Untangling Colour – Vicky Ellis
15 April – 12 July

An exhibition of vibrant rugs and wall hangings inspired by shipwrecks on the Welsh coast from the 1800s.

The small village where Vicky lives on the west coast of Wales used to be a centre for shipbuilding. She was familiar with the names of ships that were built there, and that shipwrecks were a sad part of coastal community life at that time. What struck her though was the poignancy of the names of ships and how their fates were described e.g. Vigilance was Abandoned, Cupid was Saved, and Prosperity was Salvaged. Seven woven sails, some over three metres in height will be included in the exhibition along with their fascinating stories of bravery and bad behaviour from that time.

“This was a thought- provoking body of work, telling forgotten stories in an original way. The scale of the sails was particularly impressive and made for an eye-catching display.” From a review by Jackie Stevens in The Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, Spring 2025.

Originally trained as a furniture designer, Vicky has been weaving for over 50 years. Her work as an artist weaver is influenced by the Bauhaus Movement and bridges fine art and functional weaving. She sees her work as paintings in yarn and uses saturated undiluted colours to make flat weave blended responses to paintings, places and people that inspire her. Working spontaneously rarely drawing beforehand, Vicky uses the excitement she feels of yarn colours reacting to each other to drive her aesthetic.

You can find out more about this exhibition on BloombergConnects