Communicating through thread
- Margaret perpetuates an age-old tradition
- She deals with contemporary subjects
- Her work experiments with scale
Margaret Jones is a well recognised tapestry weaver who received a QEST scholarship, as well as winning the Cordis Showcase Prize. Her work deals with personal narratives that reflect universal themes, such as dealing with illness. Discussing the limitations of traditionally sized tapestries, Margaret explains how she started Heallreaf, an annual exhibition accepting pieces as large as 2m2, as a way to create opportunities for her craft. Conversely, she also creates work of a more domestic scale, since she questions “who has the money to buy these big mural tapestries? Who has walls big enough to exhibit them?” Balancing tradition with contemporary living is a theme throughout her work.
Interview
- Where did you train?
- I started doing short courses but quickly moved into full-time education, completing my Master of Fine Art at West Dean College of Art and Conservation. My tutor on many of the short courses and the full-time course was Philip Sanderson, a master weaver.
- Do you remember the moment you first worked with a loom?
- Yes, I remember it vividly, it was 10 December 2010 when I sat down at my first short course. I immediately and instinctively knew tapestry weaving was for me. I continued studying weaving full-time and haven't looked back since.
- What's special about the material you work with?
- Wool is an amazing material. It can be harsh and scratchy, or soft and gentle on the skin. It can be incredibly strong, or break easily depending upon how it is spun. You can even weave with just the fleece, it does not need to be spun.
- What surprises people about your work?
- The way I weave is identical to the way medieval tapestries were woven. Weft-faced tapestry cannot be replicated by machine. Behind my craft there are centuries of tradition; weft-faced weavings have been found in Egypt dating back to the 5th century.
Margaret Jones is a master artisan: she began her career in 2015 and she started teaching in 2014
Where
Margaret Jones
