Download Festival Brochure (PDF)

Welcome to the stroudwater international textile festival 08.

The annual festival is at the heart of a lively year round programme that concentrates on  broadening textile culture and contributes to the vibrant and creative atmosphere of the Stroud Five Valleys.

Topping this year’s festival is the Symposium on the 10 May. A  star- studded programme with 6 'textile icons' who will present their views on 21st Century Textiles. The symposium will be exploring the way forward; the future in textiles ; new directions in a day filled with debate and discussion. We are doubly excited that it is to take place in the new Stroud College in Gloucestershire. For full details refer to the brochure and the home page of this web site.

The Stroud Valleys in May will once more buzz and hop, coming alive with 65 artists, speakers, poets, writers, makers and world travelers all bringing textiles to you  in the Stroudwater International Textile Festival 2008 -  UK's  leading festival that celebrates the world of contemporary textiles.

08’s Festival is back with a feast of delights. It brings a mix of  international  artists who are top of their  field in textile design, research and writing. The festival promises to be a hotbed of debate and discussion, and will exhibit the very latest in international textile art.

Three artists exhibiting are influenced by architecture and our urban environments . Ptolemy Mann works with colour and architecture through her colour consultancy and her talk on 3 May will connect textiles and the importance of colour in architectural design.

Clare Lane and Rebecca Gouldson  bring imposing contemporary urban landscape to their work.

Another theme in 08 is poetry and the language of textiles. Local poets bring new ‘textile’ poetry. They will be popping up in venues throughout Stroud reading their works, so keep an eye and ear out for these brilliant writers.

Also talented new poet, Jane Weir, will be reading from her new book of poetry published by Templar Poetry, ‘Walking the Block’ based on the lives and work of two innovative Arts & Crafts printers, Barron & Larcher.

Textiles have a social, political and a utilitarian history, passing between continents and peoples. They represent a truly global language and impact in some way, on everyone’s lives. Truly crossing borders.

This year sees four major exhibitions. In ‘Crossing Borders’ at the Museum in the Park, we welcome from Australia, Maggie Baxter who is  exhibiting in the UK for the first time. She works closely with artisans from the Kutch region of India, to produce stunning layered, slashed, stitched and embroidered cloth.

Exhibiting with Maggie Baxter is the much loved quilt artist, Pauline Burbidge, whose reputation for moving quilts out of their comfort zone is well documented. Also in ‘Crossing Borders’ is an emerging young Greek-born textile artist, Ismini  Samanidou. Inspired by the past but with her skills firmly based in the present Ismini has designed and created new work for the festival. (Featured in March Elle Decoration )

Fibre artist, Anna S King shows 3 dimensional work with beautiful, exquisite vessels that hold hidden secrets. Someone once said of Anna’s work “Anna’s work combines the creation of diminutive jewels of natural perfection with enchanting storytelling.”

www.paulineburbidge-quilts.com
www.isminisamanidou.com

Moving into the Stroud Town Centre seek out the Space Art Centre in Lansdown,  where Clare Lane and Rebecca Gouldson, are exhibiting, in ‘The Urban Fabric of the Everyday’.

They both find their inspiration in the urban landscape ( see Clare’s interview here under festival chat), Clare’s work combines a unique mix of photography, pattern design, digital imaging and the expression of outline, texture and relief with stitch. The final compositions are akin to a contemporary tapestry, in both technique and visual reference. Colour, place and perception of space are Clare's principal themes. Her large scale stretched canvases have been shown across the UK, and she has won several commissions for corporate, public and private clients.

www.urban-fabric.co.uk
www.rebeccagouldson.co.uk

‘Colour in Weave’ is an exhibition curated by the Festival Patron, Mary La Trobe- Bateman. Emphasising the sheer joy of colour in woven textiles, Mary has selected three stunning artists – Mary Restiaux, Ptolemy Mann and Preeti Gilani. (see festival chat page). All are renowned for their sense of colour and stunning individual interpretations of contemporary weaving.

www.ptolemymann.com
www.gilani.com

While in the town centre nip round to the Kendrick Street Gallery, where another Australian artist, Lorna Murray is exhibiting in ‘Rezoned’ . Inspired by architectural plans and maps, these works evoke themes of urbanity and the built environment., and continue the theme set out in ‘Urban landscape of the Everyday’ at the Space. Using collage, embroidery and lashings of colour these pictures will delight and entice.

