Talking Tapestry and Curation

I had the pleasure to speak at the Tapestry Symposium at West Dean College. What a fantastic venue! I was not only blown away by the beauty of the building and surrounds but also by the amazing works that are being created there.

I jet setted over to the UK for a very short 6 days to take part in the Symposium. Although battling a nasty cold, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet other artists working in tapestry and hear various international views.

West Dean College hosts an amazing tapestry studio that works on commissions as well as working closely with artists to produce work. It was the perfect venue for the Tapestry Symposium! The 2017 symposium was under the banner Contemporary Art and Tapestry - Artists Meet Their Makers. This idea excited me as I'm always banging on about how tapestry needs to sit within a contemporary art context to survive.

The presenters were fantastic. You can find out more about them and what they were talking about over on the West Dean website. Presenters that I found really interesting were Jo Barker who took us through her working methodology (I had loads of 'a ha!' moments!!). Emelie Röndahl who is a fellow tattooed weaver spoke about her process and her current PhD research. Also Annelie Holmberg's presentation about her research and work with the Friends of Handicraft in Stockholm had me wanting to read her PhD thesis!

For those interested, West Dean College have shared the presentations... naturally they aren't quite as good as hearing directly from the presenters but you can find mine here. Thanks to the lovely Jo Barker for capturing me hanging out the window of my room at the college on the morning we were leaving.

Hopefully my next visit to West Dean College will be longer than a couple of days!