Jo Barker: Tapestry Weaver

This episode was recorded live at Fen Ditton Gallery as part of the Textiles Today? Three Generations of Artist Weavers Exhibition.Dr. Ann Coxon, Senior Curator Displays and International Art at the Tate joins Amanda Game, Independent Curator and curator of Textiles Today? to discuss Sutton’s interdisciplinary work all rooted in the possibilities of woven constructions. Sutton, who remains active to this day in her Sussex studio, is represented by five works in the exhibition which span her entire career from early archival handwoven samples for industrial production to a recently completed quartet of bold wrapped monochrome low relief sculptures (pictured above) that reveal the potent language of weave in new and direct ways.Few artists have matched Sutton’s ability to move between performance, industrial design, sculpture, fine art installation, writing and producing all united by, she says deep commitment to the structure of weaving and to enlarging its possibilities.The subject of major exhibitions including a career-defining retrospective at New Art Centre, Roche Court in 2021-2 and a landmark documentary ‘My Bones are Woven’ (2022), Ann’s work can be found in major museum collections in the UK and Europe including Tate and V & A in London. In 2026 she was recipient of the Worshipful Company of Weavers Silver Medal in recognition of her lifetime contribution to the UK weaving industry as innovative practitioner, and international advocate.

This episode was recorded at a live event on Thursday 15th October 2026 and features emerging weave artist Jacob Monk, who is exhibiting as part of the Textiles Today? Three Generations of Artist Weavers exhibition.Born in Lancashire in 1993, he trained at Central St Martins, graduating in Textiles Design with a specialism in Woven Textiles, and went on to study MA Textiles at the Royal College of Art.In 2022, Jacob was described by Homo Faber as a ‘rising star of contemporary textiles’ and in 2024, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust Garfield West Foundation Scholarship which funded his recent study trip to Japan. Jacob revealed both the dedication and precision needed to develop a voice within the global culture of woven textiles, and mentioned warmly his mentorship with Mary Restieaux (another exhibitor). His deep knowledge and passion enthralled a full house of attendees.   I hope you enjoy this opportunity to find out more about an exciting young artist who is helping to shape the future of contemporary textiles.Textiles Today? Three Generations of Artist Weavers is open at Fen Ditton Gallery until Sunday 1st November 2026.For more information and to view the catalogue online, visit fendittongallery.com

Hello and welcome back to the Fen Ditton Gallery podcast with Hannah Munby. In this episode, I'm joined by Jo Barker whose beautiful work is currently on display at Fen Ditton Gallery as part of the exhibition Textiles Today? Three Generations of Artist Weavers, which is open until Sunday 1st November.You can find out more and view the exhibition online at fendittongallery.com

This conversation was recording with Agnes Treherne live at Fen Ditton Gallery on Wednesday 25th February 2026 as part of the Kindred Land exhibition. Gallery Manager / Curator Hannah discusses with Agnes the landscape as her continual inspiration, her creative upbringing and the influence of her mother and the family on her work. You can view the exhibition and discussed works online at fendittongallery.com/agnes-treherneThe exhibition is open until Sunday 1st March 2026.Fen Ditton Gallery, 23 High Street, Fen Ditton, Cambridge CB5 8ST

Hello and welcome back to the Fen Ditton Gallery podcast, with gallery manager Hannah Munby This episode features a conversation with ceramicist Claire Curneen, who is currently exhibiting at the gallery as part of our exhibition ‘A Conversation with Trees’. The exhibition is open until Sunday 27th October. Find out more and view the show online at fendittongallery.com/a-conversation-with-trees Claire Curneen has been working in ceramics for over twenty years. She graduated from Crawford College of Art & Design, Cork, with a Diploma in Art and Design (Ceramics) in 1991. Her hand-built ceramic sculptures are poignant reflections on the nature of humanity and our precarious place within it. For many years, Claire’s ideas and projects have explored and re-interpreted narratives drawn from the world of myths and history. The two works that are currently on show at Fen Ditton Gallery, ‘Splinter’ (2018) and ‘Daphne’ (2024), draw on the classical myth of Apollo and Daphne as told in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 1, ll. 452–567. Examples of Claire’s work can be found in over 20 major museum collections including: Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; V & A Museum, London; National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh; and the Icheon World Ceramics Centre, Korea.

