Dis/rupt
An exhibition project by The Textile Study Group
Launched at the Select Festival 2017
5 – 21 May 2017 and touring thereafter
The Textile Study Group is preparing a major exhibition project with associated workshops, gallery events and a publication, under the title Dis/rupt. Curated by Dr Melanie Miller, Dis/rupt will show at Museum in the Park and Lansdown Hall in Stroud as part of the Select Festival 2017 presented by SIT Select. It is intended that the exhibition will then tour.
The Dis/rupt project is the result of a series of workshops and discussions between the members of the Textile Study Group with curators and artists such as Professor Lesley Millar, Caroline Bartlett and Dr Melanie Miller. The group is exploring several main themes, including global conflict, with the concomitant problems of migration and the refugee crisis; climate change and ecological disruption; conflict within domestic relationships; and disruption within traditional fabric making processes. Members will produce individual responses to their selected theme through the influence of stitched textiles, but not exclusively with fabric and thread. A programme of linked workshops and events will provide opportunities for participation, learning and discussion.
Disruption is something that affects everyone on all sorts of different levels. Dr Melanie Miller comments:
“We live in an uncertain world. The only certainty now seems to be uncertainty. Life is full of disruption on personal, political, local and global scales. Whilst the effects of disruption can be problematic, disruption can have a positive outcome: it can force change, it can lead to greater understanding as well as previously un-thought of opportunities”
SIT Select will be holding a symposium Dis/rupting Tradition: New Textile Languages linked to the Dis/rupt project and focusing on the theme of disrupting tradition. This event will feature contributions from Melanie Miller, Alice Kettle, June Hill and Michelle Stephens. The Select Festival will run from 29th April to 28th May 2017.
The Textile Study Group is a group of nationally and internationally recognised textile artists and tutors, well known for innovative and challenging approaches to both traditional and contemporary art practice and inspired teaching. The objectives of the group are to cultivate and advance the practice of stitch and textile art through a broad spectrum of education: workshops, courses, lectures, publications, exhibitions and to deliver expertise and excellence in all areas of textile art across all levels and ages of students.
The Textile Study Group’s members illustrate a rich diversity in their professional practice as highly experienced teachers and practising textile artists. The group retains a core membership of about 25 textile teachers who value the importance of the development of their own individual art practice in their role as educators. Based throughout the UK, members meet for two weekends a year in a supportive but challenging environment to participate in workshops led by outside tutors from a wide range of disciplines.
To book onto the symposium online please click here.