cv_lt.html

Laura Thomas - CV

Training: 

2001-03Weave Design Research Fellow, Ann Sutton Foundation, weave design research centre, UK. 
1999-01 MA Constructed Textiles Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London 
1996-99 BA (HONS) Fashion/Textiles - First Class, University of Central England, Birmingham 
1995-96 Foundation Studies in Art and Design - Distinction Coleg Sir Gar, Carmarthen    

Awards:
2009	Creative Wales Ambassador Award, Arts Council of Wales
2009	Finalist, Cardiff Design Festival
2008	Winner of the Wesley-Barrell Craft Award for Interior Textiles
2008	Winner of the Applied Arts Award at the Welsh Artist of the Year competition
2007	Creative Wales Award from the Arts Council of Wales
2006	Selected designer featured in Cardiff Design Festival 
2004	Theo Moorman Charitable Trust grant
2003	Arts Council Wales 'Capacity Building' grant
2001  	Texere Yarns sponsorship prize
2000	Homes and Gardens Classic Design Award for "Aran" blanket designed for Melin Tregwynt in 1998. Now in the Victoria and Albert Museum permanent collection.
2000  	Osborne and Little scholarship award 
2000  	Worshipful Company of Haberdasherers Portfolio Award
2000  	John Lewis Design Competition winner
2000  	George Spencer Design Award winner
1999  	Emma Jesse Phipps scholarship award

Collections:
2010	National Wool Musuem
2002	Worshipful Company of Weavers.  Wall hanging commission for City of London offices, which joined The V&A permanent collection in January 2005.
2000	Homes and Gardens Classic Design Award for "Aran" blanket designed for Melin Tregwynt in 1998. Now in the Victoria and Albert Museum permanent collection.

Commissions:
2010	Musuemaker commission for The Beaney in Canterbury.  Completion date: March 2011
2009	Commission to create 12 awards for the Cardiff Design Festival
2009	Commission to create a vessel to celebrate the Ashes being played in Cardiff.  
2009	Various private commissions for Resonate artworks, UK.
2008	Private commission for a hand woven 'art' blanket inspired by traditional quilts, UK
2008 	Memorial wall hanging for Milford Haven School, Pembrokeshire, UK
2008	Invited to develop a number of public art proposal for the Torfaen Iron Trails, South Wales, UK
2007	Textile and acrylic wall panel triptych, private commission, London
2006	Bartholomew House Kings Fund Project Five hand woven 'banners' for an NHS mental health teaching hospital in Hull, UK.
2005	Commission to design the 2005 Menter a Busnes Awards, Wales
2004	Textile wall hanging commission for The Crafts Study Centre foyer space, UK.
2003-04    Project Poetry! Collaborative visual arts/poetry project with Andrew Dilger, UK.
2003         Arts Council England South East.  Three hand-woven fabric lengths for Brighton Office. 
2002	 Worshipful Company of Weavers.  Wall hanging commission for City of London offices, which joined The V&A permanent collection in January 2005.

