Opening View: Thursday 5 May, 6-8pm

In the context of the 2011 National Year of Craft, the National College of Art and Design Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by textile designer and lecturer in Textiles at NCAD, Nigel Graham Cheney. ‘Gone to the Dogs’ brings together Cheney’s most recent work, a group of intricately embroidered and quilted textile prints. These richly coloured works feature images of decommissioned banknotes and purebred dogs, reflecting upon associations of value and speculation and playing on notions of the counterfeit. While celebrating the beauty and detail of the imagery of these, decommissioned banknotes, Cheney’s heavily hand-worked surfaces also invest a new value into the objects.

This body of work comprises of 6 large, wall-hung quilts. Approx 1.5 metre sq each. The bold, images which form part of the complex surfaces are digitally printed on Panama Cotton fabric before being hand and machine embroidered. The textile is then sandwiched in a layer of polyester wadding and a woven, woolen tweed lining before being free machine quilted.

This exhibition showcases a body of work that treads a line between craft, fine art and design. The work exploits both hand operated and computer driven machinery, placing it at the centre of current debates around the role of technology in contemporary craft practice. However, The ‘hand-made’ is also an essential element in this work, with the hundreds of hours spent stitching each piece clearly in evidence.

Nigel Graham Cheney completed his MA in textiles at Manchester Metropolitain University in 1991. He has worked as an embroidery designer, forcaster and illustrator as well as in academia in a number of lecturing roles. He had been full time lecturer in embroidery at the National College of Art and Design since 1993. He is the Republic of Ireland Selector for Lódz Tapestry Triennale, Poland, and has exhibited his work widely.