THREADS – BREATHING STORIES INTO MATERIALS

Post # 9

Alice Kettle

   figure 1: Alice Kettle Tapestry

"Alice Kettle is a renowned contemporary textile and fiber artist based in the United Kingdom. Born in 1961, she has established herself as a pioneer in her field, renowned for her innovative approach to materials and techniques. Her work often interweaves personal narratives, mythology, and social commentary, creating visually compelling and thought-provoking pieces."

figure 2: Alice Kettle Tapestry

Threads include weaving and spinning, rug-making, stitching and embroidery, print, knitting, threading, mending, and found materials, as well as materials and techniques that have been passed down, reused, and reinvented.

Threads flow across Arnolfini's three levels, co-curated by prominent textile artist Alice Kettle, to demonstrate how textiles remember**, memory is 'rooted within the process of making'***, and new narratives are produced.

Figure 3: Alice Kettle Tapestry

Artists investigate narratives of movement and exchange, environmental issues, sustainability, labor, transactions, migration, post-colonial narratives, identity, gender, politics, community building, and place creation, all while reflecting on our history in a modern context.

Each artist connects with the topic of how we remember via these actions of production, pushing us to examine where, how, and with what the piece was made. As fresh tales connect, threads are unraveled, and spectators are urged to participate with their memories via material and creation.

 Figure 4: Alice Kettle Tapestry

Kettle's work focuses on the examination of fabrics and fibers, using a variety of materials such as cotton, wool, silk, and recycled textiles. She manipulates these materials with deftness, shaping them into complicated and expressive patterns. Her method is contemplative and thorough, frequently comprising hours of hand stitching, weaving, and knotting.

Contributions to the Art World

Alice Kettle's contributions to the art world are significant and varied. She has questioned conventional concepts of textile art, pushing the medium's limitations and displaying its diversity and creative possibilities. Generations of artists have been inspired by her work, which encourages them to investigate the transformational potential of materials and the vast depths of human experience. Her legacy is found not only in her particular works, but also in the significant influence she has had on the area of textile art and the larger creative.