Exhibitions: 
2011	 Solo show at Llantarnam Grange, Cwmbran
2010	 Inspired by Albers, Ruthin Craft Centre, to then tour internationally
2010	 Warp & Weft, Oriel Myrddin Gallery, Carmarthenshire, to then tour nationally 
2010	 MidCentury Modern, London
2009	 Leeds City Art Gallery, showcase exhibition.
2009	'Origin' Crafts Council at Somerset House, London
2009	YSH London TEN, group exhibition, Westbourne Studios, London Design Festival 
2009	 Fibre Art Wales exhibition, Green Mountain College, Vermont, USA
2009	 Fibre Art Wales exhibition, Rhondda Heritage Park
2009 	 Harley Gallery, showcase exhibition.
2009	 Solo show at Sara Preisler Gallery, Custard Factory, Birmingham
2009	Sense Art Fair, London
2009	'Better than Grey: a serious consideration of colour' group show, Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery
2009	'Fibre Voices' Fibre Art Wales ten year anniversary touring group show, Llantarnam Grange, Cwmbran & The Ucheldre, Holyhead
2008	Ongoing sale of work in the Ruthin Craft Centre shop.
2008	Newport Museum and Gallery solo showcase exhibition
2008	Craft in the Bay Christmas group exhibition, Cardiff, Wales 	
2008t	 Represented by Brown Grotta Arts, USA, at SOFA
2008-09       Represented by the PARKart Gallery at the Affordable Art Fair, London
2008	'Origin' Crafts Council at Somerset House, London
2008	Represented by the PARKart Gallery at the ICON / Foundry 'Pop-up' store during the London Design Festival
2008	Kooywood Gallery Summer exhibition, Cardiff, Wales
2008	Two pieces of work selected for the Eisteddfod 'Y Lle Celf' visual arts pavilion exhibition	
2008	'Marking Space' group exhibition, Mission Gallery, Swansea, Wales
2008         Represented by 'A Chrefft' in the Eisteddfod Exhibition Hall	
2008	'Resonate' solo exhibition, Model House Craft and Design Centre, Llantrisant, Wales
2008	HD Expo, hotel design trade show, Las Vegas, USA
2008	Represented by the PARKart Gallery at Grand Designs, London 
2008	'Journeys' Fibre Art Wales group show, Banbury Art Gallery 
2008	British Craft Trade Show, Harrogate
2008	Makers Guild of Wales group show at the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff  
2007	Ongoing sale and exhibition of work at the Inspires Art Gallery, Oxford 		
2007	'Reflections' group exhibition at Craft in the Bay, Cardiff Bay, Wales
2007	Fibre Art Wales at the Designer Crafts @ Chelsea Town Hall, London
2007	'Origin' Crafts Council at Somerset House, London
2007	Crafts Council group showcase exhibition at Wesley Barrell, Bristol, UK
2007	'Contemporary Traditional' Coterie, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales
2007	Group exhibition, Oriel Cric Gallery, Crickhowell, Wales
2007	Waterfront Gallery, two person show, Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, Wales
2007	Group exhibition 'Llif' Oriel Myrrddin Gallery, Carmarthen, Wales and Flow Gallery, London
2007	Stroudwater Textile Festival, Stroud, UK - selected as one of six primary artists for the festival
2006	'Catalyst' group exhibition at The Ruthin Gallery, Wales
2006	Wales @ Time Warner Building, New York
2006	Worshipful Company of Weavers wall hanging commission included in 'Penelope's Thread' exhibition at Victoria and Albert Museum
2006	'Inspired by Architecture', group exhibition, Lesley Craze Gallery, London
2006	'Wool: a new perspective' National Botanic Gardens, Wales
2005	'Verve' group exhibition at The Ruthin Gallery, Wales
2005	Solo exhibition at Context, textiles gallery in Cardiff Bay
2005	Textile showcase at the Welsh Clothing and Textiles Association, Caernarfon.
2005	Exhibition of textile design development work at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff.
2004	Exhibition of work in the Arts Council of Wales Cardiff office.
2003	COLLECT Crafts Council fair at The V&A, February 2004, represented by The Lesley Craze Gallery 
2004	Exhibition and sale of work at The Lesley Craze Gallery, London
2002 	Arts and Business, Contemporary Craft Exhibition, London
2002  	Chelsea Crafts Fair, London.  Exhibited first own label collection of throws & cushions.
2002   	'One Year On at 100% Design', London
2002	'The Ann Sutton Foundation' launch exhibition, Arundel, W. Sussex
2002	'Weave: Ann Sutton Foundation Design Fellows 2001 - 2003', City Gallery, Leicester
2001	The Show, Royal College of Art
2001	London Fashion Week

Research / Consultancy:
2006     Research Consultant, Creative Industries Research & Innovation Centre, Swansea, Wales
2005-06 Visiting Research Fellow, Smart Clothes & Wearable Technology, University of Wales, Newport
2004     EU-funded GAIN licensing research project for Melin Tregwynt.
2004-05 Cywaith Cymru Artworks Wales 'Artist at Work'. Collaborative R&D project with Hafod Grange ltd.
2003-04 Thermoplastic fabric research with Sam Walker, UK

