I’m pleased to announce that Summer ’76 has been jury selected by curators Catherine Sweet and Melanie Jordan for the ArtCan Unravelled exhibition. This pop up exhibition is part of the bi-annual Contemporary Textiles Fair at the Landmark Arts Centre 15-17 March 2024, Ferry Rd, Teddington TW11 9NN.
Curators
Catherine Sweet is an ArtCan artist and a member of our Advisory Group. Catherine is the founder of BobCat Gallery, an independent online gallery showcasing original and affordable small scale artwork, and she is currently the Chair of Visual Arts for South West London charity Arts Richmond.
ArtCan artist Melanie Jordan is based in rural Kent. Her art practice is very tactile and haptic, with thread based crafts at its core. She has exhibited throughout the UK and internationally, including ArtCan’s ‘Vienna Calling III’ exhibition, and ‘Supermarket Art Fair’ in Stockholm. Her work has also been shown at Turner Contemporary Gallery in Margate. She was awarded an MA in Fine Art from The University for the Creative Arts, Canterbury in 2020.
ArtCan Unravelled Exhibition
International non-profit arts organisation, ArtCan, will be popping up in South West London this March for a dual venue group exhibition focused on its artist members working with fibre and textiles. ‘ArtCan – Unravelled’ is co-curated by ArtCan members Catherine Sweet and Melanie Jordan.
“Textile art is one of the oldest art forms in human civilisation, and we encounter it in many different guises during our daily lives. While many early examples focused on function over form, contemporary creatives continue to push the boundaries of textiles as a medium, as well as incorporating new and diverse narratives into their work – whether that be through stitching, weaving, quilting, tapestry, knitting, crochet or something completely new.” -Catherine Sweet
ArtCan Unravelled aims to highlight how the boundaries of practicality and aesthetics can be blurred with the variety of methods used to create textile art, and to ‘tug on the thread’ of the narratives created within the whole.
“Thread-based crafts are moving off of the sidelines to take centre stage. Once seen as ‘woman’s work’, and given less attention than other art forms, contemporary artists are increasingly using textiles to create powerful and thought-provoking art. For me stitching is slow and methodical, where the doing is as important as the finished outcome. Soft and tactile, yet able to draw attention to uncomfortable concepts.” – Melanie Jordan
ArtCan have a second exhibition venue at RuptureXIBIT in Hampton Wick between 11 – 17 March.