Audrey Walker Retrospective: Ruthin Craft Gallery

I saw that this was on at my 'local' (half an hour away, through spectacular winding roads with stunning hill and valley vistas) craft gallery in Ruthin, so had to go along and take a look at the work of a textile art legend.

It turned out to be a small, but beautifully chosen, selection of pieces, as part of a retrospective to celebrate Audrey Walker's 90th birthday, and a great way to see her work close up and without any jostling crowds.

Lots of technique to admire, great sense of humour, masterful ways of capturing everything from the emotion in a look, the menace of a threatening situation, and the absorbing detail that means you can get lost in the study of the stitches.

Here are some images from the exhibition:

I enjoyed seeing work representing different stages of her life as an artist, and different styles of work, and I enjoyed reading about her approach, and her encouragement of her students throughout her life.

It was great to be able to get really close to each piece to closely examine the stitches, and see the layering of fabric that lay beneath and between the stitches. I particularly noted her use of net reoccurring through different works, as a means of adding a subtle shadow.

I loved the sense of humour that shone through the work too, particularly the cheeky wit of The Collectors (or Temptation), 2004, and the way she has managed to convey the feelings and something of the personality of the characters she portrays, and the desire these obviously wealthy people feel for the object on display:

I also her loved the way her works 'let us in' to the world of the artist, and the way the exhibition had shown some of her process, as with White Tulips, and Homage to Giorgio Morandi.

I really like the inclusion in the exhibition of Walker's original source sketch of the vase of white tulips, now framed, along with how the sketch is included in her embroidery, as a way of breaking down how the artist works from the source material to the finished piece, and somehow it was humorous and generous, as it didn't attempt to hide the process:

It was also helpful to read about the inspiration behind each piece and to hear her thoughts on finding your own way of working, and to hear about her own defence of using 'traditional' materials in her art, rather than moving towards non-traditional materials.

It was interesting being able to look in detail at her layering of fabric and stitch, and it made me wonder how she worked, how much of it was planned in advance and how much evolved in the making. How did she decide when something was 'finished'? Her detailed studies, drawings and paintings were beautiful works in their own right, as well as being the precursor to her textile art:

Here, she references a medieval tapestry showing knights approaching, very much updated to the modern day. Who are these shadowy figures: riot police, antiterrorism forces, military? Do they come to harm or protect?