I have always loved textiles. A career in arts publishing and exhibitions has given me a rich image bank of colours, shapes and textures in my head, feeding into my woven work.
I see what I do as a form of painting or sketching, with individual threads as lines. The shaft looms I use provide a tensioned ‘canvas’ in the warp necessary to construct a cloth by running the weft threads across at an angle. I work intuitively, taking great liberties with conventional drafts and using a plethora of materials. Weaving very loosely I allow yarns to breathe, thus softening or dissolving traditional angularity of warp and weft intersections and showcasing natural movement, fluidity and expression which are all key to my work. I delight in the different qualities of my materials as well as in colour, trying to weave pieces of art that feel like imaginings made visible and alive.
I call my finished works ‘weavescapes’. They come mounted on acid-free board, in handmade glazed box frames made of oak or ash.
Gentle Whispers
40cm square, silk, bamboo & nylon
£400
Instagram: @juliaengelhardtweave