Opening Night : Fri 1st November | 5pm – 8pm | South Square
Running : 1st Nov – 20th Dec 2024

Stitching Connections

Claire Wellesley-Smith is an artist, researcher and curator based in Bradford. The
ability of textile to transform and connect over time inform her studio, community,
and research practices.

Stitching Connections shows textile work from her studio and community-based
practice over the last 15 years. Projects with Bradford based organisations exploring
the heritage of textile dyes and recycling, creative health and the isolation of
lockdown, speak to a commitment to engaging with subject, communities, and
processes over many years. The pieced and stitched work from collaborative
projects demonstrate the universal language of textiles and commonalities of
experience. Claire’s reflective, durational stitch work is informed by listening to and
being part of conversations through making around the tabletops of Bradford’s many
community spaces of care.

‘In work after work, stitch after stitch, Claire has made her practice – and textiles –
accountable. ‘Fieldwork’ is the term used. Whatever is written in her book, whether is
stitched or dyed, has been lived out: carried around in her community scrap bag; left
in the backyard to be weathered by the elements before being invested with the care
of repair; grown on her allotment, found on an urban walk or experienced in the daily
act of spending time with needle, thread and cloth.’ June Hill