At
present CHAT is a group of 12 members who
meet 9 times during the year. Presenting
a completely new body of work within only
one year is quite tough so most work is
done by members in the time between
meetings.The
group was set up when Ann Small offered
classes to embroiderers with some
previous experience in 1997. She was
looking for students who were serious
about their textile work. She aimed to
give feedback, tuition and encouragement
to students to enable them to produce
their own original work. The group met in
Clarance House in Thaxted and were called
Art Textiles.
In 2001 they formed
an exhibiting group and called themselves
Clarance House Art Textiles C.H.A.T. The
beautiful Guildhall at Thaxted seemed an
ideal place to hold an exhibition of
stitched textiles.
The Small Chat
exhibition runs during the weeks of the
Thaxted Music Festival and gives many
people their first ever experience of
seeing textile art.
It
is our purpose to promote textiles as an
art form and C.H.A.T. have been received
well by the public and they have been
delighted by the comments in the guest
book. The exhibition is visited by people
from near and far and the artists are
usually on hand to talk about their work
with great enthusiasm.
The prerequisite for
admission to this group is a high level
of motivation and the ability to pursue
themes and to research and develop on
ones own initiative. Before being
accepted to join this group you are
invited to attend an interview at which
you are asked to bring a portfolio of
your current work, sketch books etc.
Future events
include exhibitions in 2010 at the
Knitting Stitching Shows at NEC
Birmingham, Alexandra Palace London, RDS,
Dublin and Harrogate International
Centre.
Each years
exhibition demonstrates the groups
continuing commitment to move forward,
break new boundaries and to challenge
preconceived ideas. It shows that textile
art can be appreciated in a wide variety
of contexts.