Shop Talk / / / / / / / / / / / /

Shop Talk, 13 June – 9 August 2026

Piazza Gallery Window, Aberystwyth Art Centre

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‘Shop Talk’ is a collection of things from my studio in Cardiff: drawing, sculpture, ceramics, fabric and clothing design. This new work is in part inspired by my stay at the Cultural Centre in Sinthian, Senegal during the Joseph & Annie Albers Thread Residency I did last year. There, I saw beautiful Ankara wax printed fabric in the Tambacounda Market, wrapped around women to become clothing, draped on fences after washing or sewn into fancy garments for special occasions – seeing these rekindled my love of fabric and textiles. Recent studio work also draws on my experience of growing up in many countries: rural California, Mexico, Bolivia and Brazil, Ghana, Rome and of course, London and Wales where beautiful textiles are an intrinsic part of Welsh life. In Bolivia, which is my heritage, I saw brightly coloured weavings of the Yampara people that are worn to be visible across ravines in the mountainous region of Chuquisaca; in Guatemala, women embroider, weave and sew traditional huipiles (blouses) and cortes (skirts) and in Ghana, woven Kente cloth of the Asante adorn men and women for special occasions. All of these vibrant and inventive fabrics and textiles are part of daily life and have inspired my drawings, some that I have printed into fabric and use make garments. In the last few years, I have been making charcoal and pastel drawings of Welsh blankets too. Drawing is at the centre of most everything I do so extending it into fabric, clothing and still lives comes naturally to me. There is nothing more enriching than conversations that form connections between art, people, places and things.

With thanks to Aberystwyth Art Centre, Joseph and Annie Albers Foundation, Thread, Royal Society of Sculptors and Will Barrett Soliz

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