Lesley Millar - Profile
Lesley Millar trained as a weaver and ran her own successful studio for almost 30 years before turning her attention to the promotion of contemporary textile practice. Her specialist research is located in the UK and Japan and she has spent some 20 years building up professional and personal links between textile makers in both countries. More recently she has also formed creative links with Scandinavia and the Baltic countries. She is an exhibition curator focusing on textiles in broadly three categories:
Contemporary textiles as intervention in the built environment
Contemporary textiles that have emerged from a strong traditional practice
Contemporary textiles that reflect a particular culture
Exhibitions have included 7 major international touring exhibitions: ‘Revelation’ (1996-98), ‘Textural Space’ (2001), ‘Through the Surface’ (2003-05),’21:21 – the textile vision of Reiko Sudo and NUNO’ (2005-7), ‘Cloth & Culture NOW’ (2008), ‘Cultex (2009-11), ‘Lost in Lace’ (2011-12.) and Cloth & Memory {2} (2013). She was the Principal Investigator on the EU project ‘Transparent Boundaries’ (2012-14) with partners in Denmark, Greece and Italy. In 2006-07 she undertook an AHRC funded research project investigating approaches to contemporary textiles through collaborative research between Museums, HEI’s and Practitioners.
Current projects include:
Exhibition 'Fabric: touch and identity' at Compton Verney Art Gallery (2020)
British Council Exchange project with Tbilisi Academy and the Georgia Arts and Culture Centre (2021)
Projects in development include:
'Tansa: Japanese threads of influence' exhibition of British and Japanese miniature textile art (2022)
'The Red Thread' exhibition with Midland Arts Centre (2022)
She is Professor of Textile Culture and Director of the International Textile Research Centre at the University for the Creative Arts. In 2008 she received the Japan Society Award acknowledging her contribution to Anglo-Japanese relationships and in 2011 was appointed MBE for her contribution to Higher Education.
