Hereford Colllege of Arts and Netherwood Estate are delighted to announce an exhibition of new textile works as part as an exciting local collaboration, titled Netherwood Estate reimagined: An exploration of place through textile design

Second year textile students from Hereford College of Arts have created their end of year work inspired by a brief about the Netherwood Estate on the Herefordshire-Worcestershire border between Bromyard and Tenbury Wells.

It has attracted Textile degree students at HCA who are showcasing an exhibition of colourful textile prints inspired by the natural beauty and tranquillity of the historic Estate. The exhibition explores the potential of colour and pattern which connects us with the environment. The students foraged for plants for natural dye at Netherwood Estate with Mila Harris-Mussi, a textile designer, maker and artist whose work explores the manipulation of different materials using knit as her leading practice.

The works will be exhibited on the Estate at Pensons, formerly a range of derelict farm-buildings that have been restored into a wonderful, contemporary space that retains all the heritage of its past.

Pensons opened in January 2019 and includes a restaurant with renowned chef Lee Westcott, creating dishes using the very best of locally grown and foraged produce from the Netherwood Estate and local suppliers.

The building project was designed with Hereford architects, Communion Design, whilst owner Peta Darnley commissioned much of the décor from local artisans and craftspeople, many of them graduates of HCA, including Jenny Crisp who created the huge-scale lampshades using willow from the Estate; Joel Black, whose steak knives incorporate walnut handles from fallen branches on the Estate and table bases and courtyard planters were made by Tony Ingafield from Bringsty Forge.

To continue this creative collaboration, the Netherwood Estate is offering studio space for an artist in residence whose work is inspired by the local landscape or culture.

Peta Darnley said: "We are delighted to have been involved with this wonderful HCA textile project. The process of natural dying is captivating as it recreates the tangible link between the textile and landscape. As the fabrics we use every day have become increasingly synthetic and mass produced, we have lost much of this connection to the natural world.

"The ancient craft of natural dying rediscovers this link between textiles and the great outdoors and this is beautifully demonstrated through this exhibition at Netherwood Estate.’

The exhibition is open to the public 10am to 5pm, from Friday, May 24 to Wednesday, May 29 at Pensons, Stoke Bliss.

For more details please contact Netherwood Estate office 01885 410 321.