Bio
Lives and works in Somerset. England
DOB 9/2/1951
Education
1997-99 Post graduate modules, Plymouth University, Exeter
1995-96 Introduction to Art Therapy, Exeter University
1969-73 Byam Shaw School of Art, Diploma in Fine Art
1968-69 St Martins School of Art, Foundation
Work in Public Collections
FIT Fashion Institute of Technology New York - Hair Dress
Museum of London. Collection of 2 protest cloaks, masks and banners
Horniman Museum London - Blonde Hair Dress and Shoes
Standard Chartered Bank, Head Office, London - Dementia Darning ‘Mum With White T-shirt and Black Cardigan
Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, Somerset - Landscapes
The Priests House Museum, Wimborne, Dorset ‘Dolls Prosthetic Leg’ from The Mending Project
Atheneaum Hotel, Park Lane, London - Corset - Mosaic Torso
The Park Hotel, Hertfordshire, England - Memory Dress 1
Royal Caribbean cruise ship, 'Orion' - mosaic - ‘Birds Alighting’ August 2015
Exhibitions
2025-6. Dress Dreams and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis.
Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. View exhibition.
2025. Tewksbury Abbey. Dementia Darnings
2025. Jersey Arts Centre Chanel Islands, DementiaDarnings
2024 SILVER LINING. Hatch Collective Langport. November weekends
2024 OPEN ABOUT IDENTITY open exhibition East Quay Watchet. Winner of the Audience Favourite Prize £1,000
2024. Spike Island Bristol. Exhibition (UN)BROKEN MEMORIES. July 25-29
2024. Fashion Show VOID Hatch Collective East Quay. April 13
2024. The Stitch Festival Business Design Centre, London. March 21-24
2023. Shapeshifting, SAW, East Quay, Watchet, Studio10
2023. The Dementia Darnings, ACE Somerton, Somerset
2023. The Dementia Darnings, The Hostry, Norwich Cathedral
2023. Fashion Show, The Party At The End Of The World, East Quay, Watchet
2022. Residency, Studio10, East Quay, Watchet. Focusing on Climate, XR August
2022 Hearth Gallery, Llandough Hospital, Cardiff - The Dementia Darnings.
2022 Absurd Sewn Selfies, ACE Art, Somerton, Somerset
2021. Horniman Museum Forest Hill London. ‘Hair: The Untold Stories’.
2021. The Party At The End Of The World... performance ClimateCrisisCloak and Headdress. Music - Dead Can Dance, Host Of Seraphim
2021. Dementia Darnings, Hereford Cathedral
2019. Solo show Bridport Arts Centre, Dorset
2019. Group show. ‘Museum For Object Research. ‘Neither Use Nor Ornament’ OVADA gallery Oxford
2018. Knitting and Stitching shows in London, Harrogate and Dublin
2018. Fibre Art in The Care Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
2018. Hair:Human Stories The Library Space, Battersea, London
2017. Textile Biennale, Rijswijk Museum, The Hague, Holland
2017. b-side Festival, Portland, September
2017 Festival of Quilts, NEC, The Dementia Darnings with Through Our Hands
2017 Bridport Arts Centre for Dementia Awareness Week
2017 Solo show Ace Arts Somerton, Somerset. 'The Dementia Darnings'
2017 'Memories' Salisbury Arts Centre January/ February
2016 'Mending Revealed' Bridport Arts Centre, Dorset.
2016 'Mother Love', Sidcot Arts Centre, North Somerset
2015 'textiles reimagined,' Birmingham City University, Parkside Gallery
2015 Dementia Darnings solo show City Hall, London
2014 'Dresses and Darnings' solo show Walford Mill Craft Centre Wimborne Dorset
2013 A Journey: The Nature of Mending, touring show
2013 April - May 'Mother Love' with Ingrid Hesling at Stroud International Textiles Festival
2012 September ‘Mother Love’ Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton, Devon
2012 ‘Braided Together’ New Hall Art Collection, Cambridge
2012 BHVU Gallery, Stoke Newington, London
2011 ‘Echoes and Traces’ Musgrove Gallery, Musgrove Park Hospital, Somerset
2011 - ‘Transient Threads’, Cotley Barn, Chard, Somerset SAW
2009 Affordable Art Fair, London
2008 Art London Art Fair, Glasgow Art Fair
2006/7/8 Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, London
2007 Portal Gallery, London, Mixed Exhibition
2006 January London Art Fair, Islington
2006 ‘Self-centred’, Artsreach, Dorset
2005 January 'Intimate Space’, Cube 3 Gallery, University of Plymouth
2004-6 March 'Footsteps’ touring show, linking museums and contemporary practice.
2004 June ‘Transart Pass Art On', Brewhouse Theatre and Arts Centre, Taunton
2003 March to October Quilt Bonanza, The American Museum, Bath
2001 Commission for Mulberry Store, New Bond Street, London.
2001 May The Arches, Glasgow, Fashion Festival, Intervention 2001
2001 March to November The American Museum, Bath, ‘Inspirations’
1999 January Solo show, Phillips Gallery, Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton
Residencies, Workshops, Public Art
2022/3 Residency at East Quay, Studio10 Watchet
2012-16 The Journey, Exploring the Nature of Mending, Wimborne Dorset
2012 Sensing the Past Reminiscence Project, Art for Life, Musgrove Park Hospital
2006-13 Residency in Children’s Centres, Weston super Mare
2005/6 Bath and North East Somerset, 5x5x5 Research project, Early Years Residency
2005/6 ‘Artist on Trains, Moving On', Somerset Arts Works
2005/7 Visiting lecturer, Bath Spa University, Fashion Textiles Degree Course
2004 Public art project sponsored by Taunton Deane, mosaic shrine. Hurstone Farm.
2002 Debenhams Department store, Taunton, Somerset Arts Week. Residency
Podcasts
‘Well I Know Now...’ with Pippa Kelly No10 3 November 2020
Stitchers Stories ‘Capturing The Complexities Of Ageing Through Textiles’. 10 June 2020
YouTube Video ‘Stunning Embroidery Exhibitions (No5) The Dementia Darnings 2019 Arnold’s Attic
Publications
Narrative Textiles: Telling Your Story in Mixed Media and Stitch by Alisha Henderson BATSFORD books
Textile Portraits. People and Places in Textile Art by Anne Kelly Published by BATSFORD
Resurgence & Ecologist Issue 332. Unravelling Thoughts PL Henderson
Unravelling Women's Art. Creators, Rebels and Innovators in Textile Arts by Paula Henderson. Published by Aurora Metro Books £19.99
TEXTILE magazine... article The DementiaDarnings published online 2021
Textiel Plus. Article accompanying Textile Biennale at the Museum Rijswijk, The Hague
Article in Embroidery Magazine 'The Long Goodbye' 2015
Crafts Magazine May/June 2015 Front
Talk at SAW Symposium SCAT Taunton 2014
Talks to Embroiders Guild Bristol 2009, Bridgewater 2014 and others
Front cover ‘Textiel Plus’ Najaar 2004 Dutch textiles magazine
Featured in The Big Issue November 2004
‘Decode’, Arts and Creative Culture magazine, Issue 1, March April 2002
Catalogue, ‘Inspirations, The American Museum in Britain, Bath, North Somerset
Television Programmes
BBC 2 – Contemporary Visions – 15 min film featured on the Learning Zone, December 2003
HTV ‘In the Making’ – artists who use memories as a subject
Interviewed by Wayne Hemmingway The Big Breakfast, Channel 4, August 1st 2001
Radio Programmes
BBC Radio Somerset Interview about Hair dress and Snake Cloak