Please check with the venue before making a special journey. Note: only regions that currently have live events appear in the drop-down menu.
Exhibition exploring the relationship between fashion and nature from 1600 to the present day, including innovative fabrics and dyeing processes.
Venue: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL
Website: http://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/fashioned-from-nature
This exhibition is a celebration of a wider exchange project known as Threads. Artists from Wales and artisans from Kachchh in rural Gujarat have shared studio time and field trips, community traditions and personal experiences.
Venue: Ruthin Craft Centre, Park Road, Ruthin LL15 1BB
Hakata Ori is regarded as one of most well-known examples of woven textiles in Japan. Weaving in Hakata (now known as Fukuoka City) is said to date back to 1241 and this year is an auspicious one for local weavers as they celebrate 777 years since the beginnings of Hakata Ori. Traditional Hakata obi (belts) became highly regarded for their strength and durability, enjoying popularity amongst samurai for the ability to hold their swords in place and also the patronage of the shÅgun for many centuries.
This exhibition retraces the history of weaving from this area of Kyushu at the same time as putting the spotlight on its modern weaves. Protecting the heritage and customs of the past whilst preparing for the future is essential for any traditional craft to prosper in modern times. Today, Hakata Ori craftsmen create a broad array of items for display as well as for everyday use.
Venue: The Embassy of Japan, 101 - 104 Picadilly, London W1J 7JT
Website: https://www.uk.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/1811exhibit.html
A new touring exhibition of work by members of the British Tapestry Group.
Venue: The Stables Gallery, Orleans House Gallery, Riverside, Twickenham, TW1 3DJ
This year’s theme ‘Through the Seasons’ has been interpreted by each artist in a different way, with works focusing on one season, changing seasons and even the seasons of human lives, represented through realism or abstract colour and form.
All the pieces in the exhibition were originally entered into a textile competition held in the prestigious annual ‘Carrefour du Patchwork Meeting’, which is hosted each September in Alsace, France, close to the birthplace of the Amish people who are renowned for their stunning patchwork quilts.
Techniques on display include patchworking, hand and machine quilting, embroidery, applique, painting, hand-stitching using textiles as varied as metallic wool, tulle, chiffon, felt, silk and linen.
Venue: Farfield Mill,Garsdale Road, Sedbergh, Cumbria LA10 5LW
Website: http://www.farfieldmill.org
From the Barberini Tapestries to the Bayeux Tapestry, monumental textiles in the form of large-scale narrative embroideries, weaving and tapestries have been used to illustrate contemporary events to become enduring material chronicles. Thread Bearing Witness is a major new series of large textiles, and other works, to be shown at the Whitworth, that considers cultural heritage, refugee displacement and movement, while engaging with individual migrants and their creativity within the wider context of the global refugee crisis.
Alice Kettle is a highly regarded contemporary artist focused upon stitched textiles, a powerful medium through which to explore these themes. Thread Bearing Witness represents displacement though the migration of stitches, using the three strands of artistic representation, participation and creative resilience, testing ways of belonging within a cultural space, and using textile as a medium of integration, collective expression and resilience to displacement.
Venue: Whitworth Gallery, Oxford Road, Manchester M15 6ER
Website: http://whitworth.manchester.ac.uk
An exhibition presenting a broad spectrum of abstract textile works from the 1960s to the present.
Venue: TextielMuseum, Goirkestraat 96, 5046 GN Tilburg, Netherlands
Website: http://www.textielmuseum.nl
Get an insight into the lives of children in the 18th and 19th centuries through this unique collection of Scottish samplers on loan from American collector Leslie B. Durst.
Venue: National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF
Textiles as a tool for socio-political reflection. In a world where boundaries are increasingly blurred the exhibition presents work by contemporary artists.
Venue: TextielMuseum, Goirkestraat 96, 5046 GN Tilburg, Netherlands
Website: http://www.textielmuseum.nl
Fabric Africa is a stunning snapshot of the diversity of modern and historic textiles from across the continent of Africa.
