Caron Penney (b. 1970, Southampton) is a British artist specialising in wall based handwoven tapestry. She received her BA in Constructed Textiles at Middlesex University in 1993. Her work has been nationally and internationally exhibited including shows at David Parr House (Cambridge), Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery (Petersfield), Somerset House (London), Royal Academy of Arts (London), Australian Tapestry Workshop (Melbourne), amongst others. She has been a selected artists for Collect Open an initiative of the Crafts Council, she has been awarded an Arts Council Grant for her project ‘The Red Line’ for the Collect Art Fair. Penney has work in private and public collections including the Rumi Foundation. Her work has been featured in House & Garden, Selvedge Magazine, Rosa Magazine, Embroidery Magazine.

Penney is a master weaver and works from the studio of Atelier Weftfaced, which she opened in 2013. She has worked with many artists over her 30 year career including Martin Creed, Tracey Emin, Gillian Ayres, Bill Jacklin and many others.

Artist Statement

Words in long sentences take time with me, they confuse, misguide, tell untruths and suggest hidden meanings. They play games, twist and turn, dance on the page and isolate me. My left and right are one and the same, spin me around and I am marooned.

Special, difficult, stupid, a problem.

I meet my injustices and stare them in the face but hide them from view - shame!

Creating a new world of expression with power, directness, softness, without judgement becomes of critical importance.

In this time of rhetoric, political posturing, distrust, confusion and misinformation, a single word seems most appropriate. Listen, see, stop, say no, take control, be open, do not hide.

Look at my art practice and you will see abstract compositions, symmetry of thought and a simple use of language. Weaving seems to bring out the best in me, it’s solitary and calming, and it allows me to have a voice, sometimes with strength and sometimes softly with repetition and balance. When I shout, it is for the empowerment of others, to find or see the balance, not anger and one sidedness. Taking on my injustices I reflect on the world and I turn thread into weaving, which grows into a tapestry, to become a voice for the hidden.