Sustainability is at the heart of Alice Fox’s practice. The desire to take an ethical approach has driven a shift from using conventional art and textile materials into exploring found objects, gathered materials and natural processes.
Flaxen is an exhibition that showcases the artwork Alice has made with materials collected and grown at Kestle Barton over the last two years. During the growing season of 2024 a crop of flax (Linum usitatissimum) was grown in the almost enclosed circle at the end of the meadow at Kestle Barton.
This was a communal activity, overseen by Alice, with help from Kestle Barton staff and a changing team of volunteers. Sowing, tending, harvesting, retting, and processing were undertaken, resulting in fibres for spinning, as well as flax plants dried at different stages for use later on.
Alice Fox is a fibre artist who is naturally attuned to the ethos and aims of Kestle Barton. She has a keen interest in the natural world. She possesses important knowledge of traditional skills in both textiles and growing. She brings all of herself to her creative tasks of making, with a woven blend of both experimental and systematic approaches. Her finished pieces are steeped in a sense of the familiar, and yet offer up something utterly new – a hybrid of nature and human design
Dr. Ryya Bread, Curatorial Director of Kestle Barton
Alice visited Kestle Barton in each season, spending time in residence. Each visit added to Alice’s experience and understanding of the place and the materials available for weaving and construction of surfaces and structures. Alice gathered materials in each season to make sculpture with; and made
botanical inks during each visit as well, building up a place-based colour chart and a library of materials with which to work.
As part of our Summer Solstice celebrations, a public opening for Flaxen will take place on Saturday 21st
June at 1pm, including an Artist Talk and demonstrations of the flax processing and spinning. Earlier in the day, (11:30am start) the local St Keverne Band will perform Double Brass in the wildflower meadow. All are invited to join Kestle Barn in these festivities.
Alice Fox, Flaxen 21st June – 31st August 2025
Kestle Barton, Cornwall
There is no admission fee. The last weekend of the exhibition, on Saturday 30th August, Alice will be offering a workshop
on ‘Botanical Inks at Kestle Barton’. See Kestle Barton website for details.
Alice received funding from the Theo Moorman Trust for Weavers to buy flax processing equipment and towards developing this new body of flax focused artwork
