Nina Gronw-Lewis

A Visible THREAD comes to Frome

Here are some glimpses of Team seam setting up A Visible THREAD exhibition in the Long Gallery at Black Swan Arts, Frome on Tuesday. It’s all looking wonderful and we’re looking forward to opening properly at 10am on Saturday 16 September with a Meet the Artists from 10am – 12pm.

The day started with sun, a firm plan and an ideal time frame to get A Visible THREAD all hung. And of course it looks like a really easy, fast process. But without the investment of time, and discussions and negotiation of the space, the works would not be in such a good conversation.

Leah working on her installation, and Joy helping Oly hang his new work in the Long Gallery

14 seam collective members are taking part in this version of A Visible THREAD: Alice-Marie Archer, Angie Parker, Desiree Jeans, Helen MacRitchie, Jane Colquhoun, Joy Merron, Julie Heaton, Leah Hislop, Lou Baker, Lydia Needle, Nicola Turner, Nina Gronw-Lewis, Oliver Bliss, and work from the late Dr. Linda Row. There are new site specific installations from Leah Hislop, Lou Baker and Nicola Turner; and new work from Desiree Jeans, Julie Heaton, Lydia Needle, Nina Gronw-Lewis and Oliver Bliss.

During the set up we received our first visitors!

A big thank you to fellow curators Joy Merron, Lydia Needle and Oliver Bliss, and it was great to spend time with the installation artists Leah Hislop and Lou Baker. And what a pleasure to meet Seb, the new buildings manager of Black Swan Arts – thanks so much for all your help and enthusiasm.

Curation team (from left to right) Lydia, Nina and Joy (front right) joined by Lou (third from left), Oly and Leah.

Expect to see a stimulating and thought provoking exhibition that showcases the individual perspectives and range of disciplines of this diverse group of artists. Dare I say this may be the best looking exhibition of our A Visible THREAD tour so far!

Come and check it out, we would love to hear what you think. Find us at Black Swan Arts, 2 Bridge Street, Frome, Somerset BA11 1BB from 16 September until 29 October 2023. Do come and Meet the Artists from 10 – midday on Saturday 16 September; seam members Alice-Marie Archer, Lou Baker, Lydia Needle and I, Nina Gronw-Lewis, will be there. We look forward to connecting with you and talking textiles.

seam members will also be popping up in the gallery on a few different days – keep an eye on @seam_collective on Instagram for details.

If you would like to know more about the artists, join seam collective and The Loom Shed for a collaboration of informal making and conversation during our Instagram challenge #SeptTextileLove! Each week in September, The Loom Shed will host an hour’s online session via Zoom with a few seam artists. We’ll be making together as we talk about the previous week’s #SeptTextileLove prompts, seam’s A Visible THREAD exhibition and our shared love of textiles. Bring your stitching, knitting, weaving, crochet or whatever you’re working on at the moment… and join the conversation on:

  • Thursday 14 September, 7 – 8pm with Jane Colquhoun, Oliver Bliss & Angie Parker
  • Friday 22 September, 10 – 11am with Lydia Needle, Helen MacRitchie & Desiree Jeans
  • Saturday 30 September, 7 – 8pm with Lou Baker, Nina Gronw-Lewis & Joy Merron

The sessions will be FREE but places are limited. We will share the link for the sessions on @seam_collective and @the_loom_shed on Instagram.

If you are unable to make it this time, I hope you can catch A Visible THREAD on the rest of our tour, supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, at:

See our website and @seam_collective on Instagram for full details and sign up for the newsletter for regular news and updates.

Nina Gronw-Lewis