Before completing the Drawing Year in 2021, Otis Blease studied Drawing and Printmaking at Bristol’s University of the West of England, where he was awarded the Dumfries House residency upon graduation. Having grown up in rural Cornwall, the move to London to study at The Royal Drawing School had a considerable impact on his work and the city’s constant state of motion added an energy and spontaneity to his practice. Working with mixed media materials, often onto paper he explores feelings of excitement and anxiety in his work, interested in the way life can seem both thrilling and mundane simultaneously. Otis’ recent work is an exploration of combining drawing, painting and printmaking, and works from life, making drawings and notes in his sketchbook, often of the people he sees on public transport. These sketches are developed into charcoal drawings and then onto larger paintings. His work relies on ‘accidents’ and disused sections of previous works come back into play, with a mixed on observational and imaginary image making. This conversation with emerging artist Otis Blease was recorded as part of our currently exhibition, Voices in Drawing, which features the work of six recent graduates and alumni from The Royal Drawing School The exhibition is open until Sunday 25th February 2024 and can be viewed online at fendittongallery.com

Olly Williamson was born in 1994 and grew up in a village just outside of Preston.  He completed the Drawing ear at the Royal Drawing School in 2023, after graduating from Manchester School of Art with a first-class honours in Fine Art in 2016. Olly makes work about quiet situations in life, utilising intense observation and experimental structures of composition. His images reflect the underlying rhythms of the people and the world he sees around him, hoping to make the everyday feel monumental. This conversation was during our current Voices in Drawing exhibition. The exhibition showcases the work of six recent graduates and alumni from The Royal Drawing School and is open until Sunday 25th February 2024. You can find out more and view the exhibition online at ⁠⁠fendittongallery.com⁠⁠

Originally from Cambridge, Felix Higham studied at Central St Martin’s before completing The Drawing Year in 2021. His artistic focus centres on the intricate study of people and the dynamics of life within the spaces we construct for our use. His observational drawings conducted in pubs and cafés provide material from which Felix constructs narrative works back in the studio. Through the placement of doorways and positioning of light sources, structural interiors become pivotal in dictating the viewer’s perspective within these spaces. This conversation with emerging artist Felix Higham was during our current Voices in Drawing exhibition. The exhibition showcases the work of six recent graduates and alumni from The Royal Drawing School and is open until Sunday 25th February 2024. You can find out more and view the exhibition online at ⁠⁠fendittongallery.com⁠⁠

This conversation was recorded with emerging artist Ellie Lonsdale who is currently exhibiting at Fen Ditton Gallery as part our Voices in Drawing exhibition. The exhibition showcases the work of six recent graduates and alumni from The Royal Drawing School and is open until Sunday 25th February 2024. You can find out more and view the exhibition online at ⁠⁠fendittongallery.com⁠⁠ Ellie Lonsdale graduated from Falmouth University with a first-class degree in Illustration, before joining The Drawing Year in 2022. Her practice is driven by narrative, where drawings act as windows into observed and imagined worlds. Ellie is drawn to capture moments and places where the manmade and natural environments intersect, the relationship between structures that are firm and rooted, and those that are ephemeral. Often returning to the same location over time to build a strong memory of place, her process involves continuous alternation between erasure and addition, allowing compositions to emerge as she works. The images present themselves as a visible history of layers that evoke a sensation of shifting - reflecting how things come and go; seasonal transitions, memories and people. 

Hello and welcome to the Fen Ditton Gallery podcast, with me Hannah Munby. This conversation was recorded with emerging artist Euan Evans on my recent visit to his studio in Stoke Newington, to collect the paintings and drawings that are currently on show at Fen Ditton Gallery as part our Voices in Drawing exhibition. The exhibition showcases the work of six recent graduates and alumni from The Royal Drawing School and is open until Sunday 25th February 2024. Euan Evans was born in Cornwall in 1996, and originally studied Jazz at Leeds Conservatoire before completing the Drawing Year in 2022. He went on to study MA Printmaking at The Royal College of Art and was awarded the Printmaker’s Council Sheila Sloss Award at his graduation show in 2023. Euan’s training in music allows him to explore the interactions between improvisation, texture, and composition through visual enquiries. His recent work is poised between sculpture and printmaking, incorporating drawing and painting through his practice. His work is often routed in the personal, using inspiration from places that he has lived.      You can find out more and view the exhibition online at ⁠fendittongallery.com⁠ Exhibition opening times: Thursdays 11am - 4pm Weekends 10am - 5pm Other times by appointment, contact [email protected] to book