Thoma Ewen has been invited to speak at the International Tapestry Symposium in Galway, Ireland, May 22-24, and to exhibit in TAPESTRY 20/20.
NUI GALWAY, IRELAND | 23 -
24 MAY SYMPOSIUM &; MASTER CLASSES, 3 EXHIBITIONS
The International
Contemporary Tapestry celebration at National University of Ireland, Galway,
22-24 May 2020, includes three Exhibitions, a Symposium and three Master
Workshops.
The Symposium | Experience, Growth and Renewal,
combines a panel of International Speakers who will present the wealth of
talent and creativity in contemporary tapestry on Saturday 23 May.
Comprising Prof. Lesley Millar MBE - UK, Anet Brusgaard - Denmark, Prof.
Włodzimierz Cygan - Poland, Thoma Ewen - Canada, Valerie Kirk - Australia,
Marie Thumette Brichard - France and Yasuko Fujino - Japan supported by EU
Japan Fest, the panel of artists, curators, critics and academics consider
‘What is Tapestry?’ and its future as a creative medium in contemporary art
practice. This Symposium offers the opportunity to listen, share knowledge and
debate.
The three Master Workshops on
Sunday 24 May are provided by Line Dufour - Canada, John Brennan & Elizabeth Radcliffe and Joan Baxter - Scotland.
The weekend starts on Friday 23 evening
with the opening of three international tapestry exhibitions; Tapestry 20/20 by the
international speakers, INTERCONNECTIONS by
Joan Baxter, John Brennan, Clare Coyle and Elizabeth Radcliffe from Scotland
and Frances Crowe, Mary Cuthbert, Terry Dunne and Angela Forte from Ireland
and TIMELINES on the
Edge, a collaborative tapestry project by Catherine Ryan, Frances
Crowe, Frances Leach, Heather Underwood, Joan Baxter, Lorna Donlon, Muriel
Beckett, Pascale de Coninck, Terry Dunne and Tish Canniffe supported by Weavers
Bazaar, UK, Ceadogan Rugs, Wexford and Connemara based, The Dixon Carpet
Company.
Symposium
| Experience, Growth and Renewal
Professor Lesley Millar
MBE, Director of the International Textile
Research Centre, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham UK, ran her own
weave studio for over 20 years before becoming an exhibition curator
specialising in textiles. She has been responsible for many international
textile exhibitions since 1996 including two contemporary tapestry exhibitions:
'Here & Now: contemporary tapestry' (2016-17) and 'Weaving New Worlds'
(2018). Her current exhibition: 'Fabric: touch and identity' (2020)
is a collaboration with textile artist Alice Kettle developed from the book
they co-edited: 'Erotic Cloth' for Bloomsbury Academic (2018). She will launch
the international tapestry weekend on Friday evening 22 May 2020 at the Human
Biology Building, NUI Galway and is main guest speaker at opening
of the Symposium | Experience, Growth and Renewal.
Anet
Brusgaard, Director of the
European Tapestry Forum, Denmark. In 2005 launched the first triennial
exhibition ARTAPESTRY in KUNSTEN, Aalborg Denmark which toured to Textilemuseum
Krefeld and Musée Jean Lurcat, Angers, and Artapestry 2-3-4-5 has been touring
Europe since. Established the European Tapestry Forum. Now preparing Artapestry
6, launching in ArtCenter Silkeborg Bad, Denmark in January 2021 which will also
tour Europe.
Professor
Włodzimierz Cygan, Strzeminski Academy of Fine Art, Łódź, and
Łódź University of Technology, Poland. Awards: Laureate of the International
Wool Secretariat award, Winner of the Grand Prix at the 12th International
Textile Triennial in Łódź in 2007., Medal winner, 6th International Fiber Art
Exhibition, "From Lausanne to Beijing", Henan Art Museum, Zhengzhou,
China in 2010. Juror of international competitions and the author of many
publications. 2009 – “My unique way of warping” w Fibres & Textiles in
Eastern Europe, nr 4/2009, 2011 – “Materials and Techniques Used by Artists –
Participants of the International Triennial of Tapestry in Lodz” Fibres &
Textiles in Eastern Europe 1’2011, 2011 - Fiberarts, Spring, Monique Lehman I
Elizabeth Michel “Object of conscious creation”.
Thoma
Ewen, curator of the exhibition “Woven by
Hand: Contemporary Canadian Tapestries” and artistic director of Moon Rain
Centre, Val-Des-Monts, Quebec, Canada. Thoma Ewen is a Canadian tapestry artist
who has been designing and weaving tapestries for 45 years. She has
exhibited her light-filled tapestries in solo and group
exhibitions in Canada, United States, Mexico, England, France, Poland,
Guatemala, Venezuela and China. Her tapestries are a
visual exploration of the forces or energies that move through
everything on and beyond the planet, communicating a sense of harmony and
movement in the universe.
Valerie
Kirk,
Artist and Tapestry Weaver, The Australian National University, Senior Fellow
of the Higher Education Academy, Australia. Valerie Kirk studied art and design
at Edinburgh College of Art, where she discovered woven tapestry. As a graduate
she went to Australia and worked in the Victorian (now Australian) Tapestry
Workshop and travelled the country to teach in communities and colleges, work
as an artist-in-residence, exhibit and lead community tapestry projects and
textile tours.
Marie
Thumette Brichard, Tapestry weaver, she run her own studio in
Lorient and Isle of Groix in the West of France. Her high-lice tapestries are
mainly inspired by the maritime surrounding where she lives. She is a member of
L'Art et la Manière à Aubusson, British Tapestry Group, European Tapestry
Forum, American Tapestry Alliance et World Textile Art Organisation, France.
Yasuko
Fujino, Artist
and Tapestry Weaver, she was selected as a CORDIS Prize shortlist exhibitor in
2019. Large scale works, incorporating the significence of the story, cartoon
and weaving. Professor of Dyeing and Weaving at Kyoto City University of
Arts, Japan.
