The Exhibition

‘Flaxen’ will feature acclaimed textile artist Alice Fox and present her new body of work celebrating the flax plant. It will showcase a collection of woven pieces on a variety of scales incorporating flax at various stages, from whole dried stems to unspun fibre.

Since 2017, Alice has been growing small plots of flax on her West Yorkshire allotment, gradually deepening her understanding of how growing and retting conditions affect the fibre. In 2024, she led a larger, collaborative flax-growing project at Kestle Barton in Cornwall, cultivating a 200-square-metre crop with the help of staff and volunteers. By sowing flax on the same day at both sites - 400 miles apart - she created an opportunity to compare environmental impacts on the plant. The resulting work is a collection of woven pieces that incorporate flax at various stages, from whole dried stems to unspun fibre, exploring both the plant’s strength and delicacy in a textured, structural celebration of flax..

About the Artist

Alice Fox is an accomplished textile artist. Her process-led practice is based on personal engagement with landscape, has sustainability at its heart, and is underpinned by her background in physical geography and nature conservation. She works with natural fibres and found items, employing and experimenting with natural dyes, stitch, weave and basketry techniques. Fox works from her allotment and studio in Saltaire, England. She exhibits, lectures and teaches workshops nationally and internationally. Alice has also writen several books including Wild Textiles and new book Wild Weave (available for pre-order now) which explore similar themes of working with natural materials.

Support

‘Flaxen’ is supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (principal funder). The exhibition is part of the Linen Biennale, a festival celebrating linen, past, present and future, with initiatives across Northern Ireland by R-Space and other partner organisations. The Esmé Mitchell Trust supported R-Space’s work for this festival.