Guest Blog – Traces of Life
Pian Bates is a contemporary textile artist from Sweden. Beside her own, embroidery based work she teaches and writes books about embroidery. She is a member of Textil 13 and is currently exhibiting in Traces of Life at Dalarnas Museum in Sweden.
Textil 13 is a group of artists living in Sweden. All of the artists involved in the group make work with textiles and embroidery at the core. Three years ago we got in touch with the Textile Study Group, TSG in the UK. Everyone chose one person from the other group and via social media exchanged ideas with each other. Our aim was to exhibit together in a larger context and start a broader conversation. The decided theme was Traces of Life – ideas related to past and present, nature and the traces left by man along the way.
Last autumn Textil 13 visited the Textile Study Group in UK for a workshop weekend, where we pushed the boundaries and explored the creative self of our work. Although everyone made their own pieces independently, the body of work as a whole is a result of shared conversations and ideas.
The exhibition, Traces of Life was opened at Dalarnas Museum in Falun, Sweden on 13th of June and continues to 13th of September.
Not only the final work but also the process of working together with a group from another country has given us all strength, mutual respect and a different language to communicate with. We hope in future to be able to continue our work together and to widen the understanding for contemporary textile arts and embroidery through new innovative exhibitions in different counties.
Photos: Anna Granberg and Renée Rudebrant
