Jennifer Robertson is currently Acting Head of Textiles, School of Art, Robertson’s work is represented in many major public and private international and national collections, including the Queen’s collection at Buckingham Palace. She maintains a rigorous exhibition program and recently held a solo exhibition at Livingstone Studio, London, UK. Robertson has also worked collaboratively with NUNO Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, developing a new offset double cloth technique that was put into production during 2001. She is the current recipient of the ACT Creative Arts Fellowship for 2005 and is developing a new body of work based on French 16-18th century weave techniques.

Recent Jacquard work was developed during a residency at the Centre for Contemporary Textiles in Montreal, Canada during 2004. Digital photographs were taken from Chinese ink and resist drawings of cones, then imported into a French Jacquard software program and translated pixels to threads and colours to structures. The resulting cloth is a damask structure with tonal variations that pick up the fluid ink and brush textures.

Design for weaving must encompass many elements. Like problem solving, there are restraints that must be fully considered in the planning process, a long time before weaving may commence, before a warp goes onto the loom. It is a highly technical process.

The question is always how to overcome these restraints whilst retaining optimum creativity, artistic virtuosity and control over any technical processes and aspects. I aim to translate this process in harmonious ways that maximise inherent material and tactile qualities and push the boundaries of technical achievement simultaneously. To do this also whilst developing and re-evaluating concepts immerses all aspects of human endeavour. It is never an easy exercise, but one that fully involves, challenges and struggles. The joy of satisfaction comes when all this inertia translates into a new work that works, finally, after much experimentation.

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