ABOUT
Jo Elbourne makes taut and layered textile works.
She does not engage with warp and weft, instead employing a simple yet exacting method, applying lengths of cord directly to empty artist's stretchers and working only along parallel and perpendicular lines - a technique that evolved through earlier explorations in seat weaving.
It is a quiet and often meditative process, rooted in the act of repetition and guided by a deeply-felt relationship to colour. Working with cotton cord predominantly in its natural unbleached state - the same raw material as an unprimed canvas - she maintains a free and intuitive approach to assembling each palette, mixing and hand-dyeing shades to create works which have more in common with painting and drawing than traditional woven wall hangings.
Her compositions achieve a sense of deep space and equilibrium through ordered layering and considered asymmetric arrangements. Ideas around rhythm, continuity, redirection and abstract narratives are each held within the works, as is the notion - both literal and figurative - of managing tension.
Jo Elbourne attended Wimbledon School of Art at foundation level and went on to study at Ravensbourne College of Design in south east London.
With an initial focus on creating objects of use, the first presentation of her current ideas occurred in the form of a small collection of furniture during the 2O17 London Design Festival. Her distinctive take on the traditional craft of seat-weaving garnered critical attention and an Elle Decoration British Design Award in the same year.
She has since turned her focus to creating non-functional pieces, preoccupied with the endless potential of a singular material and technique despite seemingly limited parameters.
She is based in the coastal town of Margate in the south east of England.
Portrait by Kat Green
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EXHIBITIONS
Upcoming
Materiality - Kindred House, Margate (June 2022)
2O21
An Act of Making - Yorkton Workshops, London
M.A.H x London Design Festival - 5O Vyner, London
FRAMED - Kobi & Teal, Somerset
2O2O
In Company - Kobi & Teal, Somerset
2O19
Four - The Flower Factory, London
Modern Art Hire Launch - M.A.H Gallery, London
Three Point Turn - Kobi & Teal, Somerset
bauhaus - Kobi & Teal, Somerset
Turnbull & friends - Turnbull & Asser, London
2O18
Ensemble -Assembly Point, London
Artisan Retreat - RHS Chelsea, London
Collection Point - Kobi & Teal, Somerset
Making Space - Kobi & Teal, Somerset
2O17
Mixing Signals - Kobi & Teal, Somerset
Resort Revue - Resort, Margate
2O16
Come Out To Play - Resort, Margate
