Althea McNish - the British Textile Designer with an eye for colour

                                       

Althea McNish in action (image courtesy of www.repeatingislands.com)

As a textile student, a visit to see the Althea McNish exhibition was a must and last weekend we had the perfect opportunity - a field trip to Manchester and the Whitworth.

McNish, a British Textile Designer who moved to Britain in the 1950s from Trinidad, brought a particular style of art and design to the textile industry, almost singlehandedly revolutionising style in both female fashion and interiors.

She was renowned for bold colour, and the exhibition on her life works, (McNish died in 2020), did not disappoint. 

The exhibition space was mostly dedicated to her beautiful screen-printed fabrics.

But there was also lots of examples of her prints in soft furnishings...

And McNish was also involved in the styling and fashioning of manufacturer's design stages...

Interestingly, while we all fell in love with the exuberant display, not many of us would feel comfortable with the designs in our living room! They were certainly of an era and that sense of maximalism really captured the period of celebration post war and beyond.

McNish's designs however really inspired me and I can't wait to explore screen printing, taking a simple piece of art and running with it through the clever use of colour - McNish certainly had an eye for colour.