We have always enjoyed exhibitions by SEAM collective and find their thoughtful textiles beautiful and a little challenging in a good way – and this exhibition delivers that by the bucket-load. We’d urge you to visit ACE Arts before the 11th October and of course, join us for Textile Talks on the 3rd October. Click on the images below to find out more about SEAM collective, Textile Talks and the exhibition.
As you enter the space, you are greeted with a web of textiles, suspended from the roof by tent guy ropes. Quickly the first piece attracts your eye and that’s it, you’re drawn in and pulled through the exhibition examining each piece closely to discover it’s construction, decoration and detail. Each artist clearly has their own voice within this collaborative exhibition, from Lou Baker’s gorgeously organic knitted work, to Angie Parker’s uncharacteristic weaving, and Joy Merron’s beautiful stitching.
This exhibition is a culmination of a year of conversations about sustainability between the 14 artists and with mentors, Helen Carnac and Judith Van Der Boom, both of whom will be speaking at Textile Talks. It is clear that this project has had a profound and career altering impact on many of the artists. Sustainability has been a strong theme in many of the individual artists work, but now even more so and we look forward to seeing how their work evolves looking ahead. To quote SEAM member, Penny Wheeler; ” For a long time I was stuck, overwhelmed by the question of how to make work sustainably. Working with Judith van der Boom I realised no one has all the answers, making sustainably is an active, living-learning practice.”
It is a very thought-provoking exhibition and it invites you to think about your own creations and textile consumption. I overheard conversations about fast fashion, repurposing and treasuring what you have while I was in the space. The reclaimed materials, both from the artist’s own stashes, friends or families or locally sourced begs us to repurpose what we have. Beauty has been created from discarded items, so why can’t we do that too? Echoes of Make Do and Mend and Necessity is the Mother of Invention drift through the exhibition.
The sustainability of textiles is a sticky issue. We can’t hide from the huge mountains of discarded clothes around the world and facing our responsibility for that is uncomfortable and quite often an issue we’d often rather not face. As knitters, weavers and stitchers we all laugh about the size of our stash and how it will out live us. How can we use it, reuse it and keep making beautiful things?
So as you can tell this exhibition has stirred something in me and the way that I approach what I make, so I urge you to visit this exhibition, enjoy the work and the curation of it. Read the artists’ words and sit with your thoughts for a bit.
Louise & Liz
