Ella Robinson is our sort of experimental artist, working with what she finds and daring to challenge conventional expectations. Her work had been shown internationally and we've been lucky enough to see her exhibiting at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair and Origins. She has sent us a selection of stitched and wrapped found objects/driftwood ranging from £18 - 400.
Ella Robinson was born in Brighton (UK) in 1984. Her passion for art was first realised during experimental art lessons, where numerous found materials were used; ring pulls from drinks cans, large pieces of wood found in skips and scraps of materials and ribbon. She found it more exciting and inspiring to work three-dimensionally with materials, discovering their unique properties, rather than to paint or draw.
Since graduating Robinson has continued to combine found wood with traditional textile media and plastics by drilling, stitching and wrapping. She sells these through her own stands at Craft Fairs (including Origin and The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair), exhibitions and through selected galleries in the UK (such as flow in Notting Hill and Mostyn in Wales). Her practice also involves planning and running workshops, either based on her own work (focusing on the materials and techniques she employs) or a set theme. She was also an Evening Lecturer at the Oxford Embroiderers’ Guild in 2014.
Robinson has had work published in magazines, including Embroidery, Design Week, Mollie Makes, Crafty Magazine, International Textiles and Nya RUM (a Swedish architecture and design magazine) and one book; Atmosphere, The Shape of Things to Come (Architecture, Interior Design, Design and Art). Her project, Make an Embroidered Decorative Object, was featured in the booklet accompanying the BBC series Paul Martin’s Handmade Revolution. Robinson’s works have also featured in a number of trend prediction publications.
Now, only one question remaining, which piece will make it into the gallery's Found collection?