The Shuttle Series, a new body of large scale woven textile artworks by Margo Selby, is inspired by the intricate nature of the circuit boards and woven wire used in technology. The narrative parallels the woven threads of textiles and the wired connections of circuit boards and electrical engineering.

This series follows the artist’s acclaimed moonlanding installation at Somerset House, which was created alongside a musical score for 6 strings written by Helen Caddick.  It tells the story of the women weavers who were involved in the making of the memory core and circuit boards for the Apollo 11, which in 1969 successfully landed on the moon. 

Through precise, graphic compositions and flowing colour transitions, the work explores the synergy between art, craftsmanship and engineering, considering the ways in which woven structures can create both functionality and visual stimulation.

A joyful textile public art installation by Margo Selby, immersive in colour, form and sound, suspended from the heights of Blackburn Cathedral - is formed of 100 metres of printed and pleated fabric in celebration of Standfast & Barracks’ Centenary year, each single tone chosen by 160 employees with a memory or story in mind.

A sound piece by composer Peter Coyte accompanies the installation, with recordings from Morecambe Brass Band.

A co-commission by The National Festival of Making and British Textile Biennial.

The handwoven Nexus Series are made on a 24 shaft dobby loom. Making is a lengthy process of first designing the composition with colours and proportions, preparing the loom, winding the yarn and setting up the warp – before weaving can even begin. A work is made of hundreds of threads each hand-placed and positioned.

Margo often works in series, developing an idea, in colour and composition, across a number of unique works. Nexus describes this connection, as each work links to the one before.

Handwoven Cotton/Silk/Tencel, these works were made in 2023/24.

Image credit | Cristina Schek | British Art Fair 2024

This series, begun in 2022, is Margo’s ode to the square – the primary woven form. An infinite number of variations can be found as the compositions oscillate between dynamism and symmetry. They are abstract colour studies of full chroma and desaturation. The modular pattern of intersecting orthogonals recalls the iconography of both the Bauhaus and Constructivist Art movements.

Margo's use of colour is instinctive and joyful – blocks of colour interacting. The proportions are arrived at by way of combining intuition and measurement. In a game of scale, moving from micro to macro, each composition is a development of weave structures blown-up and abstracted. The method of production requires exact planning and complex mathematical calculation.

These works are available through the Margo Selby Studio or our appointed gallery partners.

The Zoetrope series, begun in 2020, centres on a narrow vertical format, displayed in multiples. The graduating forms give the impression of motion and light taking inspiration from the zoetrope; a playful nineteenth century device that gives the optical illusion of movement.

Zoetrope I, II and III are conceived as triptychs, but works in this series can be commissioned for larger sequences (or pairs). Smaller studies are also available.

These works are available through the Margo Selby Studio or our appointed gallery partners.