Weaving world will descend on Scotland for award

Scotland is to host the 2019 Cordis Award, the biggest international award for tapestry weaving.

The judging panel for the honour has now been revealed.

Miranda Harvey, who co-founded the Cordis award with husband Ian Rankin, has been an amateur weaver for several years and will once again convene the judging panel consisting of: Fiona Mathison, former head of Tapestry at Edinburgh College of Art and former artistic director at Dovecot Studios, Jo Barker, internationally renowned tapestry artist and winner of the 2017 Cordis Prize, internationally acclaimed fashion and portrait photographer David Eustace, and Charlotte Higgins, chief culture writer for The Guardian.

The 2019 prize, at £8000, is the largest in the world for this art form. The winner will be announced at an exclusive event at Inverleith House in March 2019, and the exhibition of international shortlisted works will run until the end of May 2019.

Ian Rankin, trustee of the Cordis Trust, launched the next and biggest Cordis Prize for Tapestry earlier this year.

He said: ‘The trustees are delighted that the Cordis Prize will once again bring the best of world tapestry to Edinburgh next year.

‘The 2019 exhibition will enable the public – local, national and international – to see these magnificent pieces in the equally magnificent setting of Inverleith House.

‘I’m pleased and grateful to be working with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh who have enabled us to bring this unique exhibition and prize to the city.’

Sir Muir Russell, chair of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, said: ‘We welcome The Cordis Prize to Inverleith House.

‘This beautiful location provides a fitting setting for what I’m sure will be stunning works of art, and we look forward to welcoming visitors from across Scotland and around the globe.’

Edinburgh is a world centre for tapestry weaving. Many artists of international repute trained at the Edinburgh College of Art, where Archie Brennan and Maureen Hodge developed a cutting-edge degree course in the 1960s.

For more details click HERE.