Image: Isobel Napier, Piece Two, 2018, laser cut newsprint paper, 60 x 80 cm.
An upcoming exhibition at the New Art Centre – Common Thread - brings together a group of artists each of whose work focuses on the history of textile technology and design, and their shifting values for people across place and time. Exploring the ways which certain textile producing technologies are still in effect, while others are being challenged, the works in the exhibition reflect on the place of textiles both in art, and in contemporary society.
Using archival paper and laser-cutting technology, Isobel Napier designs and creates intricately constructed paper sculptures that resemble woven fabric. Through her carefully honed processes, paper is transformed into an altogether different medium, one that is extremely malleable, with her hanging works becoming soft and flowing. Napier then uses the analogue process of contact printing to record photograms of these sculptures, mirroring their spectral ephemerality.
Image: Forest + Found (Max Bainbridge & Abigail Booth), Broken Bars, Crushed oak tannin, thread, calico, 190 x 150cm, 2016, Image courtesy: the artist.
In their explorations of new languages of craft, Forest and Found's Max Bainbridge and Abigail Booth use traditional techniques of woodworking, patchwork and quilting to create artworks from found and reclaimed material. With felled timber from the grounds of New Art Centre, Bainbridge has carved bespoke sculptural vessels conceived for the Design House, complimented by Booth's paintings that incorporate wood shavings from Bainbridge's work.
Image: Mark Corfield-Moore, Studied Carelessness, 2018, Handwoven cotton and dye, 202 × 140 cm, Image courtesy: the artist.
Mark Corfield-Moore, uses weave to create contemporary tapestries, his works incorporating the representation of historical events or specific characters that are abstracted to depict more universal narratives. Included among his influences are the histories of Amalfi Coast parasols which carry the art of 'studied carelessness' practised by 14th-century Italian courtiers, and the life of Kitty Fisher, an 18th century British courtesan who, among other notable activities, would eat 'money sandwiches'.
Other artists included are Jodie Carey, Ayan Farah, David Murphy, Amy Revier, Sophie Rowley, Katharine Swailes and works from the GRAY MCA collection.
Common Thread, New Art Centre, Wiltshire, 28 Mar – 31 May 2020. Please note this exhibition is by appointment only and will be available to see online in the near future.
For more information visit: sculpture.uk.com