Venue: Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Queens Road, Bristol BS8 1RL
Website: http://www.bristolmuseums. org.uk
From Syria, Iraq, Turkey & Yemen - the four corners of the Ka'bah - textiles from the Whitworth's collection will be brought together, extending to the widest reaches of influence of the Islamic world.
Venue: The Whitworth, Oxford Road, Manchester M15 6ER
An exhibition by the winners of the One Year In award at New Designers in 2018. Majeda Clarke is a weaver whose work reflects the dual heritage aspects of her family to create textiles showing both Bengali and Welsh influences.
Venue: National Centre for Craft & Design, Navigation Wharf, Carre Stree, Sleaford, Lincolnshire NG34 7TW
Website: http://www.nccd.org.uk
Jilly Edwards’ tapestries use combinations of cotton, wool and linen yarns. She is particularly known for her upbeat use of yellow. Jilly says while her surroundings are the starting point for her work. The tapestries in the exhibition are particularly inspired by glimpses and memories of journeys from Exeter to Edinburgh and to East Anglia, through diverse terrain and especially the colours of the oilseed rape.
Venue: The National Centre for Craft and Design Navigation Wharf, Carre Street, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, NG34 7TW
Website: http://www.nccd.org.uk
A specialist fair dedicated to antique rugs and textiles of high artistic significance and cultural merit.
Venue: Battersea Evolution, Queenstown Road, London SW8 4NW
Website: http://www.larta.net
A new exhibition of contemporary textile art inspired by the social and natural history of Warrington.
www.tenplustextiles.com
Venue: Warrington Museum & Art Gallery, Museum Street, Warrington WA1 1JB
Website: http://www.warringtonmuseum.co.uk
The creative tension between accomplished skill, experimentation and the development of new ideas, provides the starting point for Ctrl/Shift, the latest exhibition from The 62 Group of Textile Artists. The exhibition enables participating artists to explore projects which manifest as transformations in their practice. Ctrl/Shift takes shifts and changes as its theme; in particular it is centred on artists whose practice is or has transformed, in small or large ways, especially towards expressions of innovation in textile art. These shifts may be around changing attitudes to control; the introduction of new materials and techniques; and/or the impact of innovative and contemporary themes and ideas, and evolving technologies.
Venue: National Centre for Craft and Design, Navigation Wharf, Carre Street, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, NG34 7TW
Website: http://www.http://nccd.org.uk/
Popular designer Orla Kiely is celebrated for her plant based patterns that pack a powerful graphic punch on everyday life.
Her flat graphic style and choice of colour palette have chimed with recent nostalgia for vintage style and interiors, this exhibition explores why the rhythms and repeats of her designs have such wide and enduring appeal. With unique access to the company archives, this exhibition offers a privileged insight into the designer’s world. Re-visiting the work of other twentieth century luminaries in pattern design, this exhibition explores the story of pattern and how some designs can come to epitomise the style of their time.
This exhibition was previously shown at the Fashion & Textile Museum London.
See the Dovecot Studios website for details of events associated with the exhibition.
Venue: Dovecot Studios, 10 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh EH1 1LT
Website: http://www.dovecotstudios.com
An exhibition of drawings and woven sculptures by Sue Hiley Harris.
Open Tues - Sat, 10 - 4. Admission free.
Venue: Cynon Valley Museum, Depot Road, Aberdare CF44 8DL
Website: http://www.rctcbc.gov.uk/EN/Tourism/Thingstodo/HistoryandHeritage/Museums/CynonValleyMuseum.aspx
New textiles by Cas Holmes explore the 'in between' spaces connecting land, place and environment.
Venue: Huguenot Museum, 95 High Street, Rochester, Kent ME1 1LX
Website: http://www.huguenotmuseum.org
A new touring exhibition of work by members of the British Tapestry Group.
Venue: Foyer, Dynefor Building, Swansea College of Art, De le Beche Street, Swansea SA1 3EU
An exhibition of the shortlisted tapestries for the Cordis Prize 2019.