Pick up a competition form from the Tourist Information centre and take part in this year’s ‘Textile Footprints’ competition, and linger in one of the many cafes while filling in your answers. You may win a prize!

The festival offers some great talks from the participating artists and some hot textile speakers. All will be brilliant, but one not to miss will be Jean Vacher who is talking about the lives of those two innovative printers from the Arts & Crafts movement, Phyllis  Barron & Dorothy Larcher. Appearing with Jean will be an emerging poet, Jane Weir (www.janeweir.co.uk) who will read from her innovative new book ‘Walking the Block’ to be released in October of this year. Jane’s appearance is in collaboration with Templar Poetry and the Craft Study Centre, Farnham.

Which takes us swinging happily into the poetry that will be popping up during the festival in venues throughout the 5 Stroud Valleys. Written by a plethora of local poets, these textile poems will add a new flavour and encourage the audience to investigate the language of textiles.

If all this is not enough there are workshops in a variety of skills. We are very excited to have Laura Ellen Bacon this year. Laura is running a two  day willow course in Stratford Park. Specialising in environmental willow sculpture this promises to be an inspiring and productive week - end.

www.lauraellenbacon.com

Events within the festival include a new installation from the very inspiring Studio Seven who brought us ‘Textiles in Performance’ in 2007.

 ‘Make Do & Mend’ invites you to experience and explore the daily life in the local mills, through sound, touch, smell and the usual beautifully crafted textile pieces that are synonymous with Studio Seven’s growing reputation for pioneering new textile performances. Enter an Alice in Wonderland world. This is an event not to be missed.

www.studio-seven.net

The much  loved World Textile Weekend is being held in a new venue and will offer more stands. Ikat chapans, indigo jackets from SW China, Ottaman coats, Burmese silks, Japanese kimonos, cloth from West Africa, Hungarian linens and indigo delights, Asian and Indian textiles with delicious ethnic silver jewellery and beads. This is far too gorgeous to miss. Dates for your diary: 10 & 11 May.

An exhibition of Japanese kimonos, rare and precious, will be in the lovely setting of Hawkwood College where you may meet and discuss with the owner of this collection,  the history and social background to the world of kimonos.

Heritage brings you walks, family fun days and open mills. For full details go to www.stroud-textile.org.uk

For a breakdown of workshops running within the festival please go to the workshop page

TRANSITION STROUD Alternative Textiles Day

Venue: Stroud Valley's Artspace, 4 John Street, Stroud
Saturday 3rd May 10 am - 3 pm
 
The Transition Stroud Textiles group will be holding a skill sharing open day, demonstrating textiles skills including weaving, natural dying, rope making, woodblock printing, knitting, sewing and many more exiting and useful techniques. Local textiles artists will show their work and there will be the opportunity to buy selected pieces. There will also be the chance to take part in the Transition Textiles Challenge, a fun competition to transform fabric remnants into something wonderful and wearable!
Bring along a pre-washed T-shirt, be ready to learn something new and have some fun!
 
Transition Stroud is part of the nation-wide transition towns network and seeks to provide local solutions to the problems of Peak oil and climate change, supporting the transition to a less oil dependent and more sustainable local economy and community.
The Transition textiles group aims to share textiles skills with the wider community, to be resourceful and responsible, to raise awareness of Peak Oil and climate change and to encourage people to 'reduce, re-use and recycle' in the Stroud district.

www.transitiontowns.org/Stroud/Stroud

Download Festival Brochure (PDF)

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