Saturday, 3 December 2022

Harrogate Knitting & Stitching Show 2022 - Textile Galleries - Part 2 - The 62 Group & The Fine Art Textiles Award

Ann Goddard - Microcosm

It's 60 years since the 62 Group was established.  Their aims were to promote textile art, to be shown in prestigious venues, to be well publicised and to be taken seriously, on a par with other fine art practices.  In this exhibition - Essence - members were asked to present work that reflected the "essence" of their textile practice.  Each work could be no larger than 30x30x30cm.  


Shuna Rendel - Cycles of Time

It was a great exhibition & here I'm sharing with you some of my favourite pieces from it.  If you head over to the 62 Group website you can watch the Essence film where the artists talk about their work.  It's well worth watching.

Maggie Henton - Kept in Place

Hannah Lamb - The Garden Within
Heather Belcher - Becoming Undone

Caren Garfen - Babes in the Wood

Debbie Lyddon - Sand & Salt Bag

Helen Banzhaf - Three in a Row

The Fine Art Textiles Award supported by the Open College of the Arts recognises the creative talents and skills of exceptional textile artists.  These are the pieces that caught my attention... 

Jane Walkley - Rhythm of the Weave 3 


Jane Walkley's piece used clay impressions of mill artefacts that were then cast in jesmonite together with mill debris. These were then included in her woven piece trying to capture the repetitive rhythm of a mill worker's daily experience.



Judith E Martin - Underfoot the Earth Divine

Judith E Martin's piece was inspired by the vast rural Canadian landscape. Her dyed, machined pieced fabrics were hand quilted, resembling a ploughed field. 


Marian Jazmik - Stems & Stalks

Marian Jazmik's abstract textile art, using a variety of synthetic materials, free machine embroidery and heat treatment, is inspired by the shapes and textures of the natural environment captured through her macro photography.

The exhibitions at the Knitting & Stitching Show are always inspirational you can read my other blog post about the textile galleries here.