed many commissions for public

spaces in both rural and urban settings using a variety of

media. Recent commissions have included installations

along the Wessex Ridgeway and another for the North

Hykeham Theatre in Lincoln.

Recent work is woven, printed, assembled, or

constructed and uses natural materials including stems of

willow, dogwood, birch, poplar; leaves, wool, chalk, clay

and “anything that moves and inspires with form and

context being paramount”. Her solo exhibitions held

during 2009 showed giant Floating Seeds constructed

from wild mustard stems; some new work using chalk

and clay block prints; wall based work with bent and

stitched willow.

The work shown in the Stroud Textile festival is a

continuation of Caroline’s fascination with natural form.

Three Vessels stand within the Courtyard space

reflecting the surrounding parkland and acting as

juxtaposition to the hard, crisp stone paving and building.

The vessels are made using colourful and textural stems

of willow and birch and explore concepts around

containment and movement.

A main motivation for Caroline is a continuing need to

connect to the earth and the natural world. Issues of

sustainability; the fragility of permanence to

impermanence and our own mortality are increasingly

important influences in her work.

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Norma Starszakowna

Norma Starszakowna’s textiles are informed by several

factors, including the desire to mediate the flatness

normally associated with the printing process.

Starszakowna’s work combines translucent digital-print

with opaque, embossed screen printed heat-reactive

media and applied patinations and glazes, to explore and

reflect a diverse range of cultural issues. Her textiles are

richly textured and strongly embued with meaning,

referencing changing urban and socio-political

landscapes, as reflected in the use of walls as a means

of expression for the human voice and cultural identity

through graffiti, text or through billboards.

“The encroachment of time and cultural shift; the

archaeology of once-intimate interiors that have been

exposed by socio-economic change to the public gaze,

and the role of walls as a means of protection and

separation or the control of the ‘other’ all strongly

impact on my recent work.”

An Arts Council Research Award in 1977 and subsequent

research led to the experimental print processes and

media that were used in the oxidized, embossed, bonded

and crush-print fabrics she produced for Issey Miyake in

1990/02, and which effectively created a paradigm shift

in Japanese textile culture.

A selection of these initial experimental textiles were also

exhibited in the British Craft Council’s survey Exhibition,

‘Colour into Cloth 1900 – 1994’ and the Jerwood Prize in

Applied Art Exhibition 1997, while recent work is held in

the collections of the Scottish Parliament, the V&A

Museum and the Whitworth Gallery.

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Jo BarkerBorn 1963 Cumbria, UK

Lives & Works Edinburgh

W.A.S.P.S. Studios, Patriothall, Hamilton Place, Edinburgh EH3 5AX

Education/Qualifications

1985-86 Edinburgh College of Art: Post Graduate Diploma – Commended

1982-85 Edinburgh College of Art: BA (Hons) Design in Tapestry with Printmaking – 1st Class

1981-82 Cumbria College of Art & Design: Foundation Course

Selected Exhibitions

2010 Contemporary Applied Arts, London: Featured Maker

2010 ArtPalmBeach 2010

2009 Brown Grotta Gallery, Connecticut, USA

2009 Ruthin Craft Centre, Wales: Follow A Thread (UK tour)

2009 Saatchi Gallery, London: Collect

2009 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh:

Jo Barker – Tapestry (solo show)

2007 V&A, Museum, London: Collect

2006 Flinn Gallery, Connecticut, USA: Beyond Weaving - International Art Textiles

2005 Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum, Aalborg, Denmark: Artapestry (Germany, France tour)

2001-9 Browngrotta at SOFA New York and Chicago

2003 Westport Art Center, Connecticut, USA: The Common Thread

2002 City Art Centre, Edinburgh: Weaving Stories (UK tour)

2002 Brown Grotta Gallery, Connecticut, USA: 15th Anniversary Exhibition

2002 The Scottish Gallery at SOFA Chicago

2001 Brown Grotta Arts, Connecticut, USA: From Across the Pond

Selected Commissions

The House of Lords, Westminster, London

BUPA, London

Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle

Scottish Executive, Edinburgh

City University, London

Bank of China, London

Guinness Plc (United Distillers), Edinburgh

City Art Centre & Edinburgh District Council

Selected Collections

V&A Museum, London,

The House of Lords, London

National Museum of Scotland

City Art Centre, Edinburgh

Aberdeen City Art Gallery & Museums

Grampian Hospitals Art Trust

Selected Awards

2008 The Theo Moorman Trust for Weavers

2008 Inches Carr Trust

2006 The Theo Moorman Trust for Weavers

2006 Scottish Arts Council Creative Development

2005 Scottish Arts Council Professional Development

Employment

1995 – 2001 Goldsmiths College, London; Edinburgh College of Art; Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee – Visiting Lecturer

