Julia Griffith-Jones
My work is concerned with the translation of linear drawings from a variety of sources into a wire and metal form. I work with mild steel wire, using different gauges which I weld and paint. My recent work, a collection of wire garments is touring the U.K. in an exhibition entitled ‘Stories in the Making’. Each garment is inspired by either a poem or my favourite piece of writing but which also has a reference to textiles either in its surface structure, or pattern.
From October 2006 I will be researching new work using the national collections at The National Wool Museum .The research will be documented on the National Museum of Wales website and will culminate in a major body of work which will be seen at the National Wool Museum and elsewhere.
Born 1954, Bangor
Education
1978 MA Printed Textiles R.C.A
1976 BA Printed Textiles Winchester School of Art
Awards
2008 Arts Council of Wales Production Grant
2003 Creative Wales Award – Arts Council of Wales
1996 Arts Council of Wales Award for research in Slovakia.
1982 British Council Scholarship for research in Hungary.
Recent Exhibitions
2005 Stories in the Making- organised by Ruthin Craft Centre and touring exhibition
2000 Unwinding the Thread – Bankfield Museum, Halifax
1999 Focus showcase – Contemporary Applied Arts
Embroideries in the Air – Povazske Museum, Slovakia
Embroideries in the Air – Slovak National Museum
1998 Unwinding the Thread – Ruthin Craft Centre
1997 Unwinding the Thread – Glynn Vivian Art Gallery
1987 Folk Art of three lands revisited – tour
1981 Czech Chic – South Hill Park Arts Centre
1980 Five Months – Spectro Gallery,Newcastle- upon -Tyne
Commissions
2009 Commissioned to design ceramic and textile
Products for The National Museum of Wales
2008 Commissioned to create a Textile Trail for
The National Wool Museum
2004 NHS Grampian, for Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital, (Awarded Saltire Art in Architecture prize)
2000 National Eisteddfod – prize for Welsh Business Person of the year.
Public Collections
2000 Bankfield Museum, Halifax
1999 Povazske Museum, Slovakia
1978 Victoria and Albert Museum
Publications
2008 Fiber Arts, Textiles inspired by tradition
2006 Crafts, issue March/April, review of exhibition.
2006 Textile Plus, review in Dutch Textile magazine
2006 Embroidery, Metal Guru interview
2003 View on Colour, issue 23, Visible skills of daily living
2002 Crafts, issue March/April, Domestic Science
1998 Embroidery, Unwinding the Thread