Stroud International Textiles is bringing world class international speakers to the Symposium on May 5th. This exciting Symposium is attracting wide interest with bookings from France and Canada as well as nationally. This in turn supports Stroud’s economy and raises its profile for excellence. Stroud in May is the place to be with people who are shaping the future of textiles and the applied arts.

Helen Storey, Professor of Fashion and Science at London College of Fashion has collaborated with chemist Professor Tony Ryan from the University of Sheffield and Trish Belford, textile designer, to bring us Catalytic Clothing – clothing and textiles that seek to purify the air we breathe. People from different worlds whose minds have come together in highly successful art and science collaborations are sharing their innovative and inspiring thinking on May 5th as part of the Pairings symposium organized by Stroud International Textiles.
Other speakers include Jessica Hemmings (writer); David Gates (bespoke furniture designer, winner Jerwood Award, Wesley – Barrell prize); Alice Kettle (lead artist); Claire Curneen (leading ceramicist); Shelly Goldsmith (textile artist) are among the line up for an exciting day of discussion and discovery. These are People who Shape our World through exchange and dialogue.
Details: http://www.stroudinternationaltextiles.org.uk/
Tickets online £60 Conc £40 includes lunch.
Free brochure available

Erin O'Connor in the world's first air purifying dress

Ange Mullen-Bryan

Ange’s paintings are inspired by the lakes and forests of a vast Swedish landscape and a very particular and beautiful Nordic light; they also have something of desolation and loneliness in the remote and barren spaces they reflect. As if the artist were looking for her way, these are paintings that plot points on a journey, be it a physical or emotional one, or perhaps something of both. As if looking for a map to navigate her way through this landscape, a land that becomes something closer to a scene from ancient myth or folklore, where the imagination runs away and the uncanny resides. Where the real and imagined co-exist and are often difficult to determine.

 Graduating from Winchester school of Art in 2000, after studying art foundation at Stroud College, Ange has exhibited in both solo and group shows, in a number of galleries, including: Kendrick Street Gallery, Stroud; Tobacco Factory, Bristol; Grant Bradley, Bristol, Innocent Fine Art Bristol, Nature in Art, Gloucester; and Stroud House Gallery, Stroud. Born in Stroud in 1978, and based in Gloucestershire, Ange has a year round open studio at the Painswick Centre, Painswick, near  Stroud. She was shortlisted for the prestigious John Moores Painting Prize in 2008.

The Museum in the Park celebrates its 10th Anniversary this January and begins its 2011 programme with a special touring exhibition. ‘Plain Stripe Check’ opens on Saturday 8th January and brings together contemporary woven textiles from Japan and Britain with historic textiles from three different Museum collections.

Archaeological evidence shows that weaving has been a part of daily life for millions of years, with fragments of very fine woven linen and woollen cloth found in prehistoric graves in countries and cultures across the world. This exhibition celebrates the enduring craft of weaving and explores the timeless values of three key design trends – plains, stripes and checks – which appear and re-appear in woven fabrics created by peoples far apart in time, geography and culture.

‘Plain, Stripe, Check’ is a collaborative exhibition project in two parts: contemporary hand-woven textiles by Tim Parry-Williams (Stroud, UK) and Ikuko Ida (Kyoto, Japan); and historical woven textiles selected from museum and private collections in Britain and Japan. It represents the results of historical research across both Japanese and British sources, and practice based research (making) under the project theme. While the exhibition showcases numerous examples of museum textiles rarely seen, the collected works also reveal groups of design trends typical to both cultures. In particular it emphasises the key character values of the research theme: Timelessness, visual strength, understatement and simplicity.

On display are very beautiful, incredibly fine kimono cloth by Japanese weaver Ikuko Ida, who will be visiting Stroud to see in the exhibition, and exquisite scarves and hangings by Stroud-based British weaver Tim Parry-Williams. Contemporary work is complemented by historic textiles on loan from The National Wool Museum (The National Museum of Wales), the Crafts Study Centre (the UK’s museum of modern crafts), private collections, and Stroud Museum collections. These include fascinating mill sample books from Japan offering a glimpse into almost forgotten fashions and fabrics of past eras, 20th Century apparel cloth samples produced in Stroud mills, for suits, skirts and dresses sold by stores such as Marks & Spencers, and warm wool shawls from the Welsh valleys in traditional plaids and checks. It also includes a rare chance to see woven textiles by pioneering 20th Century weavers Rita Beales, Ethel Mairet and Elizabeth Peacock, on loan from the Crafts Study Centre collections. Across all these textiles, colours and patterns in plains, stripes and checks, appear and re-appear, echoing each other across time and place.

The exhibition is accompanied by special events and family activities, and will delight and intrigue anyone interested in textiles and design. Open Tuesday to Friday 10am to 4pm, and Saturday and Sunday 11am to 4pm. Admission free, donations appreciated, accompanying exhibition booklet £4. For further details see www.museuminthepark.org.uk

‘Pharma’s Market’ is a mosaic installation exploring the contrasting imagery of historical and contemporary farming. Although the setting of the exhibition is a traditional agricultural fair, visitors will experience an exhibition with a distinctly contemporary twist. Cleo Mussi has an engaging story to tell, and her characters, from life-sized ‘robo-rabbits’ to ‘space scientists’ and ‘bucolic farmers’, all jostle for their part in the plot. Her mosaics are made from recycled china, and her stories are derived from the real world of science and medicine, albeit reconstructed through the process of her own particular visual imagination and surreal sense of humour.

