Transparency and Transition Exhibition at the Festival of Quilts
01/08/2019 12:00 am – 04/08/2019 12:00 am | The Festival of Quilts, Halls 7, 8 & 9, NEC, Birmingham B40 1NT
Part of this year’s Festival of Quilts and curated by our author and expert Sara Cook , this is a rare opportunity to see exciting new work from a diverse mix of textile artists — from the United States, Japan, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom — who have been inspired by the ancient Korean tradition of wrapping cloths known as Bojagi. Exploring the abstract ways that each artist has exploited the properties of the translucent fabrics and played with informal grids, Transparency and Transition will showcase the versatile ways that Bojagi can be interpreted in a contemporary context.
About Sara Cook
With a professional seamstress for a mother and an uncle who was a Savile Row tailor, Sara wasnever far from fabric and sewing advice as she grew up. As a qualified teacher and textile specialist with more than 25 years’ experience, Sara established Brighton Fashion and Textile School in 2012 to teach City & Guilds qualifications in textiles. A member of the Quilters Guild she qualified as a quilt judge in 2016 and has judged at local and international quilt shows.
Inspired by Chunghie Lee’s work, No Name Woman exhibited at the Festival of Quilts in 2009, Sara became passionate about researching Bojagi and incorporating it into her own working practice. Researching Korean textiles has inspired her to experiment with traditional narrow seams, creating irregular grids. Combined with her love of translucency and constructed textiles, her current body of work explores the effect of light on the landscape.
As a guest exhibitor and lecturer in 2018 at the international Korean Bojagi Forum in Seoul, Sara exhibited her work to a Korean audience for the first time. Awarded the prestigious teachers travel bursary awarded in 2017 The Quilters Guild of the British Isles recognised her expertise in textiles. She travelled to California to study the bojagi collection at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum and worked with bojagi expert Youngmin Lee.
The publication of her book Bojagi: Design and Techniques in Korean Textile Art this year is the culmination of ten years of research into historic practitioners and artists today, those based in Korea and those practicing across the world.
*Early copies of the book will be available for purchase at the venue.*
When: 1st – 4th August
Where: The Festival of Quilts, Halls 7, 8 & 9, NEC, Birmingham B40 1NT
Please note that you will need to purchase a Festival of Quilts day ticket to be able to visit the exhibition.
For more information and to book tickets, please visit the Festival of Quilts website.