Last Chance to See: Perfection: A Question of Repair

There are just days left to catch Perfection: a Question of Repair at the John & Robyn Horn Gallery, Penland School of Craft (on view until 29 November 2025). Guest curated by British textile artist and mender Celia Pym, this thoughtful exhibition brings the power of repair into sharp, tender focus. Rather than striving for a flawless finish, Pym and the participating artists invite visitors to consider mending as an act that honours damage and holds it up to the light rather than hides it away.

Mended Test Sweater, WYP and Celia Pym

Borrowing its title from artist Kader Attia, the exhibition asks what happens when we stop thinking of scars, wear, and aging as signs of decline. Many of the works included resist the notion of a perfect object. Instead, they dwell in the textures of the everyday: worn cloth, softened wood, cracked ceramics, and the familiar warmth of materials that have lived other lives before this one. Mending here is understood not only as a technical gesture, but as reconciliation and an effort to restore, understand, and pay attention. As Pym writes, darning consists of “small acts of care,” and this philosophy threads through the gallery...

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Image Credits:

Lead: Mended Pastry Bag (2023), Celia Pym

All further images as credited in photo captions.