Jo Barker

Jo Barker (b. 1963, Cumbria, England) designs and weaves tapestries based upon a long-term interest in color. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is in numerous collections including the V&A Museum and the House of Lords.

With interests in drawing and painting, the designs employ a range of marks, shapes and patterns, the aim being to create tapestries that are luminous, sensual and atmospheric.

Statement: “My work reflects a long-term interest in color and its emotional impact on the viewer. I work on small designs that combine a gestural use of drawing, painting and collage. These become the guidelines for translation into woven tapestries. I aim to recreate and capture the immediacy of these marks. My tapestries have combinations of painterly areas; flat planes of color; drawn and printed marks. The images create illusions of space, depth of field or movement. I then change materials and techniques and work with soft, pliable yarns and threads to construct the image in warp and weft, weaving and carefully interlocking the tones and colors. The medium of tapestry has a unique presence and sensuality. For me it lends itself to the use of intense color and provides a richness of surface texture which is very different from paint. Once a woven fabric is made from the yarns the light is absorbed rather than reflected creating a far denser, more sumptuous quality."