Every country and culture in the world has a tradition of folk art and it is striking how similar their motifs are – trees, birds, hearts and houses are a few recurring themes. Textile artist Anne Kelly has dedicated a chapter in her new book ‘Textile Folk Art’ to the theme of home and childhood.

Anne has upcycled a dolls' house using brocante found at a market in France as she feels that houses and homes can be inspiring as motifs for textile work. On a recent visit to her native Canada, Anne was blown away by seeing Maud Lewis’ house at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax (pictured below). A film about her life and art work was released in 2017, ‘Maudie’ with Sally Hawkins (pictured above).

Anne’s new book ‘Textile Folk Art’, Batsford 2018 is being launched through a series of events and exhibitions this autumn including a gallery ‘Folk Tales’ at the Knitting and Stitching Show at Harrogate.

On November 17th, Anne will be a featured artist at the Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park TextileFair. Now in its eight year, the Textile Fair  showcases an impressive range of independent textile artists featuring high quality items which are available to purchase throughout the day. Anne’s love of folk art makes her visit to Compton Verney even more exciting, as they hold an important collection of folk art recently curated by Mark Hearld.

Anne Kelly is a textile artist, author and tutor based in Kent, UK. Her first solo book ‘Textile Nature’ (Batsford) is about the many links between textile artists and nature. ‘Textile Folk Art’ (Batsford) is publishing in August 2018. A full list of the launch events can be found on her blog.

The Compton Verney Textile Fair is on Saturday 17 November, booking soon available.

www.comptonverney.org.uk

www.annekellyartist.net