'Closely Held Secrets'


This exhibition is an artistic collaboration between visual artists and a skilled digital embroidery technician who will translate and transform a series of original artworks into a collection of digitally embroidered artefacts. The project explores the 'secret' relationship between the maker and technician, revealing the nature of the hidden exchange or dialogue between the originator of an idea and the agent of interpretation.

Closely Held Secrets is a partnership between Nottingham Trent University's Bonington Gallery, Tony Taylor, a skilled embroidery digitiser who has been working with Grayson Perry for the last 13 years, and nine visual artists: Craig Fisher, Charlotte Hodes, Geoff Diego Litherland, Danica Maier, Simon Beck Mather, Grayson Perry, Derek Sprawson, Katherine Townsend and Stella Whalley. The artists' disciplines include ceramics, installation art painting, digital printing, fashion and textile art; they have been selected for their strong and varied visual practice, along with a willingness to be involved in an experimental project.

This project challenges the myth that technology transposes the artists' ideas, rather than the skilled technician acting as the creative conduit between artist and digital technology. It will reveal how the understanding between artist/designer and technician can lead to new ways of working, challenging the parameters of new technology. Additionally, it will demonstrate how the understanding between technician and artist can lead to new ways of working and outcomes that push the boundaries of digital embroidery. Closely Held Secrets pushes the boundaries and applications for digital embroidery and will open up new possibilities for the medium in the future.

The exhibition at the Bonington Gallery, Nottingham Trent University coincided with the British Art Show 7


'They are taking it to the pope' 92cm x 62cm


'Cook Rice , I won't' 92cm x 62cm