Painting and textiles meet in this exhibition, with paintings based on found images of sewing, embroidery and printed fabrics. Touches of Silence brings the historical art of sewing, and the stories of the people who made the original textiles, into the present day.
Painting and textiles meet in this exhibition, with paintings based on found images of sewing, embroidery and printed fabrics. Touches of Silence, a solo exhibition by Frances Jill Studd, tells both historical and personal stories. Works like Tui and Camellia are based on Indian Chintz—a cotton textile featuring woodblock-printed, painted, stained or glazed designs that emerged from India in the 16th century. While Rauparaha’s Copper references Art Deco and was painted while Studd lived above the Art Deco Museum in Ranfurly.
The art of stitchery has been handed down through generations of Studd’s family: her grandmother taught Studd to sew and knit at a young age. Studd continued on to study textile design at Ilam School of Fine Arts. It was only later, while raising her children and working at the Sarjeant Gallery, that she began to paint. Studd has exhibited widely, with almost every exhbition including a painting, photograph or drawing of a garment or piece of fabric.
