Annie Bielecka
Biography
I am an artist/maker working mainly with textiles using highly decorative techniques that cross the boundary between fine and applied art.
My work includes wall hangings, quilts, altar frontals, costumes, framed land and seascapes. I like using fabrics that are difficult to combine such as silks, satins and metallic fibres that reflect light and animate the surface. Strong colour inspires me, textures and raw edges give depth and dimension.
Some materials used are recycled from theatre costumes, the smallest pieces can be shaped into shoals of gleaming tropical fish.
I try to show the beauty and unknown mystery of the sea and the timelessness of landscape. Mountains, skies, fields and rock formations are seen from the perspective of a boat. There are glimpses from afar of such lands, some real, some imaginary, seen from ships by sailors like my father, Richard Jones of Porthmadog, who spent months at sea longing for home, known as "hiraeth" in Welsh.
I was born and raised in Criccieth, a Welsh speaking community on the Cambrian Coast of Gwynedd and spent much of my childhood on the beach and in boats.
I now live and work in Wivenhoe on the banks of the tidal river Colne on the East Coast of Great Britain.
Exhibitions/Projects/Commissions
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York, USA (2010)
Aldeburgh Gallery, Suffolk (2010)
The Nottage Maritime Institute, Wivenhoe (with James Dodds 2008)
Over-the-Sofa Gallery, Wivenhoe Bookshop (2010/09/08)
Parish Church of St. Mary-the-Virgin, Wivenhoe. Altar Frontal/Stalls (2007)
Visiting Artist Residency, Iceland (2007)
Reykjavik City Hall, Iceland "Glimpses" Exhibition (2006)
"War Music" Design, London Production of Christopher Logue's adaptation of Homer's Ilyad (2005)
"Suffering of Women at a time of war" Design, San Antonio University, Texas (2004)
"Shakespeares Women" Costume Exhibition, Mercury Theatre, Colchester (with Martin Jezierski 2003)
"Storytellers Tent "Community Project (with Eliza Kentridge 2003)
"Art on a Budget" Installation, Warsaw, Poland (2001)
Mad Dogs and Englishmen Theatre Company Tours (1996 - 2000)
Comedy of Errors / Taming of the Shrew / Midsummer Nights Dream / Into the Light and others
Mercury Theatre Colchester "Elizabeth" and "Mother Goose" costume design
"The Sea" and "All that Jazz" Digby Gallery and Essex County Hospital (1998/9)
Training and courses
Textiles and Fine Art Colchester School of Art and Design/Open College of Art/London College of Fashion
Rudolf Steiner, London.
M.A. University of Essex and Ruskin College, Oxford. Art for Healing Findhorn Community and Iona, Scotland (2009/08)Goldwork Embroidery Royal School of Needlework, Hampton Court Palace, London (2006) |
