Interwoven: In Conversation with the Work of Ann Sutton OBE

Dr Ann Coxon, Senior Curator, Displays and International Art at Tate, joins Amanda Game, independent curator and curator of Textiles Today?, to discuss the interdisciplinary work of leading textile artist Ann Sutton OBE (b.1935), all rooted in the possibilities of woven constructions.

Sutton, who remains active to this day in her Sussex studio, is represented by five works in the exhibition, spanning her entire career from early archival handwoven samples for industrial production to a recently completed quartet of bold wrapped monochrome low relief sculptures that reveal the potent language of weave in new and direct ways. Few artists have matched Sutton's ability to move between performance, industrial design, sculpture, fine art installation, writing and producing, all united, she says, by a deep commitment to the structure of weaving and to enlarging its possibilities.

The subject of major exhibitions, including a career-defining retrospective at the New Art Centre, Roche Court, in 2021-22, and of the documentary My Bones are Woven (2022), Sutton is represented in major museum collections in the UK and Europe, including Tate and the V&A. In 2026 she received the Worshipful Company of Weavers Silver Medal in recognition of her lifetime contribution to the UK weaving industry.

The event is part of the exhibition Textiles Today? Three Generations of Artist Weavers. Places are limited to 20.