NICOLA HENLEY’S textile pieces are made by a combination of dying, painting, and screen-printing cotton calico and texturing the surface with various materials stitched into the cloth. The change of scale from bold printing and painting to the intimacy of close stitching helps to convey the concept of near detail with open space of a landscape or seascape. Her work is composed by studying birds and their flight in relation to the natural environment. By watching and drawing their motion she aims to capture a sense of scale and movement within space. Each piece of work also examines our inner state, using birds to express those emotions and concepts of life both on a personal and a universal level. The work links the abstract sensations of what she feels with hints of the figurative reality in a particular place. Nicola’s latest works aim to capture the sense of spiritual liberation that we search for in direct contrast to the physical, conformist world in which we are trapped. She moved to Ireland in 1991 and now lives and works in Co.Clare.

 111 Church Street, Charleston, South Carolina 29401

  843-937-0801 

www.fortyshadesofgreen.com

 

 Purveyor of Fine Irish Art

Nicola Henley

Born Bristol, England

1981-84  First Class BA Hons Embroidery/Textiles, Goldsmiths College, London

1986  British Crafts Council Setting Up Grant

1990  British Council Travel Award to lecture in Japan

1998  Sasakawa Foundation Travel Award to lecture in Japan

EXHIBITIONS INCLUDE:                                                                                                                         

1989  Solo show, Contemporary Applied Arts. London

1990  Solo show, Galerie Pousse, Tokyo, Japan

1991  The Decorative Beast, British Crafts Council, tour

          The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

          Solo show Galerie Pousse, Tokyo, Japan

1992  Out of the Frame, British Crafts Council tour

          Solo show, Galerie Pousse, Tokyo, Japan

1993  Visions of Craft, British Crafts Council

          Royal Festival Hall, London

1994  Victoria and Albert Museum, British Crafts Council

1995  Organic Surfaces, Crafts Council of Ireland, Dublin

          Solo show, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh              

1996  Solo show, Oxford Gallery , England

1997  Solo show, HIPOTESI, Barcelona

1998  Cloths of Gold, Contemporary Applied Arts, London

          Solo show, Galerie Pousse, Tokyo, Japan

1999  Primavera, Cambridge, England                                                               

2000  Contemporary Applied Arts, London  

          Primavera, Cambridge, England          

2001  Guinness Gallery, Dublin, Ireland

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:

Cunard Cruiseline

British Crafts Council

Embroiderer’s Guild

British Rail

Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan

Galerie Pousse, Tokyo, Japan 

Microsoft Ireland, Dublin. Ireland.