Mixing Medias and Exhibiting

Barbara Burns

Welsh artist Ros Hornbuckle has been weaving for over 20 years. She has much experience with sales and commission work having supplied shops and galleries in London, Stratford upon Avon, and Llangollen among other places. Presently, Ros is regularly exhibiting  in galleries around Shropshire, where she lives, on the border with Wales, and in Wales itself. She also takes part in an annual Open Studios event in Oswestry. In this article, Ros shares with us how she has found success exhibiting, independently and with other medias as well as the hanging system she has come up with.

Llanddwyn Heart Rock 122cm x 104cm

In the first part of my tapestry weaving life, in the 1970s and 80s, selling was easy. There were quite a few places to hang work: shops, galleries and craft centres. I had a studio in a craft centre for some years, where I was very visible. My work then was much simpler, more decorative, cost less, and I wove rugs as well. No internet either!

After a long period of weaving abstinence due to children and a full time job, the lure of the loom brought me back. My weaving now became more complex and I committed myself to creating the yarn entirely from local fleece. Not only is this more sustainable, but it enables me to experiment with colour and texture mixing during carding and spinning. The result is very different in appearance to weaving with mass produced yarn, and is far more expressive for me.

Rockface 4 80cm x 101cm

My experience of selling is very different now. There seem to be far more people creating art and the demand for wall space is great, while there are fewer places willing to take a risk with a medium that is unfamiliar such as tapestry, in the UK that is. I sense that some galleries don’t like mixing textiles with paintings and prints, and I agree that it can be difficult to display them together.  I tried to solve this problem by forming a group with two painters, whose work is sympathetic to mine, called Earthscape. This succeeded in creating attractive exhibitions, but it required a lot of organisation and a large gallery. I think though, that this is a fruitful experiment to try if you can find the right artists, since your work looks better next to art that has some connection to yours.

Earthscape with paintings

Although I do take part in mixed art exhibitions, where I only display one or two pieces, I don’t think it’s very favourable to tapestry. Most people here have no knowledge of tapestry weaving or of what the process is. Because of this unfamiliarity I think it takes a substantial amount of work on display to begin that understanding, and interest in the viewer, and to induce them to consider buying one. The impact of colour and texture of a wall of tapestries is considerable- seeing a large exhibition is what drew me to it in the first place. That great blast of brilliant colour! So I have in the past few years tried to get a more substantial amount of my work on display in one place. But it is not easy. Many small galleries don’t have the space and the larger ones have their own agenda, which

Gateway Exhibition

doesn’t seem to include my kind of art. Private galleries with good mailing lists often only want paintings and prints, and nothing too big. Even big craft galleries want to stick to very well known artists or makers from their immediate vicinity. When I have had a reasonable amount of work exhibited I have sold, either during or afterwards. I do think that some people need time to let their desire to possess the tapestry grow. It can take years sometimes! Or to feel that they can afford it.

I am now producing work for a very big  exhibition next year, in a gallery that is situated in an area that has provided me with much of my inspiration, in Wales. I need around 40 tapestries of varying size, and have almost finished weaving them! It is a debatable privilege though as it has meant I’ve had to weave more small work than I want to. Usually I sell more large tapestries, so it will be interesting to see the outcome. It feels like a big responsibility to make enough items of the right size for the space, which is a very very long corridor next to a big exhibition area.

Wem Exhibition

When you are trying to hang work in a variety of very different spaces, the hanging system can be a challenge. I know that Velcro and a batten is preferable, but many places here can’t have their walls drilled. My compromise is to sew a fabric sleeve top and bottom. On the bottom I sew the title and my signature and I put a batten inside the top, to which I can fix d-rings and mirror plates if needed.

Hanging system

I have a website and Facebook Page, but I haven’t found them very useful for sales, except for a few occasions. I know that I buy art only when I experience it in reality, but I think the websites are useful for potential buyers to get an idea of all your work and to remind them of the images they saw in an exhibition.

It will be a relief to finish weaving for my future show, so I can return to my favourite subject, which is Rock Faces. And in any size I fancy! I already have created quite a number and have in mind some future gallery applications when I have a few more to present.

Ros Hornbuckle with Bedrock 152 x 106 cm

Most of the works of Ros Hornbuckle involve “Landscape,” exploring its textures and colours in an emotional context.  She has two series “Rocks” and “Water.” The coastal landscape of Wales, with mountains, rocks, sea, birds, and the ever changing weather and light form the focus of much of her work. Occasionally Ros is inspired by stories or photographs of “People”