Annabel Fraser
Annabel Fraser is a contemporary artist working primarily with handwoven textiles juxtaposed in and around other solid materials, found or created. She was born in London and studied architecture at Cambridge University, receiving both a BA and MA. She spent seven years in architectural practice, working in Paris, New York and London, before moving into exhibition design with Casson Mann. She later returned to study, completing an MA in Communication Art and Design at the Royal College of Art in London. After having children she began working full time on her art practice, and now lives and works in Cambridge.
Weaving is central to her work. She makes abstract pieces that often combine woven work with other materials, setting the soft flexibility of hand-woven surfaces against hard edges, using plaster of Paris, cast concrete, beeswax, balsa wood, calico, newsprint and found objects alongside wool, alpaca, cotton and linen yarn.
Her work has been shown at group shows including the Royal Academy Summer Show, Cambridge Artspace, The House of Smalls (Edinburgh) and the ARB, Cambridge.
Artist Statement
My art is influenced by themes that have stayed with me since studying architecture: thresholds and the connection (or disconnection) between the spaces on either side. Again and again, I am drawn to windows, doors, and transitional spaces that exist between two worlds. Currently, I am interested in the gap between the inner, psychological world and the world around us.
I explore the soft flexibility of hand-woven surfaces against hard edges, weight, and tension. This juxtaposition leads to piercing, distorting, and opening in unexpected ways. Exposing the pulls and pressures at work on the fabric, these works reveal a delicate balance between strength and vulnerability.