Tim Gresham’s tapestries explore light, colour and rhythm, and are influenced by landscape and modernist design. The time it takes to weave tapestries by hand, and the rhythm of the weaving process are integral to Gresham’s practice. Perpetual is Gresham’s first exhibition in nine years, presenting a series of eight tapestries spanning the last decade.
Gresham’s creative practice has long intertwined photography and tapestry. The landscape images he captures during dawn walks around Ballarat’s Lake Wendouree have guided many of the colour palettes throughout this exhibition. Gresham uses centuries old tapestry techniques such as hatching and half passing, which further reflect the influence of photography, evoking blurred edges, shifts between focus and blur, and the contrast of sharp and softened areas.
Starting with minimal elements of a concept and colour palette, Gresham draws the tapestry design onto the warp incrementally during the weaving process. While the weave is finely crafted and controlled, the abstract forms are encouraged to distort and stretch as they grow, giving life to the work. Colours shift across the surface, playing with effects of depth and perception. Gresham’s tapestries are improvised, sensual and spontaneous, yet created in extreme, precise slow motion.
Tim Gresham’s practice in woven tapestry spans more than 30 years. Gresham has exhibited widely including solo exhibitions at Craft Victoria in 2004 and Craft ACT in 2011. His work was included in the Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award 2023, Cicely and Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award, National Gallery of Victoria, 2003, and Group Exchange, the 2nd Tamworth Textile Triennial, 2014. He has work in public and private collections including The City of Darebin, La Trobe University Art Museum, Ararat Gallery TAMA (Textile Art Museum Australia) and Wangaratta Art Gallery.