Please join the Friends of the ATW for a special lecture by renowned tapestry weaver Kay Lawrence AM, Emeritus Professor at the South Australian School of Art, who will talk about three significant textile projects. Each textile project has been created in collaboration with other artists and communities and the resulting artworks communicate stories of loss and connection.

Lawrence will talk about her participation in three collaborative projects that engage with significant places in Australia and Papua New Guinea including ‘Weaving the Murray’ on the Murray River in South Australia; ‘This Everything Water’ in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia, and ‘Womens Wealth’ in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. Lawrence’s work from the 'Womens Wealth’ project, ‘Here we are sisters’, was shown at the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane in 2018/19 and is currently on display in the ATW exhibition ‘Place Makers’. 

Lawrence is highly regarded as a founding figure in contemporary Australian textiles. She is known for works ranging from large-scale hand-woven tapestries to multimedia textile installations. Lawrence studied painting and printmaking at the South Australian School of Art and tapestry weaving at the Edinburgh School of Art. Her work has been exhibited extensively in Australia and overseas and she has completed a number of major commissions, including two works for the national Parliament in Canberra in 1988. For her work on the Parliament House Embroidery, she was made a member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1989. Kay is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Art Architecture and Design at the South Australian School of Art; Former President of Craft Australia; Former National Executive of ACUADS Australian Council of Art and Design Schools and a board member of the ATW.