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. BETHAN ASH
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"Hiraeth", 2001
cotton filling & backing collage
114x101cm
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"Yellow Peril", 1998
imrpovis. cut & fused collage quilt
100x103cm
"Chasing the Dragon", 2000
imrpovis. cut & fused collage quilt
102x102cm
Bethan was born in 1949 in Neath, South Wales. In 1965 she took up a C&G Dress Design course at Swansea College of Art; from 1968 to 1970 she did a Fashion Diploma at Cardiff College of Art, which she followed, 1970-71, with a BB.S.I.Fellowship Northampton Polytechnic. She is a leading member of Fribre.Art.Wales, Quilt Art and EnableArtists.
Artist's Statement: "The work 'Hiraeth' was inspired by the love I have for my homeland, and the longing I have to get back to Wales whenever I am away from home. I designed and cut the quilt during demonstrations I was giving in Japan. I have tried to convey in this work the sheer energy, enthusiam and joy I experienced during the demonstration - making me forget for a while my homesickness.
My work, while based in the tradition of quiltmaking, has developed into a style more akin to collage. Each piece begins with a key element (a particular fabric, color, shape) around which it develops. Each additional element suggests the next, until a coherent whole is revealed. Most of my quilts' are non-representational; abstractions, spatial relationships and colour are the backbone of my work. I work improvisationally, believing that treating the fabric like paper collage allows for greater design freedom, thus making it more exciting to create. I have never approached quilt making as a quilter Iprefer to concentrate on the concept, colour and design of a piece rather than the traditional techniques of assemblage. "
Awards: 1994 Craft & Design Award at the National Eisteddfod of Wales Neath; 1997 runner-up South Bank Banner Design Competition; 1st prize European Quilt Championship in Veldhoven/Netherlands; 2001 Inscape Bank, UK - artist profile
Commissions: 1995 Whitbread Brewery, Wales, Series of five quilts. Patchwork figure no9 for S.D.C. catalogue, Mall Exhibition; 1996-7 Butetown Community Quilt, Butetown History and Art Centre, Cardiff; 2000 Owain Glyndwr Centenary Quilt, Royal National Eisteddfod Community project Llanelli; Riverside Banner; Interactive community project, Cardiff; 2001 Hide and Seek quilt - Theatrical production, Chapter Theartre, Cardiff; 2002 Yellow Peril image - Soc. Designer Craftsmen new publicity leaflet.
Public Collections: Braintree Museum & Art Gallery Essex; Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery Maidstone.
International Links:
activities abroad=1991 Displayed and hung MGW exhibition - 'Wales in Europe Through its Crafts', Brussels; 2002 Craft demonstration - Wales Fair, Hankyu Dept. Store, Osaka/Japan.
collections abroad=The American Craft Museum New York/USA;
exhibitions abroad=1991 Wales In Europe Through Its Crafts, Makers Guild in Wales exhibition, Brussels; 1992 Fibre meets Fiber, San Diego, U.S.A.; 1993 Quilts Europa, Leuven, Brussels; 1997 European Art Quilt1 in Tilsburg/Denmark; International Quilt Week in Yokohama/Japan; 1997 European Art Quilt, Tilsberg, Netherlands & Denmark; European Patchwork Championships, Netherlands; International Quilt Exhibition, Yokohama, Japan; 1998 Mail Art, Barcelona, Spain & Lodtz, Poland; 2000 Oceanside Museum of Art in California/USA; 2001 GB Fair in Osaka/ Japan; Europe At The Millennium, Strasbourg, France; Atmosphere, Oceanside Museum of Art, California, USA; 2001 European Art Quilt 2, Breda, The Netherlands and Textilforum Denmark. (selected); Moving On - Quilt Art, European Touring exhibition, UK, Germany, France + Denmark (group); 2001-3 European Art Quilt2 in Breda/Denmark; 2003-5 Quilt National '03 in The Dairy Barn Ohio/USA; Quilts from 6 Continents A.C.M. New York/USA 2003; Quilts from Six Continents, A.M.A.D, New York, USA, Australia and Japan. (selected) European Art Quilt 2, The Textile Museum, Helmbrechts, Germany (selected) QUILT NATIONAL '03, The Dairy Barn, Ohio, USA. + Canada, Australia and Japan. (selected) 2002 Quilts from Six Continents, ACM touring exhibition, USA, Japan and Australia. (selected)
