The Loving Earth comes to Wincanton

Touring Quaker exhibition uses textile art to explore the threats to the natural world

A Quaker-led textile art exhibition which looks at the threats to the natural world from environmental and climate change – and human behaviour – is coming to Wincanton over the weekend of 7th to 9th July.

Loving Earth is an international touring exhibition of panels by artists of all ages, some highly skilled textile experts and others total novices. Originally shown in 2019, it has toured widely, from Quaker meeting houses and the House of Commons to venues across Europe and the USA. It has previously been seen in Dorset and Somerset and is now in its final year olf touring, returning to the south west and makiing its first visit to Wincanton’s Quaker Meeting House. Of the more than 400 panels that have been made since the start of the project, around 60 are exhibited at the smaller venues.

The exhibition at the House of Commons earlier this year was the result of the Speaker of the House, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, seeing it in his own constitutency of Chorley. The panels have also been exhibited internationally in Ireland, France, Slovenia and the USA. The show at the Scottish Maritime Museum was praised as one of the best cultural events in Scotland for COP 26.

A need for action

The Loving Earth project, initiated in 2019, was aimed at helping individual and communities in the UK and further afield to consider and respond to the climate crisis in a personal and original way. Each textile panel addresses threats to our environment from a different perspective, and is accompanied by details from the artist on why a theme is close to their heart and what responsive action they have taken. Places, people and wildlife are all highlighted and numerous questions about the climate emergency are raised.

‘The project aims to help people engage creatively and constructively with loss and environmental breakdown, without being overwhelmed,’ says Linda Murgatroyd, clerk of Quaker Arts Network and project co-founder. ‘It illustrates a variety of actions individuals are taking, and their concerns that much more is urgently needed.’

One important aspect of the exhibition is the deep care and concern it displays for the survival of our planet and an awareness that, while none of us can solve the climate crisis alone, we can all be part of the solution

• For more information about this Quaker Arts Network exhibition, see the Loving Earth website