Hello, my name is Nicola Turner and I am delighted to be part of the seam collective. 

At the moment I am preparing a large installation for the Chapter House, at Wells Cathedral, as part of Wells Art Contemporary 2023, opening on 4 August. In my practice I work with wool, horsehair and coir to create large sculptural installations responding to architecture, landscape and place. I am drawn to working with materials from organic ‘dead’ matter such as horsehair- a material used previously for bedding and furniture and, in that regard, has been soaked with its lived history.

I prepare the fibres into forms I can then use to twist and stitch together on site to create a sculptural response to place. I let the sculpture organically grow responding unconsciously to the environment I am in. My work draws on my own experience of loss, bereavement and medical intrusions. The title of my installation at Wells is The Unexpected Guest from the Unremembered Past. It is taken from a book with the same title by Prophecy Coles exploring the unconscious transmission of trauma across the generations. My work and the materials I use provoke awareness of the entanglement of life, challenging individuality and creating awareness of the wider interconnected energies of which we are a part.

I come from a family of stitchers. My mother worked in fashion and upholstery so I grew up surrounded by fabric, sewing machines and threads. She passed on the knowledge to me that was passed down from her mother and grandmother. I grew up fascinated by the texture and materiality of fabrics. Initially, I pursued a career in scenography working internationally as the designer of the sets and costumes on numerous Opera, Ballet and Theatre productions. Designing Rusalka at the Sydney Opera House was a high point. I am currently working on Death in Venice opening next year with the Welsh National Opera.

Recently I did a MA in fine art at Bath Spa University, graduating in 2019. I wanted to spend time investigating my own artistic practice away from the confines of scripts and scores. During my MA I started creating sculptural forms with organic fibres. I have since pushed my practice into larger scale and more site responsive works including working in landscape. I spent a month in Iceland at the Skaftfell residency, working outdoors. I am interested in how textiles in landscape respond to the environment and morph over time.

The piece in Wells will be my largest installation so far. I will be wrapping around the central column of the Chapter House which goes up to a height of eight meters. I have been working with the metal worker Richard Cooper to create a base that will go around the column, without touching it, to support the sculptural forms above. Other artists from seam collective will be also exhibiting at Wells Art Contemporary 2023. Do come and visit us if you can and follow @seam_collective on Instagram for regular updates.

I will also be showing work as part of the seam collective exhibition A Visible THREAD at the Black Swan Arts in September.  You can find more about my work on my website and do follow me on Instagram @nicolaturner.art.

Nicola Turner

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Wells Art Contemporary is at Wells Cathedral, Cathedral Green, Wells BA5 2UE from 5 August – 2 September 2023

A Visible THREAD is at Black Swan Arts, 2 Bridge Street, Frome, Somerset BA11 1BB from 16 September – 29 October 2023