Jo has exhibited widely nationally and internationally and has work in several

collections including the V&A Museum, London. She has completed numerous commissions including tapestries for the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle and the House of Lords, London

Noela Bewry Born 1951 Vienna

Education Kingston upon Thames Art College

Exhibitions

2009 Mixed landscape at Brewery Arts Theatre, Cirencester

2009 Wonderwall Gallery, Cirencester

2008 Abstract paintings Hadfield Fine Art – Spring and summer exhibitions

2006 Contemporary Drawing Show Ruskin Mill

2003 Cirencester Workshops Gallery

1997 Woodcuts Fiery Beacon Gallery Painswick

Noela Bewry annually opens her studio as part of the Stroud Open Studios in June

Collections

Stroud District Council collection

Numerous private collections

Professional

1980 – 2000 Teaching part-time at Stroud College in Gloucestershire

She co-curates the Drawing Show which is part of the SVA site Festival every June, Stroud

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Kate Blee Education

1979-84 Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland – BA 1st class Hons and Post Grad Dip.

1986 Established Studio

Recent Exhibitions

2010 Roche Court, New Art Centre, group show

2008 re:weave 20 years Rossi & Rossi, London

2007 Solo show the Scottish gallery, Edinburgh

2006 Solo show Cutting Chris Farr Gallery, LA.

2005 The Spirit of Liberty – London

2004 Solo show CAA Gallery, London

2003 C.D.A Show. Sotheby’s, London

2002 Solo show. Egg Gallery. London

2002 LOSA (South Africa Project) Sotheby’s Group show, London

2001 The Unexpected – Sotheby’s, New York

2001 Solo show Tapestries – Christopher Farr Gallery

2001 Flood show Pucci International New York, USA

2000 Pitti Imagine Casa – group experimental textiles show

1999 Solo show – Egg Gallery, London

Public Commissions

2007-10 Southmead Hospital NHS Trust Bristol – Lead Artist

2005 City and Islington College – Ceramic wall - Wilkinson Eyre architects

2004 Cambridgeshire District Council Offices - 8m tapestry, architects – Aukett

2000 Parliament buildings, Portcullis House, Westminster, London

1999 Financial Services Authority, London

Series of Tapestries – Michael Hopkins

Architects,. London

Financial Services Authority – Painted and Suspended Glass Screen, Canary Wharf

1999 Edward Square, London Exterior Wall painting: J & L Gibbons, Landscape Architects

Public Collections

V&A Museum, London

Crafts Council Collection, London

Westminster Parliament, Portcullis House, London

The Contemporary Arts Society, London

Girton College Cambridge University, Cambridge

Financial Services Authority, London

NHS Trust Southmead Hospital, Bristol

Wellcome Trust, London

Private Clients include

Issey Miyake, Donna Karan, Annie Lennox, Sir Michael Hopkins, Georgio Armani, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Jon Snow, Janice Blackburn

Professional

Kate is visiting tutor in Mixed Media – Royal College of Art, London

Colour/Art Consultant – Rivington Street Studio Architects, J & L Gibbons Landscape Architect

Sara BrennanBorn 1963 Edinburgh

Education & Awards

2008 Jerwood Contemporary Makers Award

2005 Scottish Arts Council, Artistic Development Award

2001 UK representative, EU initiative, Tapestry exhibition, Tunisia

2001 Polish Artists Union Prize, 10th International Tapestry Triennial, Lodz

1993 Hope-Scott Trust Award for Works for 94 Exhibition

1996 Scottish Arts Council, Artistic Development Award

1982-86 Edinburgh College of Art, BA (Hons) Tapestry

1981-82 National Arts School, Papua New Guinea

Selected Commissions

First Minister’s Suite, Scottish Executive, New St. Andrews House, Edinburgh

Private Commissions UK & USA

Selected Collections

Scottish Parliament Building Edinburgh

Shipley Art Gallery Gateshead

HBOS Headquarters, Edinburgh

Aberdeen Art Gallery

Private Collections UK, USA & Australia

Selected Exhibitions

2009 Vive la tapisserie! Institut Francais d’Ecosse, Edinburgh.

2009 Contemporary Applied Arts, Collect, Sattchi Gallery London

2009 Follow a Thread, Ruthin Crafts Centre, North Wales, touring Dovecote, Edinburgh, Harley Gallery, Notts

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2008 This is Now, from drawing to contexture, Edinburgh Arts Festival, WASPS, Edinburgh

