26 November – 24 December 2022
Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm

ACEarts, Market Place, Somerton, Somerset TA11 7NB

seam collective presented A Visible THREAD, an exhibition which explores the visibility and invisibility of thread at ACEarts, Somerton from 26 November until 24 December 2022. Through their unique perspectives and a diverse range of textile disciplines, eight seam artists created new works to stimulate thought, connection and conversation. There was an opening ‘meet the artists’ event at ACEarts on Saturday 26th November, 11am – 1pm.

The exhibition aims to encourage viewers to rethink their relationship to thread, be aware of its materiality, its sustainability, its possibilities, and limitations. Thread, as cloth, is woven through our lives. It surrounds us like a second skin. Yet, precisely because of these close connections, it becomes almost invisible to us.

Rooted in craft techniques, work made with thread has historically been seen as ‘women’s work’, private, functional, decorative, and safe. Cloth itself is still considered a gendered material and there’s a gender divide between ‘high’ art and feminised craft. Thread is still barely visible as a medium in contemporary fine art.

The artists who took part were: Helen MacRitchie, Jane Colquhoun, Joy Merron, Linda Row, Lou Baker, Lydia Needle, Nina Gronw-Lewis, and Oliver Bliss.

Read more about our exhibition at ACEarts on our blog, our thoughts behind A Visible THREAD in Making thread visible, how it started as a research residency in Spring 2022, and what we got up to during our residency on our blog.

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