Andrew Warburton – Spotlight – Our World, Our Crisis

Works on show:
Calving, 2020. Hand tufted wall hanging 170cm x 150cm £1200
Ice Cube, 2022. Hand tufted sculpture 60cm x 60cm x 65cm High £1000

Andrew Warburton is a textile artist and rug maker in West Yorkshire and has a rug making company, Area Rugs based in Mirfield. He uses local wool spinners, yarn dyers and suppliers wherever possible to create his bespoke rugs and carpets and therefore reducing his carbon footprint.

Andrew was initially commissioned as part of the WOVEN festival in Kirklees to create the ‘Sculpting a Continent’ installation for Dewsbury town centre and created Calving to accompany the hand tufting workshops in June 2020. The piece is the culmination of the ideas and hand tufting construction techniques which inspired the commission. Andrew is using textiles to draw attention to the increase of colossal icebergs, some the size of Greater London, breaking off from Antarctica in these ‘calving events’ as a result of climate change. The textile wall hanging is intended to raise awareness about climate change and hopefully inspire people to make changes to lessen our impact on the environment.

The Ice Cube sculpture was created as a direct response to being caught in torrential rain in the middle of summer at the James Turrell Deer Shelter at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The origami folding of the sculpture emulated the giant bales of yarn that can be seen on my weekly visits to my local yarn suppliers and dyers in the Heavy Woollen District of Dewsbury.

To find out more about iceberg ‘calving’ events and why they matter, visit the British Antarctic Survey at https://www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/brunt-ice-shelf-in-antarctica-calves-giant-iceberg/

Website – arearugs.co.uk