As visitors of exhibitions we often complain about not being able to speak to the contemporary artists showcasing their pieces and maybe ask them about the inspirations, themes and techniques they employed in specific works. Yet the Bath School of Art and Design has deviced an exciting weekend event (8th/9th April) that will combine a series of lectures with a unique discovery trip through the art of Rachel Howard, British textile artist and Lecturer in Textile Design at Bath Spa University.
A successful textile artist and designer, Howard was one of the pioneering Embroidery students who graduated in the '90s from the Royal College of Art in London. A respected practitioner in this art and member of the highly regarded 62 Group of Textile Artists, Howard creates graphic and lively (and at times autobiographical) sketches of everyday life, mixing embroidery and screen-printing techniques.
Howard's work has been included in several acclaimed exhibitions and she has been involved in many public art commissions, creating for the German Museum of Technology in Berlin the group of wall hanging "Indian Embroidery Factory", a tapestry-like embroidery recounting the stages in the making of an embroidered cotton night-dress in a New Delhi factory.
Her latest exhibition is entitled "Red Work" and it's currently on at the Bath School of Art and Design (until 20th April). The pieces Howard created for this event were inspired by a redwork quilt she saw at the American Museum in Bath, during the "American Beauty – Art from Craft in 19th Century America" exhibition (2009).
Howard recreated the late 1880s and early 1990s redwork quilt and coverlets, combining a variety of techniques – including digital imaging – to create delicately minimalist narratives at times told with the help of her own children (children were often involved in the making of the redwork quilts).
Co-convened by Rachael Howard and Tim Parry-Williams (Course Leader MA Design, Textile Artist and Weaver), the "Red Work" weekend symposium at Bath School of Art & Design will be divided in two parts. Tomorrow (Friday) will be dedicated to lectures with a panel comprising Dr Clare Rose (Lecturer, Royal School of Needlework, Historian of fashion and textiles, who will be exploring the potential of stitched quilts to communicate with viewers), Jenny Waterson (Learning Curator Gawthorpe Textiles Collection and curator of the "Red Work" touring exhibition), Kate Hebert (Chief Curator at The American Museum in Bath, who will offer a short history of the Museum, focusing on how the quilt collection was created and how the museum cares for it), and Lynn Setterington (Senior Lecturer Manchester Metropolitan University and Textile Artist, who will introduce the participants to hand-sewn signature cloths and show how these textiles recording individual and group belonging, resonate with society today).
Among the other speakers there is also lecturer, maker, writer and curator Melanie Miller who has been researching for quite a few years the relationship between design, creativity and new technologies in the embroidery industry. Miller will present a talk about the role of stitch within children's education from a historical and contemporary point of view. She will move from historical texts from 1899 and get to Arduino Lily pads through a project that took place in a Manchester secondary school in 2015 (as a programme run by The Ideas Foundation/The Comino Foundation Digital Designer in Residence Evaluation).
On Saturday, Howard will be introducing her inspirations behind the exhibition and take participants on a tour of the Special Collection at the American Museum in Bath and hold a workshop as well. So, apart from being able to get an artist perspective's on a museum collection, participants will be able to learn directly from Howard.
"Inspired by the textile tradition of the same name, Rachael's distinctively illustrative hand in print and stitch captures the moments of human experience with lively and joyous character," the "Red Work" symposium co-convener Tim Parry-Williams states.
"Drawing on a range of sources and gathered expertise this broad and stimulating symposium event will explore the history, values, and reach of 'Redwork' and other related textiles employing stitch and imagery to capture, share and provoke cultural discourse."
There are still a few days to catch up with Rachael Howard's "Red Work" before it heads on tour in the South West, but this weekend's symposium in Bath is the only chance you may have to spend some time with a textile artist while learning more about the history of embroidery, textiles and quilts from a panel of experts. You can buy the tickets for the "Red Work" symposium weekend here.
"Red Work" Symposium, 8th and 9th April 2016, Sion Hill Lecture Theatre, Bath School of Art & Design, Sion Hill, Bath, and the American Museum, Claverton Manor, Bath. Rachel Howard's "Red Work", is at Bath School of Art and Design until 20th April 2016.
Image credits for this post
All images in this post copyright Rachel Howard
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Related articles
