Frances Crowe Fibre Artist at Grange Studio

Frances Crowe's specialist tapestries range from large-scale wall hangings to small, framed, textured treasure pieces. Her inspiration comes from the landscape around her home in the idyllic setting of rural County Roscommon. Frances's studio is located approximately 10km from the centre of Roscommon town. On display at the studio is a selection of large, handwoven wall hangings made from all-natural materials, wool weft, and cotton warp, along with smaller pieces. Frances is one of the few craft workers/artists to practice this ancient traditional craft in the present day. The colours, textures, sounds and smells of daily life through the seasons form the basis of her designs, which are first observed items like haystacks, blackbirds, ploughed fields, sheep, and more. The next step in Frances' process is to transform the image into a suitable design for tapestry. She then puts on the warp and begins to weave the piece. This is a very slow process and requires many hours of isolated workmanship in her rural studio. Frances runs camps for kids and adult weaving classes. A trained art teacher, she finds every opportunity to teach drawing, spinning, natural dyeing, weaving, painting, and designing. Frances runs classes and courses catered to the specific needs of the learner and will work with groups of up to 10 in the studio. As the studio is located in her home, it is very relaxed, with a cup of tea always on offer. The gallery is displayed on the walls of the working studio. Recently, Frances produced a selection of prints of her large wall hangings and greeting cards to give you an opportunity to purchase a more affordable piece of her work.

attractions