My current focus is on creating three-dimensional woven sculpture suitable for public buildings as well as small-scale pieces for domestic settings. I respond to ideas, shapes and geometry in nature and in life. The concepts for these structures are meticulously worked out yet they have emotional connotations and impact. They bring together pervasive themes in my life and art: encompassing the study of fine art, a fascination with geometry, an abiding interest in science and the environment, a deep understanding of the structure of yarn and the practice of weaving.
Woven into the pieces is a precise structural regularity. This is enhanced or distorted by the chosen yarns - natural or man-made - and their structure. Ideas mature and evolve in my mind over time before the long making. Often a paper model is made first; then sketches, mathematical drawings and templates before warping, weaving and construction.
For many years I have had a fascination with silk and produced a range of distinctive hand-woven silk scarves and naturally dyed arashi shibori scarves.
I was born and brought up in suburban Australia. The Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons on the eastern border of Wales have been my chosen home for over twenty years and it is here that I find a sense of myself and of my work. I have exhibited and undertaken commissions both internationally and in the UK and have lectured and held workshops in Britain, Ireland, Australia and the U.S.A. My work has recently been seen in exhibitions in Great Britain, Australia, Canada, Romania, France, Poland, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Japan.
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2021 Sue Hiley Harris The Table, Hay-on-Wye, Wales
2019 Woven and Drawn The Drawing Room, Hay-on-Wye, Wales
2019 Woven and Drawn Cynon Valley Museum & Gallery, Aberdare
2018 Woven and Drawn Landsdown Gallery, Stroud, England
2017 Drawing, Weaving, Collage Tower Gallery, Crickhowell, Wales
2012 Sue Hiley Harris at Urbanity Vancouver, Canada
2011 Ancestor Bags Bankfield Museum, Halifax, England
2009 Ancestor Bags MOMA Wales, Machynlleth, Wales
2008 Hidden Waves Llanover Hall Arts Centre, Cardiff
2006 Woven Structures Mount Street Gallery, Brecon, Wales
2004 Woven Structures Ararat Gallery, Victoria, Australia
2003 Woven Structures Walford Mill Craft Centre, Dorset, England
2002 Woven Structures Brecknock Museum & Art Gallery, Brecon, Wales
2001 Sue Hiley Harris Thirty-Seven Lion Street, Hay-on-Wye, Wales
2001 Intersections Norwegian Church Arts Centre, Cardiff, Wales
2011 It Takes Two Parabola Centre, Cheltenham with Anna Glasbrook
2008 Form, Expression, Memory The Applied Arts Workshop of Gödöllö, Gödöllö, Hungary with Naoko Yoshimoto (Japan)
2008 Two Fold Top Hat Gallery, Ludlow with Helen Cass
2007 Confluence Craft in the Bay, Cardiff with sculptor Richard Renshaw
Sue had also exhibited regulary with The Welsh Group since 2013 and 56 Group Wales since 2015.
2022 Salon des Refuses Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, Wales2021-22 Buka Buka (Open Book) The Godown, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2021-22 East Meets West Waterfront Gallery, Milford Haven, Wales
