Pattern & Progress

Pattern and Progress is a vibrant and visually rich exhibition that reimagines the ethos of the Arts and Crafts movement through contemporary printmaking. Set in dialogue with the exhibition Beauty of the Earth: the Art of May, Jane and William Morris, it presents printed works on wood, silk, glass, paper, and cloth by Tori McLean, alongside furniture from the Edward Barnsley Workshop and Hampshire Cultural Trust’s historic collections.

The exhibition explores questions of value: the vital yet historically overlooked contributions of women artists within the movement, the marginalisation of print as “decorative,” and the continuing cultural relevance of pattern in contemporary print. McLean reclaims the decorative as both beautiful and conceptually rich, using motifs and repeated forms to investigate how meaning emerges through process, labour, and material integrity.

Her practice moves fluidly between analogue and digital processes, treating each shift as part of the craft. By integrating digital tools with hand processes, McLean extends the Arts and Crafts ethos into a contemporary context, showing that progress lies in embracing transformation while honouring patience, integrity, and material truth. Variations that emerge through process reinforce that beauty is layered, contingent, and dynamic.

A graduate of the MA Print programme at the Royal College of Art, McLean has exhibited nationally and internationally, with works held in private collections worldwide and in the V&A, RCA, and Hampshire Cultural Trust. Pattern and Progress reflects her commitment to exploring pattern as a site of dialogue between past and present, showing that digital methods can deepen craft without diminishing its value, offering new ways to investigate design, surface, beauty, and meaning.