exhibition AT FOXLOWE ART GALLERY AND SEW YOUR PLACE
Foxlowe Art Gallery exhibition
Wed 25 Sep and Thu 26 Sep 10am-4pm
Fri 27 Sep 10am-4pm, 6.30pm-7.30pm
Sat 28 Sep 10am-7.30pm
Free
During Leek Textile Week, the Foxlowe Art Gallery will display documents and textiles that bring to life Leek’s textile past and showcase textile skills of the present. The exhibit includes:
• Copies of invoices and other documents relating to Leek’s textile past, found by Anne Hancock in a Macclesfield skip.
• WOVEN, a micro-exhibition housed within The Doll’s House Art Gallery. It shows the work of three artists working in varied practices and using the concept of weaving to unite them. Check more HERE
WOVEN is a 1:12 scale exhibition of 3D artwork by three Macclesfield-based artists, Lorna Ellen, Marianda T and Tyra Till, who explored woven techniques in different materials including clay, found objects, histories, words, and using the ancient technique of tablet weaving.
The Doll’s House Art Gallery - Instagram
Lorna Ellen is a multidisciplinary craftivist whose artistic work revolves around environmental consciousness and creative reuse. Grounded in a deep respect for the planet, she masterfully intertwines man-made waste materials with natural ones, highlighting the stark contrasts and symbiosis between them. Trained in textiles, Lorna demonstrates a unique blend of traditional techniques, like felting, crochet, and embroidery, within contemporary art contexts. Her works not only shed light on pressing environmental issues but also push the boundaries of textile art, advocating for both sustainability and the evolution of craft. Through her pieces, Lorna challenges perceptions, urging viewers to rethink their relationship with the environment and consider the impact of their choices on the planet.
HOW LORNA RESPONDED TO WOVEN
Intertwined is a collection of work that encapsulates the interplay between old and new, merging the ancient craft of weaving with contemporary 3D ceramic printing technology. Each piece in the collection begins with failed 3D-printed ceramic structures from Staffordshire University, objects once destined for landfill, now given new life through artistic intervention. The vessels, with their natural clay tones, provide a stark, earthy contrast to the vibrant hues of scrap cotton threads used in the weaving process. This juxtaposition not only highlights the visual contrast between the bright threads and muted ceramics but also emphasises the tactile differences between the hard, brittle nature of fired clay and the soft, flexible threads. The colour palette of the threads is left to chance, dictated by the availability of scrap materials, which adds an element of unpredictability and uniqueness to each creation.
Through Intertwined, Lorna explores texture, colour, and form, where the rigidity of modern 3D printed ceramics meets the fluidity of traditional weaving, whilst crafting a narrative about the beauty and potential of reclaimed waste.
Marianda T is an artist making small sculptural objects with meaning and stories from things found along the way... In the past year she has spent a lot of time investing in her artistic future by building her own studio from the ground up, and it’s lovely!
HOW MARIANDA RESPONDED TO WOVEN
Marianda worked with a range of materials that aren’t usually found together, weaving them into tiny sculptures. She is a volunteer at the Silk Museum, working with the machines in this very space, so she knows what wonderful weaving these looms can produce. Rather than try out similar techniques, I have chosen materials that often don’t go together; wire and seed heads, pins and acorns and made (woven) them into new miniature artworks.
The cotton reel with writings reaching upwards combined with a spiralling wrapped wire reflect the weaving together of deep gratitude in the midst of deep sadness; unlikely companions.
Generations of DNA are represented by a brightly coloured tree growing up through a staircase: interspersed with leaves of how we choose to live our lives, nature and nurture.
Tyra Till is an artist who is preoccupied with Unity; reaching and enabling people from different walks of life. Her work is about breaking down barriers between things and between people. She counters the fragmentation of human society into ‘individuals’ and her practice concerns joining and bridging contrasting elements & constituencies.
HOW TYRA RESPONDED TO WOVEN
WovenDNA is a miniature portrait of Tyra’s female ancestry, where tradition was to name every firstborn female of each family branch ‘Tyra’.
In 2023 she set up Maccreate to build connections between diverse community groupings whilst at the same time raising the standard and profile of the Arts and Culture in Macclesfield by prioritising collaboration between local artists, including those involved WOVEN.
The first Maccreate project is called The Women’s Line; a portrait of Macclesfield’s women showing their female family trees as portraits and memories. ‘Trees’ on A0 size paper will hang from gold-coloured pegs like treasured ‘washing’ around the Silk Museum and Library galleries this autumn. The line will be a beautiful silk cord made in the Silk Museum with museum volunteers on the period equipment that has been restored to working order in these very rooms.
In WovenDNA Tyra brings together her own miniature Women’s Line using inherited textile skills by tablet weaving the ribbon that holds her portraits together.
www.maccreate.org
• Sew Your Place
Sew Your Place is large-scale collaborative textile art piece. It is a 2 metre by 1 metre map of the town of Leek, both in its textile industry peak and in the present day. We invite you to add your place; the spot most important to you, a street, school, field, pub or workplace. You could add a walking route, a garden, a mill building or dyeworks where you worked, a place that no longer exists, or a place that never existed. Over Leek Textiles Week you can drop in to the Foxlowe to add your part to the map (no charge) or join a sewing workshop (see workshops) with all materials and guidance provided.
• An exhibition of local textile artists, both professional and amateur, which looks back into Leek’s textile past as well as forward to its ongoing textile influence.
• The Many Strands Yarn Group is a group of knitters and crocheters - some novices and some experts. They have researched buildings in the locality which are entwined with the textile heritage…and then portrayed them in yarn.
This is complemented by the local art school. During the last 140 years Leek School of Art has continued to develop creative talent, training artists and designers across a broad spectrum of disciplines. This exhibition focuses on the work of recent textile alumni The Foxlowe Arts Centre Gallery is featuring an exhibition of local textile artists, both professional and amateur, which looks back into Leek’s textile past as well as forward to its ongoing textile influence. The Many Strands Yarn Group is a group of knitters and crocheters - some novices and some experts. They have researched buildings in the locality entwined with the textile heritage…and then portrayed them in yarn. During the last 140 years Leek School of Art has continued to develop creative talent, training artists and designers across a broad spectrum of disciplines. The exhibition also focuses on the work of recent textile alumni.
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