Visitors to Stirling Castle have the chance to enjoy – and buy – beautiful and affordable works by some of the finest weavers in the world.

The castle and the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum are jointly hosting an exhibition of small tapestries – under A3 in size – entitled Weaving Within. There are 91 pieces from 55 exhibitors, with around half in each venue. They include imaginative creations using materials of many kinds including silk, mohair, linen and bamboo and are designed to look beautiful in people’s homes. All are by members of the renowned British Tapestry Group which was formed in 2005 to promote this ancient technique – which is undergoing an exciting resurgence – by bringing it to the notice of a wider audience.

Among the exhibitors is Louise Martin, a member of the team which is hand-weaving the fabulous Stirling Tapestries some of which are hanging in the Chapel Royal. Louise, who has taught, exhibited and worked as far afield as India, is one of three weavers based in the public studio at the castle. She said: “The exhibition work has a contemporary feel and is very different to the medieval tapestries we are creating for the castle. “Medieval tapestries were huge, they were works of propaganda, status symbols, and ways to keep a room warm. “But modern weavers have reinvented tapestry-making and the pieces in the exhibition are small, they are artistic jewels, and are at a price that means anyone can have them in their home.”

The exhibition also aims to encourage visitors to think about learning to weave for themselves. “When people see a medieval tapestry it is so large they think they could never do something like that, but we wanted to show people that tapestries can be small and are something people can create for themselves,” said Louise.

The public response has been excellent, with visitors enjoying the contrast of the medieval-style tapestry in the studio and the utterly modern works in the exhibition. One of the two pieces Louise has on show, inspired by Egyptian Coptic tapestry and linen of the early Christian era, has already been sold. All the exhibition pieces are originals and are available for sale at the site with prices ranging from £39 to £1,500.

The part of display at the castle is in the exhibition room in the Nether Bailey, is included in the standard castle ticket price and continues until 8 November.

The group’s aims are to:

To find out more visit the British Tapestry Group website

Dumbarton Road
Stirling,
FK8 2RQ

Tuesday to Saturday, 10.30am-5.pm, Sunday 2pm-5pm

Free

For further information visit The Smith Art Gallery website