2020/21 Wales Contemporary 2020 Waterfront Gallery, Milford Haven, Wales
2019 Chinese Folding Books and Works on Paper Art Central, Barry, Wales
2019 Celebration of Welsh Contemporary Painting Theatr Brychieniog, Brecon, Wales
2017 and 2015 Out of Nature Newport House, Ameley, Herefordshire, England
2014-15 Winter Exhibition Joseph Gibson Gallery, Shrewsbury, England
2013 Contemporary Arts Society for Wales members exhibition Caerphilly, Wales
2013 and 2012 Brecon Women's Festival Art Show Brecon, Wales
2012, 2002 and 1999 Triennale Internationale des mini-textiles Angers, France
2012 Agorŕ - 2012 Miniartextil Como Italy, touring to Paris and Venice
2012 1944 We Were Here: Black GIs in Dorset Walford Mill, Wimbourne, England
2011 Continere 7th International Triennial of Textile Arts of Tournai, Belgium
2011 Levels Stroud International Textile Festival, Museum in the Park, Stroud, England
2010 warp+weft Oriel Myrddin Gallery, Carmarthen, Wales and touring
2010 Paperworks 3 Bury Art Gallery, Bury, England
2009 Stad yr Ystad, State of the Estate Powys, Wales
2009 & 2006: Welsh Artist of the Year Exhibition Cardiff, Wales
2008, 2006 & 2004: Sculpture in the Garden Hergest Croft, Herefordshire
2007, 2006, 2005 & 2001 National Eisteddfod of Wales Visual Arts Exhibition
2007 International Tapestry Exhibition Graz, Austria
2007 Lin Sacré 2 e Biennale internationale du lin de Portneuf, Quebec, Canada
2007 Eight Artists on the Trail The Art Shop, Abergavenny, Wales and touring
2007 INDIGO: A Blue to Dye for Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, England and touring
2006 Water The Art Shop, Abergavenny, Wales
2006 Undercover Oriel Davies Open 2006, Newtown, Powys, Wales
2006 5th Romanian Textile Arts Triennial Bucharest, Romania
2006 Take pArt Knighton, Powys, Wales
2006 Sculpture in the Garden 2006 Galanthus Gallery, Hereford, England
2006 20/20 Walford Mill Gallery, Wimborne, Dorset, England
2006 Paperworks Bury Art Gallery, Bury, England
2005 Influenced by Architecture Walford Mill Gallery, Wimborne, Dorset.
2004/05, 2002 & 2000 Trame d'Autore Biennale D'Art Tessile, Chieri, Italy and touring
2005 Fold It Stroud House Gallery, Stroud, England
2004 Focalmix Visual Arts Festival, Ruthin, North Wales
2004 Visions in Paper and Cloth Ramsgate Library Gallery, Ramsgate, Kent
2003 Select III: covetable contemporary crafts Bradford, England
2003 Material Matters Stourbridge, England
2003 Blue The Chink in the Wall Contemporary Gallery, Lincolnshire, England
2003 The Sculpture Trail at Hebden Bridge Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, England
2003 Paper & Pulp Makers Guild in Wales, Cardiff Bay, Wales
2003 Sheep - A celebration in Art Brecknock Museum & Art Gallery, Brecon, Wales.
2003 & 2001 Fibre Visions(Fibre.Art.Wales) Llantarnum Grange, Wales and touring
2002-2003 Metamorphing Wellcome Trust/ Science Museum, Science Museum, London
2002 Gardening Gloves - fibre art in the open Norton Priory Museum, Cheshire, England
2001 The World Competition of Arts & Crafts Kanazawa 2001, Japan
2001 Roman Textile exhibition Carrnuntum, Austria
2001 5th Baltic Biennale of Weaver's Miniature Gdynia, Poland
2001 Following the Thread Bangor Museum & Art Gallery, Wales
2000 & 1998 International Hemp Competition Textilefest Drossendorf, Austria
1999-2000 New Weaves Stratford-upon-Avon, England
1998 Top to Toe Collection Gallery, Ledbury, England
1996 Warp Lines, Weave Lines Craft in the Bay, Cardiff, Wales
1995 Three Weavers Cowbridge, Glamorgan, Wales
1994-1995 Top to Toe Oriel Myrddin and touring Wales & England
1991 Wales in Europe Brussels, Belgium
1991 Newport showcase - S E Wales Arts Association Moving Pictures Wales x
Elected Chair of the Welsh Group, 2019
Elected a member of 56 Group Wales, 2015.
Elected a member of the Welsh Group, 2013.
Creative Wales major award from the Arts Council of Wales, 2013.
Guest weaver at the Anne Blinks Roundtable retreat in California, 2012.
Production grant from the Arts Council of Wales to produce work for solo exhibition at MOMA Wales, 2009
Invited by The Public Foundation of New Art of Gödöllö to lecture and exhibit with Naoko Yoshimoto (Japan) in Form, Expression, Memory, The Applied Arts Workshop of Gödöllö, Gödöllö, Hungary
Represented Wales at the International Tapestry Symposium, Graz, Austria; 2007 with support from International Opportunities Grant, Wales Arts International.
Selected to represent Wales at the 2e Biennale Internationale du Lin de Portneuf, Quebec, Canada (with support from Wales Arts International).
Editorial Committee for the Dictionary of Artists in Wales since 1945; appointed 2006
International Project Grant from Wales Arts International for solo exhibition at contemporary textile gallery in Ararat, Victoria, Australia, 2004.
Interrecce Grant from Wales Arts International for American visit as guest weaver at the Anne Blinks Roundtable retreat in California, 2003.
Time-out bursary from the Arts Council of Wales to develop large scale woven sculpture, 2001.
Bursary from the Arts Council of Wales to develop woven sculpture, 1999.
Appointed trustee for the Theo Moorman Trust for Weavers in 2001.
Member of the Makers Guild in Wales, 1989 to 1994 and 1998 to 2001.
Member of Fibre.Art.Wales, 1999 to 2006.
Selector for the Biennial exhibition of the Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, 990 and 2000.
Assessor for the Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers Certificate of Achievement in Handspinning, 1999, 2001 & 2007
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Brecknock Museum & Art Gallery, Wales
Contemporary Art Society for Wales
MOMA Wales, Machynlleth, Wales
Torfaen County Council, Wales
Walford Mill Crafts, Dorset
Collezione Civica di Fiber Art, Chieri, Italy
Musée d'Angers, Angers, France
2015 Awards for the 2016 Arts & Business Cymru Awards
2012 1944 We Were Here - Black GIs in Dorset. Walford Mill Crafts
2008/2009 Redevelopment of the 'Gap' site, Blaenavon. Torfaen County Council
2007 Holding 10 - supported by Arts Council, West Midlands
2006 Beacons Way Art Project, Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales
Private commissions for interior and exterior sculpture in the UK and abroad
1998 BSc(Hons), Open University, UK
1982 Bradford Diploma in Handloom Weaving (distinction), Bradford, UK
1974 Associate Diploma in Fine Art, Queensland College of Art, Brisbane, Australia
From 2010, publication and exhibition design, see Crooked Window website.
From 1985, lectures & runs workshops in the UK and abroad (Australia 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992 & 2004; the USA 1994, 2003 & 2012; Canada 2007 & 2012).
Member/director, Hay Makers (designer maker co-operative), Hay-on-Wye, 1989 to 2005.
Tutor at the National Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers biennial summer schools 2005, 1995 and 1989.
Weaving teacher for students with learning difficulties at Camp Hill, Llangadog 1990 to 1992.
Sole proprietor of mail order business supplying silk fibres, 1984 to 2001.
Moved to Wales and set up weaving studio, 1981.
Freelance technical illustrator & part-time hand spinning teacher, 1978 to 1981.
Civilian artist for the Ministry of Defence, 1976 to 1978.
Part-time lecturer in design & technical drawing; Queensland College of Art, 1972 to 1973.
Museum Artist at the Queensland Museum, Brisbane, Australia, 1968 to 1974.