HERE & NOW - contemporary tapestry exhibition
The exhibition has now opened at the National Centre for Craft and Design and will be shown there until 15th January 2017 and then tour.
HERE & NOW – visitor update:
1 Oct – 17 Nov: 6535!
Still time to see the exhibition if you haven’t visited yet… show closes at NCCD on January 15th 2017
The installation was extremely smooth thanks to the team at NCCD and, although the work is diverse, all agreed that the flow through the specially created 'rooms' works very well. Broadly the exhibition reflects rural, urban and political concerns and works that are all of those. The level of skill and different approaches to the medium of woven tapestry is exceptional, and the energy in the work of the younger weavers is the hope for the future. The Private View was well attended with many of the artists able to be present, including those from Japan, Latvia and Norway alongside the UK artists. The following day exhibiting artist Caron Penney gave a workshop that was fully booked and the Head of Exhibitions, Bryony Windsor, and I had an informal discussion in the Gallery with the other artists and the public.
Find out more about the Here & Now exhibition. The beautiful, fully illustrated catalogue is now available from the exhibition or by mail order.
Image: Electric Egg courtesy of NCCD
Lecture at UCA Farnham by Keiko Kawashima
Keiko Kawashima, Director of the highly influential Gallery Gallery in Kyoto, gave a presentation at UCA Farnham on 3rd October. Keiko Kawashima has been a long time colleague and co-ordinator in Japan for all the Anglo-Japanese projects undertaken by the International Textile Research Centre, and so it was a great pleasure to welcome her. The presentation was part of Farnham Craft Week and so open to the public as well as students and it was very well attended. Keiko spoke about the importance of textiles within Japanese culture and then went on to describe an exhibition of contemporary Noren (cloth room dividers) she had curated for Kyoto Arts Centre in 2015. The variety of work for a single theme was extremely interesting and inspiring.
Contextile 2016
I was very honoured to be asked to give the Keynote Paper at the 3rd Contextile Biennale Conference in Guimaraes, Portugal on 23rd September. I had previously given a Paper at the 1st Contextile in 2012 and was really pleased to return and meet colleagues again. The theme of the conference was 'What Place Is This?' and I had been asked to address the theme of 'Cloth and Memory' - a theme with which I am extremely familiar! The textile exhibitions throughout the city of Guimaraes were beautifully installed and very interesting. As at all events of this kind, the chances to meet artists and academics from all over the world and discuss those ideas about which we are passionate is wonderful.