The Diana Springall Collection at the Sunbury Embroidery Gallery
The Sunbury Gallery have selected and hung a small exhibition of pieces from the personal collection of Society Fellow Diana Springall. The work displayed can be viewed until 20 September 2020 and is a small part of the entire Collection to be housed in the new extended Embroidery Gallery. This nationally important collection of the art of contemporary embroidery has been accumulated by Diana Springall over six decades.
Photos: Robert Shaw - Trustee and project Architect
Diana has been collecting contemporary embroidery since studying at Goldsmiths College in London in the 1950’s. She is a teacher, practitioner and writer on embroidery and has collected with discipline and vision, often selecting the work of graduates who would go on to have notable careers in textiles.
The collection, currently comprising some 250 pieces together with accompanying drawings and design sheets, makes a crucial contribution to modern textile history incorporating the work of leading British artists as well as many from abroad, including Europe, the USA and Japan. It is the only British collection that has the unique distinction of covering embroidery as an art form.
Diana is still heavily involved with embroidery both as a maker, mentor and judge and recently admitted to the Livery of The Worshipful Company of Broderers.
She has been instrumental in promoting embroidery in the Fine Art world, and has been a teacher and mentor to a significant proportion of today’s greatest artists working in stitch, including Alice Kettle, whose extraordinary and dramatic piece, Eve Falling from Grace, is also displayed in this exhibition.
The Gallery’s location, close to London, and in its proximity to world-leading educational institutions specialising in textile arts at the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace, Kingston University and the University of Creative Arts at Farnham, make it ideally situated to house this remarkable collection. It will enable us to create a ‘National Centre for Embroidery’ in Sunbury offering a valuable resource centrally positioned.
An Archive and Study Centre will also be provided to conserve, store and make available the collection for research and study. Pieces will be exhibited in the Gallery on a continuing basis as well as being made available for outside loan.
The Sunbury Embroidery Gallery is located at:
The Walled Garden
Thames Street
Sunbury-on-Thames
TW16 6AB
Further information and opening times can be found at: The Sunbury Embroidery Gallery