Pauline Burbidge
About the maker
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'After having completed a degree in Fashion and Textiles at St.Martins in London (1973), I worked in “The Rag Trade” for 3 years designing garments. Then I decided I wanted to work with fabric in a more ‘craft-like’ way and took up quiltmaking. |
I spent two years working towards a large one-person show, which I held in the gallery at Foyles bookshop in London. This made my work visible and as a result I successfully applied to the Crafts Council for a setting up grant. Later I took part in an American exhibition called the ‘Quilt National’, a bi-annual show held in Ohio, USA – this altered some key USA people to my work.
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I have always needed to financially supplement my studio work which I did in the early days by pattern cutting for various garment manufacturers in London (a skill that I had learnt at college), later I devised workshops and lectures connected with my quilt work and offered them to a worldwide network of quilt enthusiasts |
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International Events and Exhibitions
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Because of my quilt work – I have travelled to many parts of the world that I otherwise would not have seen, including visits to Australia, Japan, USA and Canada. I have taken part in many group exhibitions worldwide, throughout my career my one-person exhibitions have been very important to me, I have often booked an exhibition well in advance and spent two or three years working towards it. |
For example, a one-person show in The Works Gallery in Philadelphia, USA in 1991 or a large show in the Midlands Group, Nottingham, in 1983. The most recent large touring show, has been ‘Quiltworks’ which I toured to The Shipley Gallery – Gateshead, Canterbury Royal Museum and Art Gallery, The Collins Gallery – Glasgow, The Bankfield Museum – Halifax and also took it to all three venues of the ‘Knitting and Stitching’ shows in London, Dublin and Harrogate.
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It was interesting taking the exhibition out of the museum context and into a more commercial arena; this has helped me to be more comfortable and confident when selling my work. Since this tour, I have been developing a new collection of functional and useable quilts, which I am calling ‘Quiltline’. I am creating a new collection of these annually and will show this at our ‘Open Studio’ exhibition, (4-7 August) and also at ‘The Festival of Quilts’, at the N.E.C (17-20 August)' |
For more information visit the Pauline Burbridge website at www.paulineburbidge-quilts.com |