Curated by Lesley Millar

Organised by Head of Exhibitions, Bryony Windsor

Here & Now is the first major tapestry exhibition in the UK for twenty years. The curator Lesley Millar has chosen artists from around the world including Australia, Canada, Finland, Norway, Latvia, Japan, Norway, USA and the UK.

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Caron Penney is one of the chosen artists and over the last year she has been making a series of four works which 

identify with the extract, 'the streets are paved with gold', from the 19th century story of Dick Whittington. The ironic nature of these words became reality for Penney, when on the 15 September 2008 she unwittingly observed from the kerbside the employees of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. leaving their headquarters after the company had filed for bankruptcy. These events were to be seen by many as the beginning of the global financial crisis. Penney uses gold threads which is a witty comment on events that unraveled both globally and personally over the years that followed. Penney explores duality such 

as lightness and heaviness, illusion and reality, obscenity and refined aesthetic. Her work hovers between the abstract and the figurative, creating a window into a world which is both mysterious and familiar. In the tapestry Stop_Go_2008_2013 the text creates a sense of confusion which is intensional, and mirrors the emotions felt if made redundant from a company or community which a person once felt supported and nurtured by. Since the global financial crash in 2008 many people have endured the possibility of redundancy or been made redundant. This national and international joint experience is conveyed at its strongest in the tapestry F**K OFF. Understandably this work can appear offensive but the lightness and refined aesthetic which envelope the work deliver the message with the same impact as a company who delivers a severance package to its employees.

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Touring Exhibition Dates

National Centre for Craft & Design 1st Oct 2016 - 15th Jan 2017

Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) Birmingham 1st April - 4th June 2017

The Holburne Museum Bath 24th June - 1st Oct 2017