Mary Farmer: A Life in Tapestry is now open in our first floor gallery at the Crafts Study Centre until 7 September 2024. The Crafts Study Centre would like to thank all those involved in the exhibition, namely the Estate of Mary Farmer and Amanda Game, the estate’s representative, as well as Jennifer Hallam and Jill Hedley for their role in bringing Farmer’s archive and this exhibition to the CSC.

The CSC is honoured to bring together a range of Farmer’s bold tapestries in one space, as well as selections from the archive which is now safely housed in the Centre. The full range of Farmer’s work is represented from her small 29cm square tapestries and the slightly larger Blue Heaven (above) to the monumental Soft Flight (also above) and Good Omen (below). To have such a diversity of Farmer’s work in one room is rare. In fact, with the exception of one solo show in South Hill Park, Bracknell in 1979, Farmer was not honoured with a retrospective during her lifetime. This is despite the incredibly sophisticated techniques she deployed and the exceptional clarity of her vision.

Book on to Director lunchtime tours in the next couple of weeks to find out more about Farmer’s work, the major exhibitions she was involved in and the contexts of the time in which she was at the forefront of radical textile art. (Link to tour on 24 May here; link to tour on 30 May here).