2008 Jerwood Contemporary Makers, Jerwood Space, London, and Dovecot, Edinburgh.

2007 Beyond Weaving – International Textiles, Finn Gallery, Connecticut, USA

2007 Edinburgh College of Art, Centenary Celebration Exhibition, 2007, Scottish Gallery

2006 Solo Exhibition, Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2005 Artapestry, European Tapestry Forum, touring Denmark, Germany, & France

2005 Interface, Contemporary Textiles, Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, & Ruthin Crafts Centre, Wales

2004-07 Scottish Gallery at Collect, V&A, London

2002-06 Brown Grotta at SOFA, NY, USA

2002-04 Scottish Gallery at SOFA, Chicago, USA

2002 Darkness into the Light, C.A.A. London, touring UK

2002 Anniversary Exhibition, Brown Grotta, USA

2001 Across the Pond, Brown Grotta Gallery, Connecticut, USA

2001 Invited Artist, International Tapestry Triennial, Lodz, Poland

2001 Sara Brennan, Scottish Gallery at the Hub, Edinburgh

2001 A Celebration of Contemporary Applied Art, Ruthin Craft Centre, Wales, and Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2001 Less is More, Glynn Vivien Art Centre, Swansea

2001 Thirteen Hands Exhibition Caol community, Fort-William touring Scotland

2001 European Tapestry, Maison d’Arts, Tunis, Tunisia

Henny BurnettEducation

1991-92 Institute of Education, University of London, PGCE in Art & Design

1985-86 Edinburgh College of Art, Post Graduate Diploma, Sculpture/Printmaking

1982-85 Edinburgh College of Art, BA Hons (1st), Design

Solo Exhibitions

2009 The Shoemaker’s Shrine Northampton Museum and Art Gallery

2008 The Shoemaker’s Shrine JGallery, Moulton, Northampton

2004 Installation, Gallery II, University of Bradford

2002 I Went to see the King Beatrice Royal Gallery, Southampton

2001 The Language of Ghosts Southside Arts, Southampton

2001 Uncle Eric’s Box, The Otter Gallery, Chichester

Group Exhibitions

2009 The Open West, Summerfield Gallery and Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, Cheltenham

2007 Arts Unwrapped, Space Morning Lane, London

2005 Highly Commended, Journals, Ale & Porter Open, Bradford-on-Avon

2004 Commissioned artist, Open Desk, Ragged School Museum, London

2003 Commissioned artist, The Home Ideal Show Hotbath Gallery, Bath

2002 Metamorphosis Chapel Gallery, Ormskirk

2001-02 Sightlines 2002, Basingstoke Arts Festival

Invited artist, Handbag, City Gallery, Leicester, and touring UK

2000-01 Commissioned artist, A Sense of Occasion, Craftspace Touring, Birmingham

2000 Two-person show, Colle Verde residency, Beatrice Royal Gallery, Southampton

1999-2000 Commissioned artist, Subverted Suburbia, Gracefields Arts Centre, Dumfries

1998 Selected artist, In Dent, Stroud House Gallery, Stroud

1997 Selected artist, Art in Boxes, Southampton City Art Gallery

1996 Selected artist, Sitting Pretty Kirkcaldy Museum & Art Gallery

1994 Invited exhibitor, Paperworks City Museum & Gallery, Plymouth

Awards, Residencies, Commissions

2009 Awarded grants for the arts (individuals), Arts Council England

2004 Awarded grant for the arts (individuals), Arts Council England

2003 Awarded project funding, Juliet Gomperts Trust

2000 Awarded development funding (investment in individuals) - Southern Arts

2000 Commission, Birthwake, Craftspace Touring Exhibition

2000 Awarded residency, Colle Verde, Italy, Southern Arts

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Deirdre NelsonBorn 1965 N. Ireland

Education

1995-96 M. Philosophy. Art and Design in Organisational Context. Glasgow School of Art

