Five textile artists have come together for a Māpua exhibition, Follow the Thread, that explores the creative possibilities of textiles and fibre art.
The exhibition opened on Thursday at The Coolstore Gallery by the wharf and runs for six weeks, featuring work by artists Sara Gore, Natalie Holland, Anne Daniel, Kim Lawrence and Nicola Tapper.
Sara, who is also the gallery’s assistant manager, says the Māpua exhibition has been timed to follow Nelson’s Changing Threads exhibition.
“We have five very different textile artists in the exhibition so it showcases the diversity of what textile art can look like.”
Each artist uses thread, fibre and cloth to tell stories, honour heritage, explore memory and celebrate nature, transforming everyday materials into works of art.
Sara works from her Māpua garden studio with reclaimed textiles, weaving, wrapping, and knotting discarded fabrics into richly-textured works. Kim, who is based in Motueka, combines embroidery and tufting. The other artists bring Niuean punch-needle and tufted works, detailed hand embroidery of native wildlife, and sculptural woven pieces created from plant fibres.
A red thread leads visitors through the gallery to a collection of works that transform textiles into striking and unexpected pieces of art.
Sara says the collection will help unravel any preconceptions about textile art by showcasing its creativity and versatility.
The exhibition is open daily from 10am to 5pm until 27 August. Children will also have the opportunity to create colourful pom-poms to add to the gallery’s community art wall.
