CAREN GARFEN

news

Values become condensed and enriched in miniature

The Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard, 1964

26 October 2024

My artwork, Moral Compass, has been selected by Fibre Arts Australia for the International Art Textile Biennale 2025. It is a privilege for my work to have been chosen for this outstanding touring exhibition. The work of 39 artists has been selected from Australia, Belgium, France, Hungary, Israel, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Slovak Republic, United Kingdom and USA.

22 October 2024

Delighted that my new artwork, Moral Compass, has been chosen by the Surface Design Association, USA, for their Fall online exhibition Material Flux, 1 November - 31 December 2024. Moral Compass was selected out of over 700 pieces for this show. Material Flux explores the transformative potential inherent in fiber and textile art by focusing on the processes of deconstruction and reconstruction. This exhibition includes works that manipulate existing fiber-based material (both 2 and 3-dimensional) into new works of art and/or reimagines textile as a medium. Artworks highlight the act of breaking down and how rebuilding can breathe new life into materials, telling fresh stories through their evolved forms.

8 October 2024

Thrilled that my artwork, Remember, has been selected for The Broderers’ Exhibition: The Art of Embroidery, which will open on 25 February 2025 at the Bankside Gallery, London.

2 October 2024

Delighted to hear that a new artwork, Sensitive Content, created especially for this submission, has been selected for Flash, 23rd International Mini Textile Exhibition in Bratislava, Slovakia. The show will take place from 23 November 2024 to 15 January 2025.

30 September 2024

It is a great pleasure to formally open my solo exhibition, Fabricated?, which is taking place in London, by invitation. This exhibition showcases all the artworks that I have created since 2019, exploring the themes of the Holocaust and contemporary antisemitism :LINK

29 September 2024

I feel privileged that a new artwork, He loves me he loves me not, which follows a difficult and poignant brief, has been selected for Totgeliebt (loved to death). The piece will be exhibited in Semmelweisklinik in Vienna, Austria, in November 2024.

12 September 2024

Delighted to have been invited by SDA, to discuss my artwork in detail, in particular the Selection series, alongside two outstanding fiber artists Robin L Bernstein and Mirka Knaster, both residing in the USA. Please click here for more information and to register :LINK

TEXTILE TALK, September 25, 2PM ET (7pm UK)
Dignifying the Dead: Memorialization Through Fiber Art

14 April 2024

Wonderful to receive a copy of Cloth Stories by Ali Ferguson, who invited me to share my artwork, Guilt Biscuits (2014) and Babes in the Woods (2022), in her latest publication with Batsford Books.

8 April 2024

Honoured to have been in conversation with Monica Bohm-Duchen, art historian, lecturer, writer and founding director of Insiders Outsiders. I discussed in detail my artworks that relates to the Holocaust and contemporary antisemitism :LINK

19 January 2024

Thrilled that my artwork Virus has been selected for Tolerance Limit, VIII International Triennial of Textile Arts 2024, Szombathely Gallery, Hungary, which will take place from 21 June - 31 August 2024.

14 September 2023

Honoured to have been interviewed by Joana Alarcão of Insights of an Eco Artist for her magazine Art and Politics. ‘Threaded Narratives: An Interview with Caren Garfen’ can be read here :LINK

19 July 2023

Wonderful to have my work featured again in The Art House’s dynamic online magazine ‘The Jewish Art Magazine’. My latest pieces, Cut it Out, Next Year in Jerusalem, Pressurised and Selection II can found on pages 134 -142 :LINK

17 May 2023

Delighted that @haus_a_rest has chosen Worst Case Scenario from 3,500 submissions over the past 12 months for its online Summer ex-Hibition, Issue 38, which goes live in June. My artwork was originally published in 2022 in Issue 27 - All Things Tiny.

13 May 2023

Cut it Out is currently on display in The 62 Group of Textile Artists’ exhibition ‘Tailored’ at Sunny Bank Mills in Yorkshire. It is open until 2 July which gives plenty of time to visit this excellent show.

