Two exhibitions in Preston exploring invention and innovation as part of British Textile Biennial

Two exhibitions are showing in Preston as part of British Textile Biennial (BTB).

BTB is a free festival of contemporary art that takes place every other October. It involves artists and designers from all over the world making work inspired by the textile industry in East Lancashire.

This year’s event explores invention and innovation in textile production, from tents to space suits, and from plant-based dyes to the first polymers.

BTB is in Preston with a bold new commission for The Harris and a group exhibition at The Birley.

Hannah Robson at The Harris

Advertisements

The Harris and the British Textile Biennial commissioned Hannah Robson to celebrate rayon, the first commercially viable artificial fibre, created at the Courtaulds factory in Preston, drawing from archival material held at the museum.

Hannah is an experienced technical weaver who draws on rich histories of textile making. She creates three-dimensional sculptural textiles directly on the loom, seeking to extend the possibilities of weaving.

Hannah’s work, Transformation, is a 20-metre-long textile sculpture hanging through the centre of the building. The piece has been made through hand-weaving and knotting threads creating three-dimensional shapes. The sculpture references the colours and materials of the Courtaulds factory including the off-white of the wood pulp, the black of coal and the orange of liquid rayon.

Hannah used rayon yarns interconnected with paper, and some were bleached to change the colours throughout the piece. She has sought to capture the idea of material transformation and celebrate the magic of yarn.

Another work by Hannah, titled Depending, is also on show. A kinetic sculpture created during lockdown, it is woven as one continuous piece, with thousands of lines of copper wire joined together, intersecting and hanging from each other. It doesn’t drape like traditional woven cloth, while in direct sunlight it shimmers or dazzles and blends into the shadows.

Hannah will host a talk about Transformation on Saturday 25 October at 12pm and 1.30pm. For more information, visit The Harris website.

The Textiles Study Group at The Birley

Seven Bags Full is an exhibition of mixed media and textile works by members of The Textiles Study Group, a collective of practicing textile artists who are also educators. The group has been active for over 50 years, exhibiting work all over the country.

The works on show at The Birley respond to the biennial theme of innovation, using polyester fabric offcuts from Blackburn-based Edward Taylor Textiles, who specialise in the production of sportswear using jersey fabrics printed with their state-of-the-art dye sublimation process.

The offcuts were delivered in seven bin bags and posted out to participants. The artists were challenged in making work with fabric they would not normally select, asking themselves what synthetic fabrics mean to them and testing themselves to use them in new ways.

The exhibition features work by Jane McKeating, Sue Green, Alice Fox, Ruth Issett, Bobby Britnell, Jean Draper, Amarjeet Kaur Nandhra, Vivienne Beaumont, Polly Pollock, Sian Martin, Janet Edmonds, Sheila Mortlock, Kay Greenlees, Sarah Burgess, Mary Sleig, Penny Burnfield, and Shelley Rhodes.

A spokesperson for The Textiles Study Group said of their preparations for the exhibition: “Our discussions, processes and problems have been a fascinating journey of invention, connecting traditional skills and image making to contemporary fabrics, exploring meanings, tastes, environmental issues, nostalgia, memory, touch, and surprise.

“Alongside our completed pieces we display our ‘catalogue of failures’. Our teaching instinct and experience leads us to value the learning that emerges from the struggle of handling and forming the unfamiliar.”

BTB runs until Sunday 2 November. To find out more, visit the British Textile Biennial website.

You Might Also Like