Consuo is an exhibiting group of textile artists who create 2D and 3D artworks using a variety of processes including weaving, knitting, stitching, dyeing, printing, basketry and mixed media.  Taking their name from the Latin for ‘to sew together’, Consuo Textile Art comprises alumni from the Masters Degree textile course at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham.  

This exhibition, ‘Unravelling Textile Traditions’, will feature a wide variety of textile techniques and materials with inspiration stemming from the natural world, the built environment, from personal experience as well as from the materials themselves.  The artists in Consuo are continually exploring and investigating the traditional and the unconventional to produce uniquely designed and constructed work. 

Elena Sparke, for example, grows her own indigo plants and uses the dye to handprint patterns in a series of works that reimagine the handcrafted Verdure tapestries of the 17th and 18th centuries.  The original Verdure (foliage) tapestries featured woodland landscapes in greens and blues, and large leaves were often a dominant element.  Elena’s pieces address themes of memory, the passage of time, continuity of culture and the preservation of heritage.  A particular tapestry over the stairs at West Dean College was a part of her inspiration.

Deb King is inspired by the worn ledger stones in Chichester Cathedral. Her intricate silk passementerie involves hand spinning cords from very fine silk thread.  These are then placed in the warps to make pieces celebrating the interwoven lives of families and communities and the spaces they leave behind.  Passementerie is an endangered craft so it is especially encouraging to see it included here.

Tara Kennedy’s textile art is her response to the landscape of Iceland as winter changed to spring, with patterns and shapes created by the thawing snow and ice.  She uses exclusively Icelandic wool.

Consuo invariably produce innovative work that appeals to a wide audience.