14 April 2023

Thrilled that I have been selected by The Amen Institute for the Jewish Artists of the Week Fellowship 2023. The committee judged 150 strong international applications and out of those chose 24 artists. They stated “your captivating work and impressive background compelled our panel to confidently welcome you into our distinguished 2023 J.A.W. fellowship cohort.”

21 March 2023

Honoured that my work has been featured in an article titled Inspiring Action Against Antisemitism Through Art, via Art Against Antisemitism, a part of the Combat Antisemitism Movement platform based in Kansas, USA :LINK

13 March 2023

Really happy that my artwork The Weight of the World features in a TextileArtist.org article titled The Power of Simple Hand Stitches. It went live this morning. Follow the link to read about this piece and those of other esteemed artists who are featured too :LINK

27 February 2023

Delighted to hear that I have been selected by Art from Heart as an ‘Artist of the Month’, sharing this space with three other artists from Russia (painting), USA (drawing) and Poland/UK (painting). Follow the link to read a super article about my work and that of the other winners :LINK

5 February 2023

I have been jury selected for Fellow Membership of the Jewish Art Salon, a global network for Jewish visual art which was established in 2008 and is based in New York City. I regard this as a huge accolade and am thrilled :LINK

14 November 2022

Honoured and delighted that Selection II has been selected for Quo Vadis? The 7th International Riga Textile and Fibre Art Triennial Tradition and Innovation, which will take place in Latvia from 15 June - 17 September 2023.

273 entries from 43 countries were judged, and 79 artworks from 30 countries were selected for this prestigious exhibition.

12 October 2022

I had a wonderful morning one day in August being interviewed by Merion Willis of LoveCrafts and Jamie Chalmers aka Mr X Stitch. We talked about my work and ideas, and I am delighted that the podcast has gone live today :LINK

The thing I really love is the documentary, it’s the connection, because you are using tools that are familiar, embroidery, dolls houses, these are things that promote nostalgic senses in us, and then you’re applying those with a research-based methodology to create documentary and infographics. We can watch documentaries about these things but you’re presenting them in a different medium, a medium that we are familiar with, and as we know with needlework, if you politicised it, you get the contrast between the domestic simplicity people are used to and the content that people are receiving, and you’ve taken that to the nth degree. Jamie Chalmers aka Mr X Stitch

6 October 2022

The Weight of the World (The 62 Group of Textile Artists’ Essence Gallery) and Babes in the Wood (Fine Art Textiles Award Gallery) can be found at The Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace from 6 - 9 October, and can be seen again in Harrogate in November.

4 August 2022

Very happy that eight of my recent works are featured in The Jewish Art Magazine, presented by The Jewish Art House, and can be viewed on pages 39-51 :LINK

14 July 2022

Delighted that the artwork Else & Edgard will feature in Circle Quarterly Art Review Magazine which will be published in late August. Update: Published 20 August, featured on page 44 :LINK

6 July 2022

Worst Case Scenario features in ‘Miniature, All Things Tiny’, with Haus A Rest Zine, Issue 27, which has just been published online :LINK

17 June 2022

Thrilled that The Weight of the World has been shortlisted for The Fine Art Textiles Award exhibition which will take place at The Festival of Quilts, Birmingham, (18 - 21 August), and The Knitting & Stitching Shows, London (6 - 9 October) and Harrogate (17 - 20 November). Over 160 entries were received this year and 14 artworks were selected for the shortlist.

13 June 2022

Delighted that Worst Case Scenario will feature in ‘All Things Tiny’, Haus A Rest Zine, Issue 27, which will be published online in July.

3 May 2022

Fairy Tales, Myths and Stories (Mächen, Mythen und Geschichten) is now open at Galerie Handwerk in Munich, Germany. Ladybird Ladybird and Fragments are on display. This group exhibition is open until 11 June 2022.

1 April 2022

Really happy that five of my artworks, The Means To An End, Touch Paper, The Shutter Came Down, Selection and Recipe for Disaster, have been featured in Artists Responding To… which has been published as a hardcopy magazine and an online issue and can be ordered here :LINK

21 March 2022

Delighted that many of my new artworks including Ladybird Ladybird and Worst Case Scenario have been featured in ‘Collect Art’, Women Art Special Edition magazine.

