Entries are now open for The Fine Art Textiles Award 2022.
Now in its fourth year, The Fine Art Textiles Award is an international juried exhibition open to all amateur and practising artists using textiles as their primary medium. The award recognises the creative talents and skills of a broad community of high-calibre artists producing gallery-quality fine art.
The winner will be announced at The Awards Ceremony at The Festival of Quilts at the NEC Birmingham on Thursday 18th August at 12.30pm, with a £5,000 prize awarded. An award for Innovative Use of Textiles, will be presented to an artist whose work demonstrates a particularly complex and/or powerful approach to the use of textiles, with a prize of £500 attached.
This year’s award judging panel are an esteemed group of textile artists, curators and experts: Annie Warburton, a TEDx speaker on craft, culture and design and CEO at Cockpit Arts, London’s leading contemporary craft studios; textile artists Esna Su and Yemi Awosile; Michael Brennand-Wood, an independent artist, curator and educator; Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada, artist, curator, author and President of the World Shibori Network Foundation; and Jo Hall, writer, curator and editor of Embroidery magazine, published by the Embroiderers’ Guild.
Shortlisted entries will be exhibited in a dedicated gallery at The Festival of Quilts from 18th-21st August 2022, followed by exhibitions at The Knitting & Stitching Show in London (Alexandra Palace) and Harrogate this autumn.
Entry criteria stipulate that works must transcend their craft or making process, standing alone as fine art. Works must be clearly rooted in – and reflect – the artist’s inspiration, source, concept or idea, with cloth and thread playing a dominant role. Works can be 2D or 3D, with the exception of garments, unless those garments present as fine art. Entries must have been made within 24 months prior to 31st May 2022, and must not have been shown at any major exhibition in the UK (juried, solo, group or otherwise).
The 2021 winner of The Fine Art Textiles Award was London-based mixed media textile artist, Woo Jin Joo. The artist’s award-winning work 虎死留皮，人死留名。(translation: ‘When a tiger dies, it leaves behind its skin. When a man dies, he leaves behind this name’) featured a tiger sculpture, embroidered and stitched onto an IKEA bag before the artist dissolved the backing fabric.
Influenced by Asian traditions, philosophies, and culture, the Korean-born artist said: “Through my work, I seek to challenge our current perception of textiles’ value so that we could start building a more mindful relationship.”
Previous winners of The Fine Art Textiles Award are Shelly Goldsmith (Locus of the Dress, 2020) and Ann Goddard (On the Brink, 2019).
Full information about The Fine Art Textiles Award 2022 can be found on The Festival of Quilts website at: www.thefestivalofquilts.co.uk/the-fine-art-textiles-award/. The deadline for entries is Monday 6th June 2022.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Julie Parmenter
Brampton PR
T: +44 (0)7775 715936
About The Fine Art Textiles Award
The Fine Art Textiles Award is an international juried exhibition open to all amateur and practicing artists using textiles as their medium. The Fine Art Textiles Award recognises the creative talents and skills of a broad community of high-calibre artists (including quilters) and celebrates textiles’ rightful place amongst high art.
About the Festival of Quilts
The Festival of Quilts is Europe’s ultimate quilting destination, featuring extraordinary galleries from international artists and groups, 700 competition quilts, an extensive programme of talks and workshops, and more than 200 exhibitors offering essential supplies. The Festival takes place from 18th-21st August 2022 at the NEC Birmingham (Halls 6, 7, 8 and 9). Opening hours are 9.30am-5.30pm daily (closes 5pm Sunday).
