All That Remains
Neil Bottle’s solo exhibition All That Remains (Thirty Years in the Making) is at Ruthin Craft Centre, Denbighshire until 12 January 2020. Two galleries of work present a celebration of Neil’s 30 years as a textile designer, with large scale digital textiles in one gallery and scarves and cushions (work Neil is more usually known for) in the other.
For this exhibition Neil has manipulated digital and analogue family photographs to represent patchworks of memories (real and fabricated) that recall his life and his memories of his life.
Neil’s work has been liberated by his adoption of digital as his main medium. He is using computers to produce one-off textiles that have been worked in to, creating histories within histories. The digital tool that is the computer has allowed Neil to investigate his family history both literally and figuratively, to craft textiles that are incredibly personal to him, yet moving to everyone.
Image credit, Stephen Heaton.
Over the past two years, as part of a research project funded by the University for the Creative Arts, UCA where Neil works as a lecturer (and also by Ruthin Craft Centre) Neil has created all the new works in the exhibition. Self-referential and process-referential, Neil’s finished textiles are, upon close inspection, layered and complicated. But when you step back to look at them as a whole, they are formed and beautiful. These two actions are reminiscent of how we use our digital devices; we zoom in to images and then zoom out again. Neil’s textiles capture a moment somewhere between.
Image credit, Stephen Heaton.
Neil has also chosen certain personal objects to show here, objects that inspired his work. From a tiny doll in a gingham dress he made when he was 3, to old keys that no longer open doors. Along with his family photographs, these small objects triggered the stories that Neil has encapsulated in his textiles for All That Remains.
Meet Neil Bottle on Sunday 1st December from 11.00am – 1.00pm for a talk and tour of his current exhibition: All That Remains. This is a free event but call 01824 704774 to book a place, as there are limited spaces available.
Guest post by Jane Audas. Jane is a writer, curator and digital consultant.
