Following the success of Colour & Form, Design-Nation’s selling showcase of glass artists at NCCD in late 2018, I was delighted to work with colleagues to create a follow-up for autumn 2019. I chose the theme of Pattern & Sequence as an aesthetically pleasing way to approach beautifully designed and well made craftwork, suitable for … More Pattern & Sequence for Design-Nation at NCCD
In late 2018 I was in dialogue with Sophie Cain at Coin Street Community Builders who own and operate the Oxo Tower Wharf complex. Design-Nation had successfully shown in their Oxo Gallery in 2017 during London Craft Week and I’d hoped to bring a show back to that space for LCW19, but availability was proving … More London Craft Week 2019: The Future of Craft
Image: Detail of The Leperous Hands, 2016, by Karina Thompson. Photo by Douglas Atfield. My touring exhibition on damage and repair, “What Do I Need to Do to Make It OK?”, concludes at Rugby Art Gallery, with five internationally renowned artists, eleven especially commissioned artworks and seven venues since the London launch in August 2015. … More Make It OK Tour Conclusion at Rugby Art Gallery, autumn 2017
Artists Meet Their Makers: contemporary art reinterpreted by West Dean Tapestry Studio Crafts Study Centre 4 April – 2 July 2017 This exhibition is a celebration of the skill and imagination of West Dean Tapestry Studio’s Master Weavers, past and present. The studio was set up by West Dean’s founder Edward James, and has worked … More Artists Meet their Makers: a project for West Dean Tapestry Studio at Crafts Study Centre
The Crafts Study Centre in collaboration with the International Textile Research Centre for Textiles presented my exhibition “What Do I Need to Do to Make it OK? ” from 5 January to 5 March 2016. The exhibition included specially commissioned work using stitch and other media to explore damage and repair, disease and medicine, healing … More An Introduction to “Make It Ok” – Damage & Repair Symposium, UCA Farnham, 2 March 2016
Michael Swaine darns at the Alexandra Palace bus-stop, October 2008. Photo by Rob Kennard. This is an important project for me, in two ways. It was the first for which I received direct Arts Council England support, rather than via an organisation (although it was a feature at 2008 The Knitting and Stitching Show, and … More Door to Door Darning with Michael Swaine, 2008
This touring exhibition was at Bilston Craft Gallery in Wolverhampton from 7 September to 2nd November 2013. The space is a similar size to the main gallery at NCCD but architecturally it works in a very different way, as internal partitions divide into three zones. The space can be very bright with its integral fillets … More Installing ‘Beauty is the First Test’ at Bilston Craft Gallery
This exhibition explores how knowledge of either contemporary craft practice or mathematics may increase appreciation of both. The title is from a 1940 essay by accomplished mathematician G H Hardy who declared: ‘The mathematician’s patterns, like the painter’s or the poet’s, must be beautiful, the ideas, like the colours or the words, must fit together … More Beauty is the First Test – Touring Exhibition 2012-2014
The Palatinate museum at Heidelberg always puts together a great selection of work for this triennial, always strongly representative of art quilts, especially European. This gallery returns ot the Festival of Quilts every three years and never fails to please as the standard is so high. It was great to work again with Dr Kristine … More European Quilt Triennial at Festival of Quilts, August 2010
Liz Cooper 