Flax, Fibres & Plant Dyes: Kent Cloth textile works
Flanders flax fields to the Garden of England: Francesca Baur’s Botanical Journey
This Autumn textile artist Francesca Baur brings her unique natural hand-printed textiles to Rochester Art Gallery as the culmination of a year-long project supported by Arts Council England.
Colourful seasonal quilts and wall hangings each exploring the landscape of four of the County’s most beautiful locations, have been created by Francesca for the Kent Cloth project using an entirely natural slow approach.
Whitstable-based Francesca’s trademark, eco-friendly local textiles, employ traditional skills, from growing the flax for linen to seasonal foraging and making natural plant dyes.
Francesca, who works at Rochester Independent College, has been inspired by a botanical journey from the flax fields of Belgium to the Pines Calyx at the White Cliffs of Dover, the marshes along the Swale estuary at Elmley on Sheppey and Kent’s Garden of England with its hop vines, hedgerows and fruit trees at Brogdale and the historic floral gardens of Doddington Place.
Francesca successfully grew flax around different locations in Kent, including the public Visitor Centre garden at the gallery and the Pines Calyx. Visitors can see the flax yarn, spun from Kentish Flax on show as part of the exhibition. She also grew dye plants at the gallery and the Pines Calyx including Hopi sunflowers, weld, woad and madder in the garden which can be seen in the textile work and will be used for workshops. A film by Kimi Gill showcases the KentCLOTH story in the exhibition.
The exhibition is supported by Arts Council England and Medway Council Arts Development and continues until 4 January, open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, admission is free.