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TRANSITION AND INFLUENCE:
the interface between cloth and culture

'Cloth is the universal free element. It doesn't have to explain itself. It performs.'*

The emergence of what could be considered 'global' artistic practice has not automatically created cross-cultural understanding. However, it seems that cloth provides a continuous undercurrent between cultures; it is both common to all cultures and culture-specific. Textile has a social, political and utilitarian history, moving across and between continents and peoples. It is a shared activity that stirs both conscious and unconscious memory. It is a language connecting practitioners in different cultures, as evidenced in their approaches and practice.

The Transition and Influence website sets out to disseminate projects highlighting the best and most exciting contemporary textile practice particularly from the UK, Japan, but also including other countries where contemporary textiles play an important role in the artistic and cultural discourse. The focus of the work featured in the various projects are:

Contemporary textiles as intervention in the built environment
Contemporary textiles that have emerged from a strong traditional practice
Contemporary textiles that reflect a particular culture

These projects have been initiated by Lesley Millar through the University for the Creative Arts, the current one being Lost in Lace, a major publication and international exhibition to be held at the Gas Hall, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery from October 29th 2011 - February 19th 2012. Please see below in the News Section for more details.

For more information about Transition and Influence projects and associated publications, click on the tool bar above.

*Tom Lubbock 'The secret life of cloth' The Independent 18/6/02

NEWS

LOST IN LACE AND BITE-SIZE

A major international exhibition, 'LOST IN LACE' opened in The Gas Hall at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery on October 29th 2011 and will run until February 19th 2012. To know more about this project and the exciting catalogue click here

To fill in the Visitor Questionnaire click here

'BITE-SIZE' - an exhibition of miniature textiles celebrating 15 years of collaboration between textile artists in the UK and Japan opened at The Daiwa Anglo Japanese Foundation in London between October 31st - December 14th 2011. It will be shown in Kyoto Japan between February 25th – 10th March 2012. To know more about this exhibition and its accompanying catalogue click here

To fill in the Visitor Questionnaire click here

CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

As we have moved into the 21st century, the expanding borders of Europe have shifted the reference points of nationhood. Demarcations of traditional geographical borders are in flux, cultural groupings are located in multiple centres, no longer defined by the limits of state. This project is an exploration of lace net-works as a potential medium for the questioning traditional perceptions of the intransigence of material, political and personal boundaries.

Transparent Boundaries is a trans-national collaborative project in which textile practitioners and architects explore lace net-works as a potential medium for the questioning of material, political and personal boundaries.

Professor Lesley Millar and the University for the Creative Arts are currently developing an EU Culture Programme Bid. We are in the process of seeking suitable European partners at two levels:

Funded joint project partners
Partners to be part of a dissemination network

For further information click here

WEB GALLERY

Visit the new Transition and Influence Web Gallery of Contemporary Textile Artists.

Whether you are a collector, a museum or gallery curator, a journalist or a student, this unique resource has been created to profile contemporary textile artists from the UK and around the world who have worked on Transition and Influence projects.

The Web Gallery is not static, the images for those included will be updated, new artists will be added from new projects and in the future I will invite applications for selection from those whose work fits the categories of the Gallery.

Simply click here or go to the Web Gallery link at the top of this page, and enjoy the wonderful work.

CULTEX

For further information on CULTEX please visit the news archive page