Publications:
2009	'10th Wave III: Art Textiles and Fiber Sculpture' published by Brown Grotta Arts
2009	'10: celebrating ten years of Fibre Art Wales', book
2009	'Better than Grey: a serious consideration of colour' Bury St Edmunds exhibition catalogue.
2008	'Smart Clothes and Wearable Technology', Wood head Publishing. Authored chapter:  Woven Structure for Smart Clothes and Wearable Technology.
2008	Featured in 'Textiles Now' by Drusilla Cole, published Oct 2008 by Laurence King
2006	'Catalyst' Ruthin Crafts Centre exhibition publication
2005	'Verve' Ruthin Crafts Centre exhibition publication
2002	Ann Sutton Foundation, publication to accompany The City Gallery exhibition

Magazine articles/reviews include:
2009	 Ashes Commission covered in FiberArts, Crafts, Selvedge, Western Mail, Welsh Country Magazine, Pavilion (Austrailian cricket magazine) and various other publications
2009	 Interviewed for Radio Wales re Ashes Commission
2008	 IDFX feature on Welsh designers
2008	 Featured in the WGSN trend report on Origin
2008	 The Metro 'Five Questions…' interview
2008	 Photographed in studio by Martin Parr for The Guardian
2008	 BBC website, The Western Telegraph, The Western Mail all did a feature re Welsh Artist of the Year competition
2008	 'What's Hot' Feature in Craftsman Craft & Design magazine
2008	 Featured in a Design Wales film about Melin Tregwynt and their use of design consultants
2007	 Feature in Pembrokeshire Life
2007	 2 page article in Pembrokeshire County Living (Issue 9)
2007	 FiberArts re Creative Wales Award
2006	 Journal of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers - feature article and back cover
2005	 Selvedge: picture of Crafts Study Centre commission 
2004	 Work chosen to illustrate the Arts Council of Wales Annual Report
            Work chosen to illustrate the Cultural Enterprise Annual Report and promotional leaflets
2003	 Woman's Hour, Radio 4, feature about The Ann Sutton Foundation Fellows
2002	 Living etc, designs included in photo shoot  
2002-03 Various articles about the ASF Fellows including The Times, The Independent, Textile View, International Textiles and Crafts Magazine
2002	Journal of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers - front cover
2001	Work chosen to illustrate Dept. of Culture, Media & Sport Annual Report 

Residencies:
2009-2011	One week per month at Ruthin Craft Centre re Creative Wales Ambassador

Websites: (other than FAW)
www.laurathomas.co.uk
www.laurathomaswoventextiles.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1117051498#!/pages/Laura-Thomas/31990329267?ref=mf 
http://twitter.com/lmt77  

Teaching, lecturing and workshops:
2004- current Part time Weave tutor at the West Wales School of the Arts.
2008 Keynote Lecture, National Association of Advisors & Inspectors for Design Technology AGM
2006 Lecture given at Tokyo Zokei University
2006 Keynote lecture at the Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners &  Dyers annual conference
05-08 Visiting Tutor in Textiles and Enterprise at the Swansea Institute of Higher Education
2005 Pembroke Civic Trust lecture
2005 Falmouth College of Art and Design BA Textiles visiting tutor.
2002 West Sussex Textile Teachers Consortium lecture. 
01-current Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers: various workshops & lectures around the country. 
02-03 West Sussex Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers: helped develop and run "Foundations of Weave", 6 workshops introducing novices to weaving.
2002 Brighton University BA Fashion and Textiles visiting weave tutor.
01-02 Goldsmiths College of Art BA Textiles visiting tutor.

Societies: 
FIBRE.ART.WALES |The Makers Guild in Wales  

Professional affiliations: 
2009-current	Invited to join the Advisory Board for the Creative and Cultural Sector Skill Council for Wales
2009-current	Became a Trustee of the Makers Guild in Wales
2009-current	Education Officer of Makers Guild in Wales (maker-member supporting the employed Edu. Officer) 
2008-2010	Board Director, Model House Craft and Design Centre
2007-2010	Advisor to Skillfast Wales
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