Making Space

Guest Blog post by Hannah Lamb. Since its inception in 1962 the The 62 Group of Textiles Artists has advocated for textile art and celebrated textiles as an important art-form that contributes to contemporary discourses. The group’s current exhibition called ‘Making Space’ is showing at the Silk Museum, Macclesfield until 3rd September 2016. As the exhibition title suggests, the artworks in ‘Making Space’ respond to the theme of space in diverse ways; from intimate, interior and everyday spaces, to mapping geographical spaces and out into space. The theme of space exploration provides inspiration for artists such as Isabel Currie, with her three-dimensional ‘Woven Star Galaxy’, and Paddy Killer, with the ‘The Brit and the Great Bear’, featuring astronaut Tim Peak’s historic space walk. While Sue Stone’s storybook style characters seem to take a lighter approach to space travel. The exhibition also includes works that explore ‘negative spaces’. Debbie Lyddon’s sculptural ‘Holed Cloth’ pieces were made from one long piece of folded cotton soaked in a salt solution for about 6 weeks. Lyddon states; ‘A hole is just a space – an immaterial emptiness that is surrounded by a physical material that describes its shape and allows us to see a nothing.’ Interestingly several artists have created work that explores the difficulties of making space (and time) for their art practice. Richard McVetis’ work ‘In Pursuit of Time’ documents his time spent stitching, creating intensively hand-embroidered cubes that are a contemporary take on blackwork. Catherine Dormer’s large-scale printed textiles use imagery from shopping lists combined with drawn-thread work to form a metaphor for our busy lives.

Making Space

Until 3 September 2016

The Silk Museum, Park Lane, Macclesfield SK11 6TJ