Artist Grows Own Flax at Kestle Barton for New On-site Exhibition

Published On: 28 May 2025Last Updated: 28 May 2025By CornishStuff

📷 Alice Fox Root Weave

New exhibition ‘Flaxen’ to open on 21st June as part of Summer Solstice celebrations

Fibre artist Alice Fox has spent the past two years creating a new body of work using flax she helped grow, harvest and process at Kestle Barton. Her exhibition, Flaxen, will run from 21st June to 31st August 2025, showcasing pieces made from materials collected entirely on site.

Sustainability is at the heart of Alice’s practice. She has shifted away from conventional art and textile materials to focus on using gathered objects and natural processes. Her work blends experimental techniques with traditional textile skills, developed through a career rooted in both art and nature conservation.

During the 2024 growing season, Alice worked with Kestle Barton staff and volunteers to grow a crop of flax (Linum usitatissimum) in the circular plot at the end of the meadow. Together they sowed, tended, harvested, retted and processed the flax to create fibres for spinning, as well as drying plants at different stages for use in future work.

📷Alice Fox harvesting flax at Kestle Barton 2024

A seasonal and site-specific process

Throughout the process, Alice spent time in residence at Kestle Barton in every season. During each visit, she gathered materials for sculpture and made botanical inks, gradually building up a palette of place-based colours and textures. Her work reflects both a deep connection to the land and a practical understanding of traditional craft.

She received support from the Theo Moorman Trust for Weavers to purchase flax processing equipment, helping bring Flaxen to life.

Dr Ryya Bread, Curatorial Director of Kestle Barton, said: “Her finished pieces are steeped in a sense of the familiar, and yet offer up something utterly new – a hybrid of nature and human design.”

📷Flax in flower at Kestle Barton

Public opening on 21st June

The exhibition will launch on Saturday 21st June as part of Kestle Barton’s Summer Solstice celebrations. The day begins at 11:30am with a performance by the local St Keverne Band in the wildflower meadow, followed by the official opening at 1pm. Alice will give an artist talk and demonstrate flax processing and spinning techniques. Entry is free and all are welcome.

On Saturday 30th August, the last weekend of the exhibition, Alice will return to lead a workshop on ‘Botanical Inks at Kestle Barton’. For full details, visit the Kestle Barton website.

About Alice Fox

Following a career in nature conservation, Alice studied Contemporary Surface Design and Textiles at Bradford School of Art in 2011 and completed an MA in Creative Practice at Leeds Arts University in 2019. Her work has been acquired by collections in the UK and USA, including the Bodleian Libraries, Newcastle City Library and the International Quilt Museum in Nebraska. She was commissioned by TOAST and Kettles Yard, Cambridge, for their Re-New project in 2019. Alice has published books through Batsford and also self-publishes her work. More information is available at www.alicefox.co.uk.

About Kestle Barton

Kestle Barton is a historic Cornish farmstead above the Helford River. Following a conservation and conversion project, the old farm buildings have taken on new life, with one barn transformed into a contemporary gallery space that opened in 2010. From April to October, Kestle Barton hosts three free exhibitions and a programme of events. The surrounding barns and farmhouse offer stylish holiday accommodation, with profits supporting the gallery’s exhibition and event programme.

The gallery is open from 12th April to 1st November 2025, Tuesday to Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays, 10:30am to 5pm.

📷Alice Fox Root Weave