Mission Gallery, Swansea, is delighted to present this exhibition of new work by the weaver Muriel Clement between 14 November 2009 and 3 January 2010.
Many years of teaching and travelling have a place in her work: Greek islands, Gower beaches, French countryside. Gallery and studio visits the world over, some of them, like The Edinburgh Tapestry and her enduring admiration for weaver Archie Brennan, are constant themes.
She insists that tapestry is its own mistress, seeking neither to imitate painting nor produce photographic likeness. In her weaving, her passion, perhaps above all else, is colour and form. Her dye book is itself a work of art, a document of her quest for the perfect blue, red or green… floating at the gallery walls, we might see in her ‘windows’ views of our world, shared and personal journeys, and a particular interiority that is her landscape.
As Angela Maddock states in her exhibition text; “Tapestry weaving embodies time. You can’t dash off a quick sample, can’t easily try something out. If ever there was a labour of love, this is it and it teaches a different kind of art: one that grows slowly and can’t be rushed. Yet, this is the essence of its appeal – it takes time, and lots of it. Tapestries bring a different quality to space. So definitely cloth and so assuredly tied to both hand and body, they lend a haptic quality that can be lacking in other media. Warmth is reflected not just in the quality of Muriel’s materials – the jouissance of her colours – but the ‘body’ of her cloth, its ability to cushion sound, to absorb the noise of the everyday and to soften walls into flesh. Loosing herself in time and space, absorbed in colour – this is Muriel’s text, one that is rich and accomplished, a true celebration of her language”.
Curator Sally Moss will talk about Muriel Clements’ work and the exhibition at 2pm Saturday 5th December. Mission Gallery is supported by Arts Council of Wales.
For further information and images, please contact Amanda Roderick on 01792 652016
open daily 11am – 5pm admission free.
