Aimee tops Textile Society awards
Thu, 13 Jun 2013 10:52:00 BST
Talented designer takes the Holland and Sherry Award at the national Bradford Textile Society prizes
IT was the first time that talented design student Aimee Larson (pictured) had used a loom. But she created an artwork which landed her a prize in one of the textile world’s longest-established and most respected awards schemes.
Aimee, aged 19, is in the first year of her degree course in textiles with surface design at the University of Huddersfield. Now her woven piece – approximately a foot square (pictured below) – made from an experimental variety of yarns and fabrics, takes first prize in the Holland and Sherry Award.
Sponsored by a company established in 1836 and one of the world’s most respected suppliers of luxury woollen cloth, the award is aimed at first-year students and is one of the categories in the annual prize scheme that has been run since 1923 by the Bradford Textile Society.
Success earns Aimee a prize of £250 and bolsters her ambition to create artwork using textiles. It was a visit to the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield and one painting in particular that inspired her award-winning creation.
She and her fellow first-year students, accompanied by tutor Nicola Perren, were taken on a visit to the gallery and Aimee was drawn to a 1958 painting entitled Newlyn, Cornwall, by the artist Paul Feiler.
“After that first visit I went a few more times to the Hepworth because I was really interested in the piece,” said Aimee, who is from North Wales. “I really like the colours and the textures within the piece. There is a vertical linear pattern within it that struck me as similar to a weave.”
Having responded to the painting by Paul Feiler, she drew her own design and worked out how it could be woven on a table loom at the University. It was her first time as a weaver, but the process came naturally, said Aimee.
Delighted by her success in the Bradford Textile Society prize scheme, she says that her goal is to use textiles to create artworks and installations rather than fabrics for clothing.
“I have known since I was quite young that I wanted to work with textiles. I just always liked to draw and sew,” said Aimee.
Other Huddersfield winners
She is one of four University of Huddersfield students who have been successful in the 2013 Bradford Textile Society contest, which is entered by colleges and universities throughout the country. Tamsyn Ainsworth and Naomi Scrafton, also first-year students, received commendations in the Holland and Sherry Award – Naomi received two – and Rose Street-Simmons – in the final year of her Surface Design course – was commended in the Bradford College Textile Archive Award.
Course Leader Nicola Redmore said: “Our students have yet again done us proud! We only entered seven students to the Bradford competition this year, so to have won a first prize in one section and to have received four commendations is a very good performance.”
The winning entries in the contest were exhibited at Salt’s Mill, in Saltaire, near Bradford, which was also the venue for the awards ceremony.
