How long does it take to weave a tapestry?
Presumably every person who goes to a party and meets strangers knows the first question they will ask, once their job title has been established. For tapestry weavers, it may be, ‘Oh yes, my aunt does that,’ but more usually it is, ‘How long does…
Why bother weaving? What is the point?
When you embark on the weaving of a large tapestry, you know it is going to take months to complete, so you want to be sure it is worth the time and effort. Here are some of the things I try to consider. Is it…
Why do we need prizes for art? The Cordis Prize for Tapestry
Let’s look at one of them. The Cordis Prize for Tapestry was initiated by Miranda Harvey and her husband, the crime writer Ian Rankin, in 2015. The fourth exhibition of shortlisted submissions will be exhibited 16 March to 27 May at Inverleith House, Royal Botanic…
Why is it so hard to sell tapestries?
No one becomes a tapestry weaver with the expectation of making their fortune. We all supplement our meagre incomes by teaching or other activities, from waitstaff to dog walking. But why don’t people buy our beautiful works of art? Tapestry suffers from a number of…
Is it a tapestry? No.
I think every tapestry weaver has had the experience of meeting someone at a party and, following the reply to the question, ‘What do you do?’, has got the reply, ‘Oh yes, my aunt does that.’ I inevitably suppress the inclination to sigh and give…
Upcoming Juried Shows
Tapestry weavers who make works large or small can enter upcoming juried exhibitions. You just need to send images of your work, within any parameters set, and hope the jury prefers it to others submitted. Sometimes a fee is also required, and you usually have…
The Lime Tree Gallery, Fort William
I was contacted out of the blue by the Lime Tree Gallery in Fort William in the Scottish Highlands in February 2018. They wanted to show two of my tapestries, Kawa and The Face of the Earth. I hadn’t heard of them, but a small…
Artapestry 5
Artapestry 5 is the fifth of this series of triennial juried exhibitions that tour in Europe. My tapestry, Another Country, is one of forty selected works out of a total of 118 submitted from 17 countries. Artapestry is run by the European Tapestry Forum to…
Weaving New Worlds
Weaving New Worlds was an exhibition at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, London in the summer of 2018. It was the brainchild of Lesley Millar, an eminent curator and academic in the field of textiles. She wanted to showcase the work of sixteen women…
I hate fringes!
When I say I hate fringes, of course the ones I hate most are the artificially added ones to non-tapestries that call themselves tapestries, such as the first one illustrated. However, many true tapestries also show fringes, the warp yarn which has not been turned…