I work with textiles and draw with a typewriter, using stitch, weave and drawing to make work composed of multiple lines and repetitions. I am interested in the connection between textile and text, the repetitive act of doing and undoing, deconstructing and re-presenting. The physical act of making and the time taken are all embedded in the work. The work references textiles, literature, landscape/seascape and the domestic environment.

Since moving to Hartland, North Devon I have been looking at the way we interact with the land and shape the landscape. Learning to understand it by walking the well trodden and not so well trodden paths, that carve their way through the landscape. An interest in the domestic landscape, how we live here, the daily rituals and routines of rural life. Walking the same path over and over again, following the rhythm of the seasons. Observing the daily changes to the coastline and the expansive landscape beyond. Working out how I can capture the essence of this place and how it relates to my way of making work. I started to think about the way we interact with the landscape, how we shape it and it shapes us. The edges where the land ends and the sea begins, where towns and villages push outwards to claim the land and where the land reclaims deserted buildings, unused tracks and woodlands.

A process of; Walking

Observing

Reading

Drawing

Weaving

Stitching

Writing

Making

The work has always been about the seemingly mundane and repetitive acts of doing and undoing. Familiarity of the everyday, by repeating something we eliminate the anxiety of the unknown.

About

Vanessa Donnelly was born in Manchester in 1970 and is currently living and working in North Devon. She received a BA(Hons) Embroidery, Manchester Metropolitan University (1997 - 2000) and a MA Textiles, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester (2001).

She has been invited to exhibit in group shows at galleries throughout the UK, including The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle; Artist showcase, YSP; Etsy art show, London; and selected in numerous open call exhibitions in both the UK and Australia. In 2015 she had her first solo show The Undoing of Penelope at Bankley Gallery, Levenshulme, following a residency at Bankley Studios. In 2016/17 she was artist in residence as part of Castlefield Gallery, New Art spaces, Rochdale. In 2025 she opened her home studio in Hartland as part of the Artland Open Studios. She is part of the ‘Passing Through’ project with Studio 10, East Quay, Watchet, Somerset, 2025 and Studio KIND, Barnstaple, North Devon, 2026.

Biography