Open House: Tamworth Textile Triennial

9 June - 29 July 2020

Australian Design Centre presents Open House: 3rd Tamworth Textile Triennial . This exhibition features the work of contemporary artists in fibre textile arts from across Australia, a snapshot of current and future practice.

Each triennial engages a guest curator and this exhibition is curated by Glenn Barkley. The theme, ‘Open House’, focusses on the recent global shift to the handmade in a time when screens and digital devices dominate our lives.

Open House celebrates the open-ended nature of textile practice today. All of the artists’ works are linked with things outside of themselves and their studios. Many celebrate the sense of belonging that comes from working with other artists; while others take on wide-ranging issues, such as the landscape and the environment, and the artist’s place in a world beset by environmental, social and cultural upheaval. Through the process of creating, talking and exhibiting, the artists join together with visitors as equal participants in an open house where all ideas and responses are welcome.

Open House is about storytelling through the textile medium. It welcomes Indigenous, multicultural and environmental artists to create a powerful and authentic exhibition with a sense of broad engagement and meaning within the artist's stories. The exhibition is also about the ongoing narrative surrounding contemporary craft practice in Australia, providing a unique snapshot of techniques, styles and mediums. It displays the merging of traditional textile techniques with innovative new technologies in new approaches to practice.

The Tamworth Textile Triennial has a long history stemming from the 1960’s competitive art exhibitions held by the Tamworth Arts and Craft Society. A core group of fibre artists developed the exhibition into a professional, curated show held at the Tamworth Regional Art Gallery. From there it has evolved into the current format of a triennial and showcases the best textile art from across the country, attracting acclaimed and emerging textile artists Australia-wide.

Read an essay by Glenn Barkley, curator of Open House: Tamworth Textiles Triennial here.

Explore the Open House: Tamworth Textiles Triennial education kit here.

ADC has included fibre arts in its exhibition programs since 1965. In 2018 we partnered with Sydney textile group Seed Stitch Collective to present the Seed Stitch Contemporary Textile Award, an open call-out to NSW contemporary textile artists. Seed Stitch Contemporary Textile Awards 2020 will tour to Tamworth Regional Art Gallery in February 2021, after opening at ADC in October 2020.

This exhibition has been developed by Tamworth Regional Gallery and is supported by the Visions of Australia regional touring program, an Australian Government program aiming to improve access to cultural material for all Australians.

Top image: Ema Shin, Devoted Body (detail) 2017, Photo: Oleksandr Pogorilyi