My blogging and exhibition visiting activity has been somewhat curtailed in recent times due to me very happily becoming a Mum. However, at the beginning of September I was delighted to be able to stop at the Craft Study Centre in Farnham en route home from Canterbury, to visit Ismini Samanidou's solo exhibition entitled Topography: recording place - mapping surface. Now extended until the 6th Oct, the show is absolute treat, giving an insight into Ismini's design process as well as presenting intriguing jacquard woven lengths. I always relish the opportunity to see samples, design sketches, mood boards, colour studies, yarn wraps etc, as they demonstrate pure, instinctive exploration that has yet to be synthesized into the 'final' work. The wall of cloud study samples was perhaps my favourite part of the exhibition for this very reason. Structural explorations of diverse surafce qualities in unusual yarns on the dobby handloom made a very welcome compliment to the jacquard woven artworks which I am so familiar with. It was also a delight to see her handmade fan reeds which were made whilst on a British Council residency in Bangladesh. These were used to weave some exquisite fabrics, which you can see alongside.
So, I urge you in the few days left to catch the exhibition before the work travels to the Center for Craft Creativity and Design in the USA. There is also a beautiful and insightful catalogue to accompany the show.
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| wisteria, momijigari, siberia and thread installation |
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| 'Cloud weavings' |
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| Siberia lengths and cloud weavings |
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| Watercolour and yarn wrap colour study |
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| Hand woven fabric of varying density |
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| woven interpretation of the texture photographs |
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| Hand made fan reeds |
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| Hand made fabrics woven with the hand made reeds |
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| CNC routed wood replicating woven surfaces |
