ARTAPESTRY3

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ARTAPESTRY3 tour to open in Silkeborg Bad/DK on May 17

ETF’s 3rd European triennial features 51 tapestries by 38 artists from 14 EU countries

 European Tapestry Forum is pleased to announce the opening of its third international juried tapestry exhibition, ARTAPESTRY3, featuring 51 contemporary tapestries, next month.

38 artists from 14 EU countries are taking part in this travelling exhibition, which opens at KunstCentret Silkeborg Bad in Denmark on 17 May and continues on to four other European venues over a two-year period. An 80-page catalogue will be avaiable at all venues and can also be mail-ordered via the ETF Secretariat in Copenhagen.

A panel of five artists and experts chose the participating artists and works from a total of 154 submissions by 87 weavers from 20 European countries. “The jury were particularly impressed by the confident references to traditional tapestry techniques whilst at the same time firmly locating the work within current art discourse,” juror Lesley Millar said in a statement.

The jury consisted of: Finnish painter & art critic Hannu Castrén; British academic & curator Lesley Millar; Danish sculptor Kirsten Ortwed; Austria-based Swedish art professor Margarethe Persson and French cultural official Yves Sabourin.

Some of the top tapestry weavers from across Europe again submitted “diverse and vigorous” work (Millar). The jury has chosen a show that shows the diversity and vitality of the tapestry genre.

European Tapestry Forum which organised ARTAPESTRY3 is artist-led and is run by a Steering Committee of nine tapestry artists from several European countries. Its aim is to increase the visibility of this art form. Run entirely by volunteers, Copenhagen-based ETF has also organized a series of master classes, and hosted an artist-in-residence in Skærbæk, Denmark, last year.

ETF defines tapestry as weft-faced works woven with discontinuous wefts. This constitutes a fairly strict focus on traditional tapestry, but leaves room open for experiments with materials. ARTAPESTRY3 includes works designed and woven in a digital jacquard process but with wefts laid in by hand.

Thomas Cronenberg