Illustrated Talk by Cleo Mussi - Saturday 10th July at 2.30pm – tickets £4

‘Meet the Artist’ (Cleo Mussi) drop in event for families on Sunday 11th July, 2pm – 4pm 

To book call: 01453 763394 www.museuminthepark.org.uk

Along the way there will be six public weekend events, one in each district. At each site there will be art workshops, guided walks, donkey grooming, and opportunities to camp.

We’d love you to join us for one or more of these activities or go the whole hog and volunteer to walk a leg of the journey with us.

Weekend Dates:

Stroud

Westley Farm, Chalford GL6 8HP. 26th – 27th June 2010

Cotswolds

Cotswold Forest School, Spine Road East, Cotswold Water Park. 3rd – 4th July 2010

Cheltenham

Cheltenham Race Course GL50 4SH. 17th – 18th July 2010

(Priority Booking for disabled young people and their families)

Tewkesbury

Nature in Art, Twigworth GL2 9PA. 23rd – 24th July 2010

Gloucester

Over Farm, Gloucester GL2 8DB. 30th – 31st July 2010

Forest of Dean

Millers Farm, Blakeney GL15 4AP. 14th – 15th August 2010

‘As I Walked Out’ is part of Gloucestershire’s cultural Olympiad programme of events, sponsored by Gloucestershire County and District Councils. For more details see www.asiwalkedout.com.

The show will be performed at Gloucester Guildhall  on Saturday 24th April and then for 2 nights at The Cotswold Playhouse, Stroud on Friday 25th & 26th June 2010.

‘Make Do & Mend’

An interactive textile installation presented by Studio Seven textile artists

Showing until 28 February 2010 at The Museum in the Park, Stroud

Presented by the Studio Seven textile artists, ‘Make Do and Mend’ first appeared at Stroud Valleys Artspace in 2008. It has now been carefully brought out of storage, dusted off and re-invented to delight visitors once again.

The installation focuses on the themes of weavers and weaving, woollen mills, the use of Stroud Scarlet cloth for military uniforms, women working during wartime, and the ethos of ‘make do and mend’. These threads are brought together by the seven artists into an atmospheric world of images and ideas which the audience is invited to explore.

Enter an Alice in Wonderland-like rabbit hole world of ‘eat me, drink me’ instructions; of objects out of scale and out of place; of looms and pulleys, fragments and whispers; of animated dummies and mechanical garments; or warp and weft weaving and unravelling across a textile landscape.

Admission £3 on the door (£2 concessions and free re-admission with badge). Open Tuesday to Friday 10am to 4pm, Saturday and Sunday 11am to 4pm.

The Museum in the Park, Stratford Park, Stroud GL5 4AF

Tel: 01453 763394

www.museuminthepark.org.uk

 The seven artists are: Liz Lippiatt, Kathryn Clarke, Jenny Bicât, Anne Rogers, Sarah Cant, Sarah Cooke, Corinne Hockley.

www.studio-seven.net

Stroud International Textiles in partnership with the Museum in the Park, Stratford Park, Stroud GL5 4AF

Linking the past to the present and the future

Stroud International Textiles will be unveiled an exciting new project on January 5^th 2010 at the Museum in the Park.

‘In the Making’ will showcase contemporary designer craft from leading nationally acclaimed craft makers in a Museum setting. 

One discipline will be exhibited at a time and reflect the innovation and high quality of British craftsmanship and will cover the broad range of disciplines that make up contemporary crafts today.

The work selected by Stroud International Textiles will be from established makers as well as new emerging makers.

We hope to offer opportunities to visitors of all ages who may not see leading contemporary work and to encourage debate and fresh observation for crafts and design.

Alongside this there will be talks and opportunities for people of all ages to engage with the work and be drawn to a greater understanding of contemporary crafts today. 

Stroud International Textiles in partnership with the Museum in the Park’s Learning Officer will be organising school visits and encouraging young people to engage with contemporary craft and to take that learning and understanding back into the classroom.

There will be teaching notes and information on each discipline available for young people and visitors.

5 January – 21 February Cast Glass from Sally Fawkes, Richard Jackson & Monette Larsen

23 February -17 April Willow from Mary Butcher and Dail Behennah

1 May – 30 May Textiles with Needle felt artist Annie Hutchinson (part of the annual festival)

You will discover ‘In the Making’ in the foyer of the Museum.

Entrance Free

Opening Times:

January – March Tuesday – Friday 10 am- 4 pm Saturdays & Sundays 11 – 4 pm

April – June Tuesday – Friday 10 am – 5 pm Saturday & Sunday 11 – 5 pm

Contact: Stroud International 01453 808076 & Museum in the Park 01453 763394

www.stroudinternationaltextiles.org.uk

www.museuminthepark.org.uk

Gallery

A changing selection of sculpture is always on show, including themed, group and solo exhibitions.  The gallery revives the traditional association between foundry and gallery, selecting the best of contemporary sculpture cast in the workshops of leading art foundry Pangolin Editions.

The gallery works with a wide range of sculptors and is ideally placed to co-ordinate a broad spectrum of commissions in all sizes from monumental to intimate, for public bodies, private and corporate clients. More details can be found at www.gallery-pangolin.com.