ALYSN MIDGELOW-MARSDEN
Alysn is an Auckland based artist with a northern European heritage.
Her practice delivers an invitation to create pleasurably intimate connections to personal experiences, through subconscious, visceral and emotive interactions. Marked visually by a complex, lyrical fluidity the sculptural works articulate connections, responses, fragility and strength.
Alysn is driven by curiosity about the human psyche, about science and about the social stereotypes of textiles and stitch.
A scientific background, a continuing interest in the natural environment is often combined with a fascination about the traditions of widely differing cultures, times and connections with shared human existence.
Many works are composed of evocative forms and figures incorporated into surfaces articulated with complex, undulating, knotted and interwoven designs.
Themes emerge slowly through gentle yet obsessive mazes, exploiting the boundaries of the surfaces and creating subtle combinations.
There is a contemplative narrative formed through the patterns and figures in the works, along with the working of a mostly unconscious human ancestral memory swaying in the tides of unseen forces.
Recent awards for selected exhibitions include:
Mandurah Wearable Art (Australia) for ‘What Lies Beneath’;
‘Wall Brooches II’, (Australia) for ‘Taniwha’;
‘Changing Threads’ Nelson Arts ‘Bernina Award’ for ‘The Space Between VII’.
Find out more about Alysn's teaching and writing at takingtextilesfurther .
REVIEWS
Hilary Bower, textile artist, says:
‘Alysn has a lively and exploratory approach to her art which enables her work to evolve and grow all the time.
This approach has also given her a depth of understanding and a high level of skill in the use and application of materials such as metals with machine stitchery’.
BRIEF BIO
I am an experienced freelance artist in fine art textiles, an author, tutor and gallery director. I was awarded a 2(I) Joint Honours Degree in Marine Biology and Biochemistry from Bangor University (Wales) and a Ph.D. in Biochemical Systematics from Loughborough University (UK). In addition I have professional qualifications in Textiles and Embroidery, Professional Arts Practice and E-commerce. I owned and directed the Beetroot Tree Gallery (UK) until moving to New Zealand in 2012. Until recently I was also the Creative Industries Education Coordinator and curator at the Geoff Wilson Gallery, Whangarei. I now concentrate 100% of my time creating, writing and teaching (at least when I'm not sleeping or walking the dogs and such like).
Recent and Current Work:
1995 – present
Work at Galleries, Art Festivals and Shows in U.K. , N.Z. and Australia, including both solo and group exhibitions.
1995 – present
Speaker, tutor, mentor, writer.
1994 – present
Working to commissions for individual clients. Includes wedding and special occasion clothing, commemorative panels, corporate environments, books etc.
1999 -present
Exhibition curator.
2016-2017
Creative Industry and Education Coordinator at the Geoff Wilson Gallery, NZ. Curation and direction of the gallery and interface with the Visual Arts programmes at Northtec College.
2003 – 2013
Founding member and director of ‘stARTle’ participatory arts organization.
1999 – 2013
Development, direction and management of The Beetroot Tree Gallery for Contemporary Arts, UK.
Recent Major Exhibitions:
2023
'being there, being now' (Art By the Sea Gallery. Takapuna, NZ)
'rust and stardust' (Timeless Textiles Gallery. Newcastle, NSW, Australia)
'rust and stardust' (Easel Gallery, Auckland, NZ)
2022
'Changing Threads' (Nelson, NZ)
'Auckland Climate Festival' (Auckland, NZ)
2021
'Ain’t The Archies' (Timeless Textiles, Australia)
'Little and Local' (Snells Beach, NZ)
'Changing Threads' (Nelson, NZ)
2019
'Fabricated Narratives' (Matakana, NZ)
'Changing Threads' (Nelson, NZ)
2018
'Fabricated Narratives' (London, Dublin, Harrogate, UK)
'Changing Threads' (Nelson NZ)
2017
‘Stains and Discards’ (The Festival of Quilts, UK.)
2016
‘Permutations’ (London, Dublin, Harrogate, UK)
‘In Dialogue’ (China)
2015
‘Art Textiles of Aotearoa’ (London, Dublin, Harrogate, UK)
2014
‘Negative Spaces’ (UK and NZ)
‘Absence and Presence’ (UK and NZ)
'Changing Threads' (Nelson, NZ)
2010/2011
‘Restriction and Release’ (UK)
‘Lines in the Land’ (UK)
2006/2007
‘The Continuous Thread of Revelation’ (UK)
Major Commissions:
Private Client. ‘Chequered Hands’ Metal Cloth Panel in four sections
Private Client. ‘These roads we travel together’. Metal and Metal Cloth Hanging Pair
Private Clients (various). Wedding Clothes. Silk, embroidery, beads and sequins
Private Client. 'The Crown Jewels Gone Mad
Dance Theatre Commissions:
‘Corporeal eye’ Multi-media installation performance. Festo Engineering and University College, Northampton, U.K.
‘Awaking Aurora’ Sets, costumes and exhibition for Foreign Bodies Dance Theatre Company, U.K.
Publications:
Books
'Fabricated Narratives' Exhibition Catalogue
'WOW Book 3. Ed. Maggie Grey. Chapter.
‘Art Textiles from Aotearoa’. Exhibition Catalogue
‘Fibre, Stitch, Metal and Mixed Media’
‘this Lustr’ed cloth’ - a fibre artists workbook of metals
‘The Continuous Thread of Revelation’
‘Between the sheets with Angelina – a workbook for fusible fibres’
Articles
Project and information articles in ‘Embellish', 'Sewing World’, ‘Stitch’, ‘Paper, Cloth, Scissors’, ‘Workbox’, ‘Workshop on the Web’, ‘Classic Stitches’, ‘The Computer Textile Design Group’
Craftsman Magazine ‘Diary of a craftsman’ 12 monthly 2,000-word articles
Awards:
2019
Finalist 'Mandurah Wearable Arts', Australia
2018
Winner 'Brooches #2' Timeless Textiles Gallery, Newcastle, Australia
2014
Winner Bernina Award for the most innovative use of a sewing machine, Changing Threads, NZ
1999
Winner National Embroidery Championship for Wearable Art, Second Place National Embroidery Championship, UK
1998
Winner National Embroidery Championship for Wearable Art, UK