Press Release

The Craft NI gallery on Royal Avenue, Belfast, launches a new exhibition this month as part of
August Craft Month, an all-island promotion of craft and design.

Exhibition: Tamzen Lundy has art in ‘Pathways’

The Craft NI gallery on Royal Avenue, Belfast, launches a new exhibition this month as part of August Craft Month, an all-island promotion of craft and design.

The exhibition is entitled “Pathways” and runs from the 3rd of August through the 15th.

Tamzen Lundy (previous chairperson of Feltmakers Ireland and now full-time practising textile artist and teacher) has a very personal piece selected for this month-long exhibition.

Her piece is called “Extinguished”. This piece represents the number of children, minors and young people that were killed during “The Troubles “in Northern Ireland. Innocent lives quickly extinguished.

Each life is represented by a lit match, burned bright but short. The ground fabric is wet felted 100% wool, representing the earth and land. Then all is encased between this wool and a shroud of lightweight silk chiffon, representing the ethereal, precious and fragile life and beyond.

The matches are connected by a red linen thread, each knotted and linked together. “The Red Thread that Connects” is an Eastern concept of connectedness, pathway or destiny.

The piece is 85cm x 85cm (Wool, Silk Chiffon, Linen and Wooden Matchsticks).

The work is also supported by a video piece showing the lighting, burning, and the extinguished matches as they pile up over time.

Tamzen was born in Belfast in the late 70’s, and this sense of place often informs her work.

Previous pieces, such as “The Ballymurphy Precedent”, have been shown with Feltmakers Ireland as part of their international exhibition in Finland in 2018. More recently, her sculptural piece “Bridges not Bombs” was shown in Phoenix Park in 2022.

Tamzen is a textile professional with 25+ years’ of experience. She has worked on all sides of fashion retail, design and manufacturing. Since 2020 she has focused her time on her own arts practice, describing herself as a felt maker and textile artist.

Her commercial work is playful and inspired by stories and the Irish landscape; this is sold in several small independent retailers across our Island as well as direct.

More information about Tamzen, as well as workshop dates, can be found on her website – www.tamzenlundydesigns.ie