Heritage inspires Australian exhibition for acclaimed UK artist

Award-winning textile artist Anne Kelly present her first solo exhibition in Australia, Articles of Ancestry, which opens at Newcastle’s Timeless Textiles Gallery in April.

Kelly took part in the gallery’s Stitched Up exhibition in 2017. Her new exhibition explores issues and identity of family, past and present, with particular reference to international links.

“I was inspired by a vintage dress to make the piece ‘12 Dresses’,” she said. “It is about the women in my father’s family, some of whom perished in the Holocaust.”

Kelly likes to use ephemera and found objects in her practice. Recent work includes a series using wooden objects and dolls’ houses to look at themes of travel and migration. Her heavily embroidered fabric collages are reminiscent of tapestry work. She applies her signature stitching technique to a variety of surfaces. Kelly uses mixed media and print to further embellish her work.

Kelly is an artist, author and tutor. While based in the UK, she is exhibiting and teaching internationally. She has written three books that profile her project and collaborative work. Her work is represented in private and public collections in the UK and abroad.

The artist’s books have enjoyed global success. Her second book ‘Textile Nature’, launched in 2016, has been reprinted and sold around the world. Her third book ‘Textile Folk Art’ was published in August 2018. It links to her continued interests in working with groups, nature conservation and folk art. Recent collaborative work includes ‘Travel Tags/Moving Memories’, which reflected on the timely issues surrounding travel and migration. She is currently working towards a major solo survey of her work in the UK in 2021.

Articles of Ancestry is Kelly’s first solo exhibition in Australia. The works illuminate how she is connected to, and influenced by, folk art and ancestry. They create a link to trends in historic and contemporary textiles.