Frances Crowe
Tapestry maker
Roscommon, Ireland
Weaving herself into the work
- Frances hand weaves using the Goblin method
- She meticulously plans each piece
- Her work is socially and politically engaged
A skilled craftsperson with over 35 years’ experience, Frances Crowe is one of only a handful of tapestry weavers in Ireland. Her compositions tell complex stories. She wants her pieces to encourage empathy and dialogue around contemporary themes, be it climate change or separation due to emigration. She creates personal landscapes which represent global events. Her works are characterised by their unusual finishes often leaving her pieces raw to reflect the rawness of the subject matter. Environmentally conscious, Frances uses eco-friendly threads, sourced locally and often hand dyed. She feels the splendid isolation of being at one with her craft simulates personal growth as her tapestries physically grow at her fingertips.
Discover her work
INTERVIEW
The first woven tapestry I created was a large sculptural rope construction. It was a very physically demanding piece both to make and to display. It was shown in the Project Gallery, Dublin and caused quite a stir.
My inspiration comes from the need to express a feeling, communicate a sense of outrage or to tell a story. I see or read about atrocities in the news and I think about how these affect individuals, be it displacement, separation, climate change or Covid-19.
I start by researching, walking, thinking, drawing, painting and planning. I then enlarge the design to the correct size and scale. The next job is warping up the loom. The cartoon is hung on the back as a guide and marked onto white cotton warp as the weaving begins to grow.
When I was selected to showcase my tapestries for the first time in the 10th International Fibre Art Biennale, called "From Lausanne to Beijing" which was held in Shenzhen China in 2016 – that was very exciting. I travelled there and met many like-minded artists from around the globe.