Venue: Inverleith House Gallery, Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, Arboretum Place/Inverleith Row, Edinburgh EH3 5LR
Website: http://thetapestryprize.org/project/the-cordis-prize-2019/
An exhibition of the tapestries shortlisted for the Cordis Prize.
Venue: Inverleith House Gallery, Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh
Website: http://www.thetapestryprize.org/project/the-cordis-prize-2019/
The UK's premier urban hand knitting show. Includes a marketplace and workshops.
Venue: The Edinburgh Corn Exchange, 11 Newmarket Road, Edinburgh EH14 1RJ
Website: http://www.edinyarnfest.com
When Waves Collide is a project by Coventry-based textile artist and weaver Theo Wright, that explores a range of interactions between two wave-forms through a collection of handwoven textiles.
Two sine waves are woven into the structure of each textile and the project looks at what happens when the two different waves interact. The waves are incorporated in both the warp and weft of each work, forming patterns of circles and curves that intersect across the fabric.
Theo weaves each piece by hand on a 16-shaft loom using a cotton yarn. The shafts of the loom are threaded in two interleaved sequences that represent the sine waves. The threading is different for each piece in the collection. An interleaved sequence following the same principles is used in the weft. Bold use of colour emphasises the two wave-forms in each work.
Venue: National Centre for Craft and Design, Navigation Wharf, Carre Street, Sleaford, Lincolnshire NG34 7TW
Website: http://www.nccd.org.uk
An exhibition by Alison Ellen (knitting); Julie Hedges(ply-split braiding); Ann Richards (weaving); and Deidre Wood (weaving) exploring the fascinating ways that shapes can emerge spontaneously from the interplay of raw materials and structure.
Venue: Whitchurch Silk Mill, Whitchurch, Hampshire RG28 7AL
Website: http://www.whitchurchsilkmill.org.uk
Wonderwool Wales covers all aspects of felting, knitting, weaving, spinning & crochet along with textile art, with raw materials, equipment, books & finished products to buy. There are demonstrations and a selection of animals on display including sheep, angora rabbits, angora goats & alpacas.It includes a series of Woolschools throughout the weekend which can be booked in advance online.
Venue: Royal Welsh Showground, Llanelwedd, Builth Wells LD2 3SY
Website: http://www.wonderwoolwales.co.uk
Jacy Wall, woven tapestries and original prints. Björk Haraldsdóttir, ceramics
Part of the Select Arts Festival 2019
For more information contact info@sitselect.org
Venue: Lansdown Art Gallery, Stroud, GL5 1BB
Website: http://www.jacywall.co.uk
To celebrate seventy years of the Somerset Guild, we are planning an extra big and exciting Fleece Fair this year. You will be able to buy direct from top producers of fleece from a wide variety of sheep and alpaca including lots of rare breeds. Help will be on hand for "fleece novices". Yarns, tops and equipment also on sale. Demonstrations and refreshments. From 09.30 a.m.
Venue: Village Hall, Hatch Beauchamp, Taunton TA3 6SG.
Website: http://www. somersetguildwsd.org.uk
One week residential Summer School with a wide range of courses offered. Full details of the courses on the website.
Applications close 31 December 2018
Venue: Askham Bryant College, York YO23 3FR
Website: https://www.wsdss19.wordpress.com
A celebration of all things woolly, showcasing the best of British alongside selected artisans from around the world.
Venue: Anglesey Showground Anglesey, Wales LL65 4RW
Website: http://www.internationwool.co.uk
The All-Wales Event for Spinners, Weavers and Dyers - suppliers stands, exhibitions of work by the Welsh Guilds, the Guild Challenge, raffle and sales table. Riitta Sinkkonen Davies will give a talk on My Weaving Life.
Venue: Minerva Arts Centre, Llanidloes, Powys SY18 6BY
The diary appears in the Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers
The Journal is published on behalf of the Association of Guilds of Spinners Weavers and Dyers. It covers a wide range of textile subjects, including articles on historic textile techniques and cutting edge modern design.
