ANN SUTTON

At the very heart of Ann Sutton’s work is weaving. Famed for experimenting with challenging materials, she is comparable to Anni Albers from the pre-war German Bauhaus movement.

The new body of work illustrates her tradition of using unconventional materials, pushing the boundaries of the technique to its limit: Hangings of spun paper and pieces created from monofilament are shown alongside highly coloured plain double weaves in Ann Sutton’s signature constructivist style.

In addition to her recent work there will be a unique opportunity to see pieces Ann completed in the 1960’s: The Stocking Prints were made in 1969 and were created by making plates directly from the hosiery. The V & A has purchased editions of the prints for their permanent collections. The only other one-person shows of prints circulated by the museum were by Miro and Picasso. Ann Sutton says “These were the only prints I did until a few months ago, when I became involved in this special way to use textiles directly in etchings”.

Ann Sutton is one of the most renowned figures in the field of textiles today. Throughout her fifty-year career she has endeavoured to develop the use of textiles in new, profitable and exciting ways. Ann has been involved in all aspects of the field from designing for industry (for Ralph Lauren,Heals and Liberty) to consulting, writing and lecturing.