31 January 2022

Honoured that I have been invited to participate in Fairy Tales, Myths and Stories, (Mächen, Mythen und Geschichten) at Galerie Handwerk in Munich, Germany. I will be exhibiting Ladybird Ladybird and Fragments. The exhibition will take place from 3 May to 11 June.

27 January 2022

Delighted that the Star Witness and Selection artworks have been featured on The Organ website :LINK

19 January 2022

So pleased that The Means to an End has been selected for Haus A Rest online Zine, Issue 22 “TIME”. Now live :LINK

17 January 2022

So proud to have Swallowed up, an artwork relating to eating disorders, in the online exhibition ‘It’s My Life’ with The House of Small. A brave, honest and sensitive show looking at human frailties. From 29 January to 28 February :LINK

29 December 2021

Thrilled that two artworks, Selection and Star Witness, have been selected for ‘Cultivate Presents Deflect’ online international exhibition, pages 103-107. Show is now open :LINK

28 December 2021

Delighted that Recipe for Disaster and Family Tree have been featured in Boomer, an international magazine. The theme of this edition is Identity :LINK

10 December 2021

Honoured that Flag Up has been selected by the esteemed Broderers’ Guild for their Art of Embroidery exhibition which will take place in London at the Bankside Gallery from 22 - 27 February 2022.

10 November 2021

Delighted to have been in conversation with Ed Horwich, Chief Executive of JSCN, Jewish Small Communities Network, this evening on Zoom. We discussed my practice and some of my works in detail in front of an online audience. The recording is now available on YouTube :LINK

26 October 2021

I was contacted by the V&A Museum in early February of this year and was commissioned to a create video. They were particularly keen to highlight how modern creators have come to the art form of stitch and to showcase the working process. As we were in the second wave of the pandemic I had the challenge of filming my own work and creating a voiceover, these were then forwarded to the V&A to edit. So excited that the video, which focusses on Fragments, is now live courtesy of @vamuseum Instagram account under ‘Videos’ :LINK

24 October 2021

Thrilled that Labelled has been selected for Mirror Mirror on the Wall, The House of Smalls (House II) online exhibition, a group show of 40 artists, which will open on 6 November and run until 4 December :LINK

13 October 2021

Pleased that Family Ties has been selected to go forward to the second stage selection for The 62 Group of Textile Artists' exhibition Conversations: People, Places, Materials, Objects, at St Barbe Museum & Art Gallery in Hampshire, in the new year.

12 August 2021

Delighted to have had a one-to-one conversation with Ruth Singer for her Podcast #3 Making Meaning which can be listened to on Ruth’s website :LINK

27 July 2021

So proud that Fragments has been selected by The 62 Group of Textile Artists’ and other esteemed judges for Connected Cloth: exploring the global nature of textiles exhibition at The British Textile Biennial which will take place from 25 September to 28 November at The Whitaker in Lancashire :LINK

27 June 2021

Honoured that Shattered Dreams has been selected for one of ten awards by the jury of the 11th Edition of the Internationale d’Art Miniature. The works of more than 140 artists from 21 countries including Canada, United States, Mexico, France, UK, Croatia, Israel, Malaysia and Australia are on display until 5 September in Quebec, Canada.

21 June 2021

Thrilled that A Taste of Things to Come has been shortlisted for The Janome Fine Art Textiles Award. 17 artists’ works were selected from 200 submissions. It has been on display at The Festival of Quilts, NEC, Birmingham (29 July to 1 August) and will be exhibited again at The Knitting & Stitching Show, Janome FATA Gallery, Alexandra Palace, London, from 7 - 10 October 2021.

Down the Line which was shortlisted for The Vlieseline Fine Art Textile Award in 2020 will be on display at the same time in the Vlieseline FATA Gallery.

20 May 2021

Delighted to have been interviewed by Jo Andrews, journalist, weaver, and founder of Haptic & Hue, in her podcast A Feeling of Sorrow :LINK

I think your work is extremely powerful and moving and I wish you courage and a skilled needle in taking it forward. Jo Andrews