International craft fair at Painswick (From Stroud News and Journal)

International craft fair at Painswick

THE Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen returned to the Painswick Centre for their Summer Exhibition last week and will be displaying until the end of August.

The Summer Exhibition and Fair features the work of individual designer makers plus special guest exhibitor, the internationally recognised weaver Tim Parry-Williams, who lives in Stroud.

Tim, a senior lecturer in Woven Textiles at Bath Spa University College, is a quarter of the 'maka Textile Collaboration', an international group of hand weavers sharing traditional craft-philosophies and contemporary aesthetics, from individual studio bases in Britain, Italy, Japan, and Indonesia.

As well as the work of 30 established guild members, this year two new textile artists are exhibiting for the first time, Sarah Cant and Jenny Ford.

Sarah Cant, an American milliner based in Gloucestershire, makes crazy one-off hats from the most amazing materials, from more usual materials such as lots of feathers, straw and felt to less likely ones, including paper, leather and wood.

Notable clients include Helena Bonham Carter and Christina Aguilera.

Jenny Ford is a 3D textile artist who creates vibrant, coloured sculptural pieces up to a metre long.

Reminiscent of sea urchins, brightly coloured coral or creatures from another planet, her textile sculptures are constructed from materials such as velvet, silk and fine latex.

These are layered, stitched and sculpted into organic forms - rich in colour and sensual in texture.

Also premiered at the exhibition this year is the hour-long documentary film Made for You in which six designer maker members of the guild talk about their work.

The exhibition runs until August 29 and is open daily between 10am and 6pm at The Painswick Centre, Bisley Street, Painswick. Entry is £1.50.