Ann
Sutton
News
‘I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it’ - Picasso
- Awarded Worshipful Company of Weavers Silver Medal 2026 for outstanding contribution to the textile industry
- Honoured in 2022 by Queen Elizabeth II New Year’s Honours List with the award of the OBE for Ann’s Services to the Arts
- Solo exhibition Ann Sutton On From Weaving - A Survey (2021-22) at NewArtCentre, Roche Court can be viewed here
- The documentary film about Ann, “My Bones Are Woven” was screened by the British Library, in London, 2022. Speakers included Ann Coxon, then Curator of International Art at Tate Modern. You can watch the trailer below
Film: "My Bones Are Woven" Trailer
Statement
‘There is no path. You make the path by walking'. - Antonio Machado
My work often starts with the material and its properties. Once we have played, and are in tune, the material will provide parameters: instructions to the user. Bells ring. There is hardly ever a finished image in mind. That arrives via a merge of material qualities/related numbers. It is always a surprise, and comes from health/honesty. Never in an attempt for 'beauty'. Techniques rarely have names, because I am inventing the way of working to work with the chosen material. I invent them to suit the material.
However, I am deeply committed to the structure of weaving and to enlarging its possibilities.
Some weaves are possible only with handwork. Others are possible only with the help of a computer connected to a digital loom But warp and weft are constant, and usually at right angles to each another.
Where I use colour it is not in any aesthetic way, but as a locator and to differentiate. Sometimes the results are aesthetically interesting, even pleasing, and that may come though healthy relationships of material and concept. If it does then that is a bonus, but it is never an aim.
Areas, spaces colour : all depends on comparison/ identity. I am always searching for new structures and materials.
The narrative is in the making. Nothing is accidental or aesthetic.
Ann Sutton
On unqualified freedom: 'I would as soon write free verse as play tennis with the net down'. - Robert Frost
Work
Curriculum Vitae
Professor Ann Sutton MBE- Born: North Staffordshire, England
- Lives and Works: West Sussex
- Won: All art prizes at school
- Failed: Art O-level
1951-56
Cardiff College of Art
1956-63
Full-time lecturer in Weave, West Sussex College of Art, Worthing
1960
Visitor, Cardiff College of Art
1961-68
Student, then tutor, Basic Course (Thubron, Frost, Dalwood etc) and Kenneth Martin, Glamorgan Summer School, Barry
1963-65
Part-time lecturer: Croydon College of Art
1967-74
Part-time lecturer: North Oxfordshire School of Art, Banbury
1968
Guest lecturer, Leeds School of Art (Harry Thubron)
1970
1974
Logical colour scheme for Keble College, Oxford. Architects:Ahrends, Burton & Koralek
1977-88
On Contemporary Art Society committee
1979
Offered two-year residency: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1983
1983-present
Buyer of art for private clients.
1985
Large solo exhibition: commissioned to show relationship of weave to the Constructivist collection in Norrkopings Konstmuseum, Sweden (Southern Arts and British Council)
1988-90
Member of Government Steering Group “PerCent for Art”
1989
Initiated the internationally first walking “Gallery Trail”, Arundel Festival (50 temporary art galleries)
1990
Consultant: Public Art: Southampton Art Gallery refurb (National Award)
1990-94
Trustee: Oxford Artists Group: Chiltern Sculpture Trail
1991
Awarded Member of the Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.)
1992-95
Board Member: Southern Arts (Regional Arts Board.)
1996
Consultant: Museum of Science & Industry, Manchester (new gallery: advising, commissioning, buying art)
2003
2004
Solo retrospective exhibition: Crafts Council, London and touring
2005
2010
Lead Artist at The Point, Eastleigh Phase 2
2010-present
Studio research: painting, leading to drawing, leading to spatial drawing
2014
Solo exhibition, curated by Gill Hedley. ‘Counterpoint’ at Patrick Heide Contemporary Art London
2015
Solo exhibition within ‘Collect’, Saatchi Galleries, London (invited)
2016
Studio research: material combinations, based on the mesh.
2016
Represented by Taste at Art Genevre
2016/18
"Solo exhibition “On the Grid” touring UK public galleries, including Gallery Oldham, Lancashire, The Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent and the Winchester Gallery, University of Southampton
2017
Gave the Fielding Talk “Rebel with a Cause” for the Crafts Council, at St Martin in the Fields, London (invited)
2018
Included in “The most real thing: contemporary textiles and sculpture” NewArtCentre, Roche Court
2021
Four works purchased by Tate for inclusion in their permanent collection
2021-22
"Solo exhibition: "Ann Sutton, On From Weaving, Works: 1955 – 2020" NewArtCentre, Roche Court. 27 November 2021-15 January 2022
Books and TV
Books By Me
| 1975 | Tablet Weaving, Ann Sutton and Pat Holtom, Batsford UK |
| 1982 | The Craft of the Weaver, Ann Sutton, Peter Collingwood, Geraldine St. Aubyn Hubbard, BBC Publications UK |
| 1982 | The Structure of Weaving, Ann Sutton, Hutchinson UK |
| 1984 | Tartans, Ann Sutton and Richard Carr, Bellew Publishing UK |
| 1985 | British Craft Textiles, Ann Sutton, Wm. Collins & Sons UK |
| 1985 | Colour and Weave, Ann Sutton, Bellew Publishing UK, Lark USA |
| 1987 | The Textiles of Wales, Ann Sutton, Bellew Publishing UK |
| 1989 | Ideas in Weaving, Ann Sutton and Diane Sheehan , USA Batsford UK, Lark USA |
| 1990 | Falcot’s Weave Companion, Ann Sutton ( Ed. and foreword ) Anne Satow ( translation), Bellew Publishing UK |
Books About Me
| 2004 | Ann Sutton, Diane Sheehan USA , Susan Tebby, Lund Humphries UK |
TV
| 1980 | The Craft of the Weaver, Written and presented by Ann Sutton, 5-part TV series BBC UK |
Contact
Ann Sutton is represented by NewArtCentre, Roche Court
Email: nac@sculpture.uk.com
Instagram: @annsutton.artist