1989-92 B.A. Hons Design: Textiles. Glasgow School of Art

1984-85 Foundation Course in Art and Design. Manchester Polytechnic

Awards

2008 Jerwood Contemporary Makers

2007 Scottish Arts Council Professional Development Award

2005 Scottish Arts Council Award for Individual Development.

2005 Inches Carr Trust Bursary

2003 Scottish Arts Council Professional Development Award

2002 Hope Scott Trust award

2002 Scottish Arts Council Award for Individual Development

2001 Short listed for a Winston Churchill Memorial Award

Solo Exhibitions

2008 Universal provider, IASKA, Kellerberrin, Western Australia

2008 A’ Fighe A’ Cheo Like knitting fog, Taigh Chearsabagh, N. Uist

2007 Currency lads and lasses, Museum of Western Australia, Perth

2006 Birdies of Weavers Bay, Scourie Village Hall, Sutherland, Scotland

2006 Ironers & Shakers, London Printworks Trust

2005 Waking and watching Culross Palace, Culross, Fife

2005 Dangers of Sewing and Knitting, Crawford

Arts Centre, St Andrews

2005 Collins Gallery Glasgow, The Hub, Sleaford, Lincolnshire

2004 A hairdresser, a soldier a thimblemaker and a duke, Bankfield Museum, Halifax

2003 Lush Betty, Isle of Arran distillers, Arran

2003 F2T Atrium Gallery, Glasgow

2003 Apron (n) bartender, An Taigh Chearsabagh, N. Uist

2002 My Dear John, Museum of Edinburgh

2001 Material matters, The Scottish Gallery and The Hub, Edinburgh

2001 A thimbleful. Café Cosmo, Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow

Group Exhibitions

2008 Jerwood Contemporary Makers, Jerwood Space, London

Collect, V&A London

2007 Scissors paper Stone,. Edinburgh City Art Centre

2006 Changing Face of Craft, National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh

2006 Making Connections, Timespan, Sutherland, Scotland

2006 Call and response, Knitting and stitching show, Harrogate

2005 Deconstruct reconstruct Bilston Craft Centre, Wolverhampton.

2005 Flower Power, Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2004 m-e-s-h, Seven Seven Gallery, Broadway Market, London

2003 Tell tale, Shippley Art Gallery, Gateshead

2002 Digital print @ Pentagon Centre, Glasgow

2002 Hemmed In, Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Devon

Archive Artifice Artefact, FISE.Gallery Budapest, Hungary

Commissions

2008-9 Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh

2007 Leeds Cancer Hospital, Leeds

2006 Shetland Museum and Archives

2004 Brodsworth Hall, Doncaster, Creative Partnerships and Art House

2003 Gibside estate. In collaboration with Northumbria University and Shippley Art Gallery

2002 Langside Parish Church, Glasgow

Recent Residencies

2010 Stroud International Textiles residency at Museum in the Park, Stroud, Gloucestershire

2008 IASKA international artists residency, Kellerberrin, Western Australia

2008 Taigh Chearsabagh Museum and Art Centre, N. Uist

2007 Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia

2006 Handa Island, Durness Development Group, Sutherland, Scotland

2005-6 London Printworks Trust, Brixton, London

2002 Museum of Edinburgh self initiated residency

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Caroline Sharp B.Sc. (Hons) DipLA (Dist.) MLI. CertUD (Dist.)

