Dr Hannah White

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Surface edge shadow 2022

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Hannah White is a textile artist and weaver. Her work explores the interplay between the patterns within the structure of her bespoke woven fabrics,

form and light. The sculptural artworks evolve through a process of manipulating her fabrics into organic forms, allowing the qualities for the cloth to influence their shapes.

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Hannah's ‘Ammonite Shadow’ series is inspired by the sculptural qualities of Ammonite fossils. The pleated forms spiral and curve, creating contemporary textile fossils. Different lighting conditions enhances the work. As the sunlight moves across each piece it creates a series of changing shadows at different times throughout the day, emphasising the form. Directional light creates dramatic crisp shadows, adding another dimension.

 

When creating the patterns within her woven fabrics, Hannah considers how these colourations will be affected when they are transformed into three-dimensions. As the woven patterns follow the undulating contours and swirling forms, distinctive markings appear, making each unique piece.

 

The monochrome colours draw influences from the illustrations of 19th Century geology artists, such as Ernst Haeckel, who captured Ammonites’ sculptural qualities in exquisite detail. The copper and blue tones reference the hues created by mineral deposits found in ammonites discovered within specific rock substrates.

 

Hannah has exhibited work at Collect International Art Fair for Contemporary Craft and Design, the Royal Society of Arts, Contemporary Applied Arts and Cite Internationale de la dentelle et de la mode de Calais, France. In 2019 Hannah completed a Doctorate in Textiles at the Royal College of Art.

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The reflective qualities of the threads within

the woven fabric create highlights, whereas the shadows created by the three-dimensional pleats add depth.

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