Nature Machine: 6th Tamworth Textile Triennial.
Tamworth Regional Gallery is proud to present Nature Machine: The 6th Tamworth Textile Triennial, a major national exhibition that showcases the vision and innovation of contemporary textile practice across Australia.
Curated by Blake Griffiths, Nature Machine brings together leading and emerging textile artists whose practices reflect the profound and often complex ways makers grapple with the complex relationship between hand, body and machine. With boldness and care, the exhibition asks: how can artists create in ways that sustain, rather than deplete, the materials and ecologies they work with? The artists of Nature Machine experiment with growing, harvesting, recycling, and reimagining textile resources, while others turn to the virtual, embracing artificial intelligence and machine production to explore and challenge the changing role of textiles in a technological age.
From permaculture to programming, each artist demonstrates how making can become a form of ecological stewardship; their material innovations and technical mastery revealing not only the ingenuity of Australian textile practice today but also, the deep responsibility artists feel toward the environments that sustain them.
The exhibition celebrates the diverse ways artists are responding to urgent environmental concerns, protecting traditions, revaluing craft knowledge, and proposing new ways of living with, and making from, the world around us.
Artists include:
Abdullah M. I. Syed | Alycia Bennett | Anita Johnson | Cara Johnson | Ellen Ferrier | Jackson Farley | Jacky Cheng | Jacqueline Stojanović | Janette Murrungun | Jennifer Robertson | Joseph E Burgess | Juanella Donovan | Juanita McLauchlan | Lauren Kerjan | Lucia Dohrmann | Margaret Woodward & Justy Phillips | Rebecca Mayo
The Tamworth Textile Triennial has a rich history beginning with competitive art exhibitions organised by the Tamworth Arts and Craft Society in the 1960s. These early exhibitions grew into a nationally significant event that has, for over fifty years, championed fibre and textile arts in Australia. Today, the Triennial stands as the most important platform for contemporary textile practice in the country - providing a vital space for artists to explore pressing ideas, connect with audiences, and to continue to sustain, and celebrate the National Textile Collection.
Nature Machine: 6th Tamworth Textile Triennial will open at Tamworth Regional Gallery in September 2026 before touring nationally.
Tamworth Regional Gallery – 19 September 2026 to 22 November 2026
Glasshouse Port Macquarie – 2 April to 23 May 2027
Craft and Design, Canberra – 27 May to 10 July 2027
Blue Mountains Cultural Centre – 30 July to 19 September 2027
Griffith Regional Art Gallery – 1 October 2027 to 14 November 2027
Fabrik Lobethal SA (Adelaide Hills) – 26 November 2027 to 30 January 2028
Swan Hill Regional Gallery – 19 February 2028 to 30 April 2028
Rosny Farm, Rosny Park – 12 May to 25 June 2028
Burnie Regional Art Gallery – 1 July to 13 August 2028
Wangaratta Art Gallery – 26 August 2028 to 5 November 2028
Museum of Art and Culture, Lake Macquarie – November 2028 to January 2029
For information, interviews or images please contact:
Media Contact: Lydia McIntosh
Email: Lydia.McIntosh@tamworth.nsw.gov.au
Curator: Blake Griffiths
Email: blakehgriffiths@gmail.com
Bio:
Blake Griffiths is a textile artist, curator and arts leader whose practice draws on research, critical inquiry and community engagement to explore how ‘textile thinking’ can shape contemporary art and culture. He is the Director of Mosman Art Gallery, where he leads the strategic direction of one of Australia's leading public galleries and its diverse exhibition, collection and public programs.
Blake has worked with major collecting institutions across Australia in both curatorial and leadership roles, developing ambitious exhibitions, cultural strategies and community-focused initiatives. His curatorial practice examines the intersections of textiles, technology, material culture and social history, with a particular interest in how craft can shape contemporary conversations.
As an artist, Blake has exhibited nationally, including in Radical Textiles at the Art Gallery of South Australia, and his recent solo exhibition Trading Cloth at Wangaratta Art Gallery. In 2026, he was appointed Curator of the 6th Tamworth Textile Triennial: Nature Machine, continuing his commitment to championing contemporary textile practice and supporting artists working at the forefront of the field.