Born 1958, London. Childhood in the Middle East

Education

2000-01 Dip UD. Urban Design. Oxford Brookes University

1984-87 Dip LA. Landscape Architecture. Birmingham Polytechnic

1977-80 BSc. Geography. University College London

Solo Exhibitions

2009 Aug – Sept: Members Showcase, Devon Guild, Bovey Tracy, Devon

2009 June – July: Enjoy the Earth Gently, Black Swan Arts, Frome, Somerset

2009 April – June: Vessel and Seed, Walford Mill, Wimborne, Dorset

Selected Group Exhibitions

2009 September: Artwey Open Studios, Dorset

2009 May – June: Cup, Devon Guild, Bovey Tracey, Devon

2009 June – July: Fresh Air 2009, Quenington, Gloucestershire

2008 Dec-Jan – Christmas Show, Alpha Gallery, Sherborne, Dorset

2008 Oct-Dec – Christmas Show, Whitestones Gallery, Portland, Dorset.

2008 June – Sept Ecology meets Craft, Walford Mill, Wimborne, Dorset

2008 June – August: Summer Exhibition, Alpha Gallery, Sherborne, Dorset

2008 May: Open Selected Exhibition, Dorchester Arts Centre, Dorset

2008 May: Trig Point Exhibition, Study Gallery of Modern Art, Poole, Dorset

2008 Jan – Feb: Open Selected Exhibition, Black Swan Arts, Somerset

2007 June – Aug: Summer Exhibition, Bowlish Gallery, Somerset

2007 April – June: Urban Field, Contemporary Applied Arts, London

2007 Feb – Mar: Pushing the Boundaries, Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries

2006 May – July: Pushing the Boundaries, Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, Scotland

2006 May – June: 20/20, Walford Mill, Wimborne, Dorset

2006 Mar – April: Earthbound, Bridport Arts Centre, Dorset

2006 Jan – Feb: Elemental Insight, Falkirk, Scotland

Residencies

2003 Art in the Garden Residency, Hilliers Garden, Romsey, Hants. 25/26/27 July – Sept

2002 Shoot/Wave Installation at Dorset County Hospital, Dorchester, Dorset, Jan – June

Commissions

2008 Arts NK, Installation at North Hykeham School/Community Centre, Lincoln.

2006/2007 Creative Footsteps, Wessex Ridgeway Project, Dorset Artsreach. EU funded

2003/2004 Willow installation/frontage to Crafts Study Centre, Surrey Institute of Art, Farnham, Surrey

2003/2004 Art of Craft, Artsreach Leader EU funded project. Dorset

2002 Presence-Private Garden, Dorset

Professor Norma Starszakowna DA, FRSA, FCSD

Studio Dundee

Education

2005-08 Director Research, Faculty Art, Architecture & Design, University of Lincoln

2005 Director Research Development, University of the Arts London

2003-05 Visiting Professor & Consultant, Universities of Heriot-Watt and Lincoln

1995-99 Chair of Design, Duncan of Jordanstone, University of Dundee

1990-95 Deputy Head of School of Design, Duncan of Jordanstone

1984-95 Head of Textiles and Fashion, Course Director Printed Textiles, DJCA

1985 Full-time lecturer, BA Printed Textiles, DJCA

Recent Selected Exhibitions & Commissions

2009 Art Cloth: Engaging New Visions, Fairfield City Museum & Gallery, Sydney (touring Australia & USA 2009-11)

2009 Age of Experience solo exhibition, Dovecot Galleries, Edinburgh

2008 Writings on the Wall solo exhibition, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2006-8 Collect International Gallery Exhibition, V&A Museum, London

2006-7 Suave 2, Centro de Artesania e Deseno, Lugo; National Museum of Costume, Madrid and National Textiles Museum, Barcelona (Invited Artist)

2005 Vision in Textiles, Izmir State Museum of Art, Turkey

2004 Transmutations, solo exhibition, The Dutch TextielMuseum, Tilburg, Netherlands

2004 Hinterland, permanent installation

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commissioned by Scottish Parliament & Art in Partnership, installed Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh

2003 Artists at Work, international juried exhibition, Museo del Tessuto, Prato, Italy

2003 Textiles,Invited Artist, Lodz University/ St. Katherines Gallery, Gdansk, Poland

2003 Design collection commissioned by Shirin Guild S/S, retailed UK & abroad

2002 Cheongju International Biennale, Cheongju, Korea

Selected Awards

2008 The Art Fund Collect Purchase Prize, V&A Museum, London

2004 International Commission Award, the Scottish Parliament

2002 Commended, Cheungei International Biennale, Korea

Collections

Public and private collections include: Issey Miyake, Tokyo, Reiko Sudo (Nuno Corporation), Tokyo; Shirin Guild Ltd.; Scottish Arts Council; Scottish Crafts Collection; The Scottish Parliament; Bank of Scotland HQ; IBM Collection; South West Arts; Aberdeen, Kirkaldy and Leeds City Art Galleries; various Education Authorities; Sembikiya Gallery, Tokyo; The Deutsche TextilMuseum, Krefeld, Germany; Whitworth Gallery, Manchester; V&A Museum, London

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jo barker: resonance (in progress) tapestry photo: roger hyam

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Acknowledgements

Festival Patron

Mary La Trobe-Bateman OBE

Stroud District Council

The Paul Hamlyn Foundation

Stroud Town Council

Arts Council England

Stroud College in Gloucestershire

Stroud International TextilesFive Valley Foyer, Gloucester Street, Stroud,

Gloucestershire GL5 1QG

t: +44 (0) 1453 808076

m: 07767763607

e: enquiries@stroudinternationaltextiles.org.uk

w: www.stroudinternationaltextiles.org.uk

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Stroud International Textiles

1 – 23 May 2010

textile festivalcelebrating textiles

& contemporary cross art forms

w w w . s t r o u d i n t e r n a t i o n a l t e x t i l e s . o r g . u k

Stroud Five Valleys, Gloucestershire, England

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