Ellen Wilkinson is an artist and writer based in London.
She makes textiles that can be hung on a wall or draped around the body. Sitting between abstract art and functional design, her work questions the traditional notion that quilting and hand sewing belong only in domestic space.
In Ellen’s practice, modernist influences are made softer: lines are wavy, grids are loose, geometry ripples. Collaging together cottons and linens she collects and repurposes, including picked-apart clothing, Ellen’s quilts contain their materials’ histories, and through their laborious making, draw parallels with women’s often hidden labours.
Her writing appears in books, galleries, magazines and on digital platforms, and has been published by a-n, This is Tomorrow, FACT Liverpool, Printmaking Today, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery and artist-led initiatives across the UK.
As an editor, Ellen oversaw a-n’s 40 Years 40 Artists interview series, produced copy for the UK Parliament Art and Heritage Collections website and worked on The Healing Arts, a book about the pioneering arts project at Chelsea and Westminster NHS hospital.
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Get in touch with questions, collaborations or commissions: wilkinson.emd@gmail.com
Find info about commissioning a quilt here
Buy work through Basics of Love or East Bristol Contemporary