Llinos Owen

Llinos Owen

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University: Wimbledon College of Arts (UAL)
Graduation Year: 2020

New Blood Art Commentary

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Engaging with Llinos Owen’s work is akin to people-watching in a stylish city; you casually look out for self-expression, pattern and colour, but it’s the witty delights that keep you hooked. Owen chronicles everything from identity and mythology, to contemporary Welsh culture, all with a sense of playfulness and keen observation. Her practice of embroidery and rug hooking adds an unprecedented tactility, subtly attuning the viewer to underlying notions of softness, the domestic sphere, and traditional handiwork. The contemporary subject matter brazenly makes a feminist intervention into decorative craft, a medium that has been historically belittled. This sits in line with the work advanced by fiber artists, whose creations break the boundary between fine art and utilitarian objects.

Artist Statement

Llinos Owen (b.1998) is a Welsh Fine Art textile artist, originally from North Wales and currently based in London. The artist moved to London in 2017 to study Fine Art: Painting at Wimbledon College of Arts (UAL) and graduated in 2020. Since graduating, Owen has developed her artistic practice to be mostly textiles based and has exhibited her textured tapestries in many group exhibitions in the UK such as Delphian Gallery’s “Synthesis” at the Saatchi Gallery and the “Let’s Talk About Textiles” Exhibition at The Other Art Fair in early 2022, as well as her first Solo Exhibition titled “Thank Your Lucky Stars” at Orleans House Gallery in 2021. Llinos Owen continues to explore her personal narratives and subject matters in her London studio, creating painting inspired imagery with her textiles materials.  

 

 

Llinos Owen’s autobiographical textile practice begins with personal written and visual material from her diary. Writing has always served as a ritualistic element within the artist’s life from an early age as a way to process different experiences and thoughts relating to the vulnerable themes of personal relationships, mental health and anxiety. Although the artist initially wrote in her diary as a form of meditation, the documentation of these experiences unexpectedly, but naturally evolved to become the starting point, a key element to her creative process, and the main source of inspiration for her textile practice. 

Llinos Owen's textile practice explores memories, relationships, and personal life experiences to create textured tapestries focusing youth culture inspired figurative imagery through the medium of punch needle rug hooking. Owen’s highly personal textile practice explores themes relating to the artist’s identity as she views her diaristic inspired pieces as forms of visual storytelling and self portraiture. 

Identity and gender are important themes within Owen's practice as the materials and techniques she explores acknowledges the history of feminine identities by focusing on historically women dominated craft, which blurs the lines between the domestic, the mundane and the gallery space. Although the artist predominantly works with textile materials, Owen's practice is heavily drawing focused and still considers her thinking and approach to making as being very painterly.

Solo Exhibitions

(2021) Thank Your Lucky Stars, Orleans House Gallery, London

(2020) Old Stories, Today's Women, Pontio, Bangor, North Wales

Group Exhibitions

(2022) After Dark, Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers, London

(2022) Annual Open Exhibition 2022, Royal Cambrian Academy, Conwy, North Wales

(2022) Into the Fire, Grove Collective, London

(2022) 40+1, storiel, Bangor, North Wales

(2022) Synthesis - Curated by Delphian Gallery, saatchi Gallery, London

(2022) Let's Talk About Textiles, The Other Art Fair, Truman Brewery, London

(2022) A Material World, Liliya Art Gallery, London

(2021) Cambium, Cardiff M.A.D.E, Cardiff, South Wales

(2021) AGORED 2021, Galeri, Caernarfon, North Wales

(2020) Penultimatum, Copeland Gallery, Peckham, London

(2020) VISIONS, Gander Gallery, www.gandergallery.co.uk

(2019) Burn The Witch, Safehouse 1, Copeland Park, Peckham, London

(2019) 8496 x thatcoolevent, DIY SPACE FOR LONDON, London

(2019) Gwyl y Ferch Môn, Oriel Ynys Môn, Anglesey, North Wales

(2018) Traces, Central Saint Martins, London

Competitions, Prizes & Awards

(2021) "Highly Commended" AGORED 2021

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