Art_Textiles at the Whitworth

Magdalena Abakanowicz

 Monika Zaltauskaite-Grasiene

 

 Abdoulaye Konate

 

 Jessica Rankin

 

Susan Collis

 Beverly Ayling-Smith

On Friday  I headed up to Manchester to meet up with fellow members of Cwilt  Cymru . After a very productive meeting over lunch in the restaurant of the Whitworth, I had a look round the exhibition 'Art_Textiles'  which had an interesting selection of works,  the highlights for me above.

 The piece by  Magdelena Abacanowicz I last saw a few years ago  at Tate Modern  along with work by Do Ho Suh . His new work was also represented in this  show  but a departure from his 1:1 scale fabrications of buildings (  an image of which I chose for my Art Fund membership card).
It's  interesting to see work again in a different context and with new neighbours!

With my fascination with amulets , I loved  how Abdoulaye Konate had referenced  amulet covered  hunters shirts ( there was an antique  warriers tunic on display alongside)

The ethereal piece Quis Est Iste Qui Venit   by Jessica Rankin , stitched on organza , cast wonderful shadows and the more you looked the more you saw , with its' combination of seemingly unconnected words and images.  

There were several pieces by   Susan Collis with drop cloths and overalls with what looked like paint stains but that were actually minutely and intricately  stitched, work 'investigating ideas around perception, craft and the value of workmanship'.
I wished I'd kept my old labcoats with the poppers no longer functioning,  mysterious stains and laundry marks and  fraying holes!

In a similar vein,  in Beverly Ayling Smith's piece remembering, repeating and working through, tearing patching and mending are used to convey the experience of bereavement. Her work at the Society of Designer Craftsmen was  my favourite  earlier in the year. I'm still thinking of discussions about burial and winding cloths from Rydal Hall retreat  and how best to work with some of my indigo dyed  fragments of antique quilts  to enhance  their   worn  and fragile qualities.