Barbara Gardner Rowell – The Writing on the Wall

As a creative practitioner Barbara aims for a sustainable practice that meets the ecological and social demands of the 21st century. She believes artists can be important agents for social change; they are trained to work with ambiguity and unpredictable outcomes.

The ancient origins of tapestry weaving were based in social and political commentary, and Barbara aims to fully utilise this attribute of her chosen medium: to be an artist is to live with uncertainty.

It means having a lot of ideas, whose fulfilment depends on many uncontrollable factors.

Resilience is a key attribute for survival. We are in the midst of a global, existential crisis unprecedented in our time. In addition to the climate crisis, the threat of world war is ever-present. Using her creative practice as a counterbalance to helplessness, Barbara developed a design for peace from fragments of discarded billboard posters she discovered lying on the streets of Berlin in the spring of 2022. Several elements drew her to this design. The incidental colours and shapes sat well together, the fragments of text layered with Putin’s face and tie would present an interesting challenge. Barbara had recently visited Archie Brennan’s exhibition ‘Tapestry Goes Pop’ at the Dovecot in Edinburgh and admired his treatment of human faces, text and intricate textile patterns, particularly on ties. She recognised an opportunity in this ‘found’ collage to explore these techniques in more depth. For her the loom is a place for experiential learning, focussing on a process which provides hours of meditative contemplation and hope. Weaving is an act of solidarity, and ‘feelingness’ for peace.