Our November meeting was a return engagement for Harriet Lawton. It is a few years since Harriet first came to speak to us, we were her first "proper" engagement and it was great to see how much further she has travelled in her textile journey since then.
In 2014 when she last came to see us, Harriet had just taken on the tenancy of a studio at The Artworks in Halifax, and started teaching there straight away. She had also successfully gained a placement in Madrid in the "Art Across Borders" scheme where she was working within the education system but also had time to pursue her own interests. Carrying out collage and stitch with a textile art group and schools groups in Madrid gave her a collection of work designed by Spanish students. On Harriet's return to the UK, she gained a commission for an Art Installation at Wakefield 1, which was based on items from Wakefield Museum. Harriet picked things from the museum that were damaged (you may remember her interest in Kintsugi, the Japanese art of restoring broken items and making them more beautiful by the inclusion of gold in their repair)
Harriet designed a collection of printed fabrics based on those objects, to hang behind them.
She also used water jets to cut sections from plates and other 3D objects.
As well as running her own workshops in drawing, painting, screen printing, sculpture and textile work, Harriet also runs workshops at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, The Hepworth Gallery, and for Manchester City Art Galleries.
She has been the artist in residence at the Great Northern Craft Fair, where she designed a series of screen prints based on drawings made by visitors of the objects on display, and has subsequently produced scarves, household linens, and commission pieces such as plates for weddings.
In 2016 Harriet was commissioned by Gawthorpe Hall to do a piece of work and run workshops involving both the Hall and the nearby town of Padiham. For this, she took inspiration from the labels written at the hall by Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth, the founder of the collection, using them as the starting point for different kinds of labels and prints.
Harriet continued with her work in laser-cutting plates which she found in local charity shops.
She has now been commissioned to continue her work in Padiham town centre on a larger scale - this is still ongoing.
We can't wait for Harriet's next visit to find out where her artistic journey is taking her - when she was at school, she was a student of our Programme Secretary, Margaret, so we are claiming her as our own!
