The Fine Art Textiles Award
The Fine Art Textiles Award (FATA) is a biannual international juried exhibition open to all amateur and practising artists using textiles as their medium, and offering a prize of £5,000 for the winning piece. The Fine Art Textiles Award recognises the creative talents and skills of a broad community of high-calibre artists (including quilters) and celebrates textiles’ rightful place amongst high art.
FATA is a bi-annual Award which will run again in 2025.
Submissions will open in early 2025.
Our aim is to present work that meets the following criteria and is of a standard that:
– Would be considered as fine art and worthy of premium gallery space
– Transcends its craft or making process, standing alone as visual art.
– Is clearly rooted in and reflecting of the inspiration, source, concept or idea of the artist, with fully resolved composition.
– Is rooted within the medium of textile, meaning that cloth and thread are used as the pivotal materials/media.
– Both 2D and 3D works are welcome, with the exception of garments unless said garments present as fine art. All disciplines, processes and media are therefore welcome, as long as the key/pivotal materials are clearly rooted in textiles.
Our 2023 Shortlisters:
The FATA Exhibition
The Fine Art Textiles Award exhibition will be displayed at The Festival of Quilts in August 2025 and The Knitting & Stitching Shows in London and Harrogate in the autumn of 2025, so entrants must be prepared for their piece to be travelling for a period of four to five months.
Prizes
Entrants selected for the final exhibition are eligible for two awards:
- Overall Winner
One piece of work that stands out as fine art.
Prize £5,000 - Innovative Use of Textiles
One piece of work that clearly demonstrates a particularly complex and/or powerful approach of the use of textiles.
Prize £500
- The work must have been made within 24 months prior to 22nd May 2023.
- The work must not have been shown at any major exhibition in the UK (juried, solo, group or otherwise).
- The work is considered as fine art.
- The work transcends its craft or making process, standing alone as visual art.
- The work is clearly rooted in, and reflecting of the inspiration, source, concept or idea of the artist.
- The work is clearly rooted within the medium of textile, meaning that cloth and thread play a dominant role.
- The work can be 2D or 3D, with the exception of garments unless said garments present as fine art.
- Entrants must agree for their work to be available to the Organiser and any exhibiting partner for a period of five months from receipt (from July to December 2023).
- Successful applicants agree to grant permission to the Organiser to photograph the work as necessary, and/or use supplied images for catalogue, educational, marketing or promotional purposes.
- When sent to the organiser for exhibiting, the work must be professionally packaged and include:
- A label to identify it is part of FATA, with your full name and ‘from’ address.
- All hanging devices (wooden battens can be provided but ideally we ask you to enclose, rods, wires or other hanging mechanisms).
- A written explanation, diagram or image that clearly shows how the work is to be presented. The web entry form will ask whether a plinth or special presentation device will be needed, and the dimensions of such. Please note that such devices will be made of wood and painted white.
- Any necessary information or recommendations for re-packing.
- The deadline for submission is 22nd May 2023.
- Judging will take place by 5th June.
- Applicants will be informed of the judge’s initial shortlist by the 16th June.
- Successful applicants will need to either post or hand deliver the work to Bill Bowden Event Logistics in West Sussex (who will also securely store the work between shows).
Click here to download the entry requirements and submission criteria PDF.
Please pay attention to the following information before submitting:
- A maximum of one piece per applicant can be entered
- An administrative fee of £39.00 per entry will be charged. Entry fees are non-refundable.
- Submissions will be made online via the forms on The Festival of Quilts OR The Knitting & Stitching website (to submit your entry, please complete the entry form using the link below).
- Three digital images will be required as part of the submission process:
- One image showing the overall work, ideally as you wish to see it presented.
- Two detail images
- Please ensure images are professionally shot. Good quality images are essential to maximise your chance of selection. Files must be high resolution JPEG or TIFF files, a minimum of 300dpi. The file size should be between 1mb – 3mb (no larger than 8mb)
- Images must be uploaded as part of your entry via the online form
- For 2D pieces, the work must be no more than 3 linear metres in height or width
- For 3D pieces, the work must be no more than 3 metres in height, width or depth.
- Installations will be considered on a case by case basis.
The organisers will try hard to ensure all selected pieces are hung/installed within the exhibition but due to limited space at each venue, it may not be possible to display large–scale pieces in their entirety (if at all).
The jury will comprise of established artists working with textiles; arts curators, academics or critics / historians and a representative of Immediate Live. Selection will be made from digital images and the jury will get together via video link to build a shortlist. Once shortlisted applicants have been informed, they may be asked to submit additional images or information about their piece. We then intend to hold a second phase of judging where the ‘final cut’ will be decided.
In order to keep standards high, the organisers and jury reserve the right to decline short-listed works on viewing.
Applicants will need to take the submission criteria into account as it provides the key guidelines for the selection process, with those bulleted of key importance.
The jury will comprise of established artists working with textiles; arts curators, academics and critics / historians and a representative of Immediate Live. Selection will be made from digital images and the jury will get together via video link to build a shortlist. Once shortlisted applicants have been informed, they may be asked to submit additional images or information about their piece. We then intend to hold a second phase of judging where the ‘final cut’ will be decided.
In order to keep standards high, the organisers and jury reserve the right to decline short-listed works on viewing.
Please ensure your work is packaged adequately for travel between several different venues. It is difficult to advise on the best materials to use without understanding the nature of your work, but we usually advise acid free tissue paper to avoid creasing, plenty of bubble wrap to withstand transportation and strong cardboard for the outside packaging.
If your work is 3D or fragile in nature, we advise you to create a bespoke box or packaging that will protect it in transit (and that can be opened and re-packed numerous times).
If there are any specific packing instructions, please include with your parcel and also send in advance by email.
Where possible, please avoid using packaging that will tear or get damaged when opening as we will try our best to re-use your packaging after each show. Where possible please use shrink wrap tape instead of brown sticky tape, which can ruin packaging.
We do our best to ensure your packaging is returned to you but please be aware this is not always possible, and we cannot accept any responsibility for lost or damaged packaging.
On invitation to the short-list, successful applicants will ensure their work arrives between 10th and 23rd July 2023.
Post / courier your work to:
Bill Bowden Event Logistics
4 Dickens Close
East Grinstead
West Sussex RH19 1SE
If sending from outside the UK, please read our guidance about sending your work. Please be aware that if any charges are made for customs, you the maker will need to make payment in full. Any such fees will not be covered by the organisers.
If you are selected for FATA, you will be automatically covered by our insurance cover for pieces valued up to £1500. The work will be covered from the moment it arrives with us to the moment you receive it back.
Any work which exceeds this value and requires additional insurance can pay to cover their work at a cost to the maker of £10 for values between £1500 – £2000, £20 for values between £2001 – £2500 and so on in increments of £10.
It must be emphasised that, whilst every effort is made to ensure the safety of any
entry, it has to be recognised that some risk is inevitable and must be accepted by all entrants.
Exhibited works will be returned at the organiser’s expense no later than the end of January 2024.