profile
Rosaline has been a textile practitioner on one level or another for her whole life and it is firmly part of her identity. She grew up in a family where, if one wanted or needed something, the first thought would be “how can I make this?” Her female relatives were all skilled needlewomen and she learned confidence in using woodworking and DIY tools, as well as to experiment and just have a go, from her scientist father.
Rosaline has always enjoyed drawing and was able to use this to advantage in her initial training as a zoologist. However, she had no formal art or textiles tuition until she completed the Morley College Textiles Foundation in 2013. In many ways this lack of formal tuition has been an advantage in that she has felt free to experiment and innovate in blissful ignorance of any rules!
Inspiration for Rosaline comes from her home environment, often the things that she can see from her workroom window, and she likes to use this imagery to say something about life and the human condition. Her preferred materials are hand dyed fabrics to which she likes to add prints (screen, lino, cyanotype), and hand and machine stitch. Her work is often sculptural and sometimes large scale.
qualifications
Year … 2013 Textiles Foundation, Morley College
membership
The Society for Embroidered Work
Phoenix Contemporary Textiles
Carousel Textile Artists
exhibitions
2020………… ‘London Threads’, The Willesden Gallery, London
2019……….. ‘Whatever The Weather – shoes’ Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, London
2019……….. ‘London Threads’ Barbican Library Foyer, London
2018……….. ‘Collections – Why Things Matter’ Robert Phillips Gallery, Walton-on-Thames
2018……….. ‘London Threads’ WAC Gallery, Waterloo
2017……….. ‘Collections: A Box of Treasures’ The Fountain Gallery, East Molesey
2017……….. ‘Whatever the Weather – collars and cuffs’ Downstream Wood, East Sussex
2016……….. ‘Strata, a Stitched Excavation’ Robert Phillips Gallery, Walton-on-Thames
2016………… ‘Material Movement’ WAC Gallery, Waterloo
2015 ……….. ‘Tunnel Visions’ Barbican Library Foyer, London
2014…………. ‘Feeding the Nation’ Morden Hall Park
2014…………. ‘Brixton Textiles’ Brixton East 1871
contact
Email: rosaline.darby@gmail.com
Tel: 020 8398 1050
Facebook: @rosalinedarbytextiles
Instagram: @rosalinedarby
Twitter: @RosalineDarby1