A Visible THREAD

The A Visible THREAD tour was a series of four Arts Council-funded textile art exhibitions which took place from May 2023 – August 2024. In addition, there was a pilot exhibition at ACEarts in Somerton (Nov-Dec 2022) and an extra exhibition at Wirth Gallery, Sherborne Girls’ School (January 2024)!

This exciting touring exhibition brought together new work by artists, designers and researchers from seam collective who are exploring the possibilities of thread. Each artist used their unique perspective and textile discipline to follow a different thread, wherever it led them. The exhibition aimed to encourage viewers to rethink their relationship to thread, be aware of its materiality, its sustainability, its possibilities and limitations, take part and play.

seam are delighted to observe that after being almost invisible as a medium in fine art, over the last couple of years, thread seems to be becoming more and more visible, with major textiles exhibitions being presented in prestigious galleries around the world. For more on this, see Lou Baker’s blog on our website, Sculpture’s gone soft!

A Visible THREAD was a dynamic, changing exhibition. As the tour progressed some of the seam artists used the opportunity to research and develop more new work which meant that each exhibition was different. Some made irresistible, interactive works, which were made to be touched; some facilitated participatory installations. We also collaborated with The Loom Shed to trial a series of online ‘in conversation’ sessions.

In March 2022, seam was selected for The Holburne Open, a month-long research residency at the University of Bath, awarded by the Holburne Museum. We used the time, space and opportunities afforded to research ideas for our proposed exhibition tour, A Visible THREAD, working alongside one another, collaborating, connecting with the public and experimenting with ways to make thread more visible in the world of fine art. After the residency, we continued our research and, with support from Arts Council England, seam collective were thrilled to present, A Visible THREAD, an exhibition tour of new works.

A Visible THREAD research residency and pilot exhibition:

  • Research residency as part of The Holburne Open, Bath, 25 March – 23 April 2022 including Baker & Bliss’ inaugural audience participation project, permission to play
  • Pilot exhibition at ACEarts, Somerton, from 26 November – 24 December 2022

Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, we then toured to five venues in the South West of England and South Wales:

For a brief overview of the tour, read A Visible THREAD: A Heartfelt Thank You to Our Wonderful Hosts, read our reviews and check out our statistics and achievements.

Read more about our thoughts behind A Visible THREAD in Making thread visible, how we collaborated to make fabric artist books, the seam artists’ evaluation of the project, and our work, the exhibitions and research residency on our blog.

Discover in-depth details about some of the new work made by seam members for A Visible THREAD in the following blog posts on our website:
Alice-Marie Archer: Stitching Futures: Living Textiles, Ritual Vessels & My Journey
Lou Baker: Busting someone else’s stash and Stash busting and shapeshifting
Oly Bliss: Threaded Dreams – Crafting Citadel from AI inspirations
Youngye Glory Cho: Finding Myself at A Visible THREAD
Jane Colquhoun: Cut from the same cloth
Nina Gronw-Lewis: Cloth, clay and sustainability
Julie Heaton: How The Royal College of Art changed my practice
Desiree Jeans: ‘TTC’; a response to grief that explores the parallels of trying to conceive and trying to craft, and the secrecy of both in the early stages of pregnancy
Helen MacRitchie: Walnuts and the brain
Joy Merron: A Trio of Vessels
Angie Parker: Something I never expected to see on my loom
Lydia Needle: The art of saying ‘NO!’ and working towards a sustainable art practice
Nicola Turner: Material Connections