Llinos Owen (b.1998) is a Welsh Fine Art textile artist, originally from North Wales and currently based in London. The artist moved to London in 2017 to study Fine Art: Painting at Wimbledon College of Arts (UAL) and graduated in 2020. Since graduating, Owen has developed her artistic practice to be mostly textiles based and has exhibited her textured tapestries in many group exhibitions in the UK such as Delphian Gallery’s “Synthesis” at the Saatchi Gallery and the “Let’s Talk About Textiles” Exhibition at The Other Art Fair in early 2022, as well as her first Solo Exhibition titled “Thank Your Lucky Stars” at Orleans House Gallery in 2021. Llinos Owen continues to explore her personal narratives and subject matters in her London studio, creating painting inspired imagery with her textiles materials.
Llinos Owen’s autobiographical textile practice begins with personal written and visual material from her diary. Writing has always served as a ritualistic element within the artist’s life from an early age as a way to process different experiences and thoughts relating to the vulnerable themes of personal relationships, mental health and anxiety. Although the artist initially wrote in her diary as a form of meditation, the documentation of these experiences unexpectedly, but naturally evolved to become the starting point, a key element to her creative process, and the main source of inspiration for her textile practice.
Llinos Owen's textile practice explores memories, relationships, and personal life experiences to create textured tapestries focusing youth culture inspired figurative imagery through the medium of punch needle rug hooking. Owen’s highly personal textile practice explores themes relating to the artist’s identity as she views her diaristic inspired pieces as forms of visual storytelling and self portraiture.
Identity and gender are important themes within Owen's practice as the materials and techniques she explores acknowledges the history of feminine identities by focusing on historically women dominated craft, which blurs the lines between the domestic, the mundane and the gallery space. Although the artist predominantly works with textile materials, Owen's practice is heavily drawing focused and still considers her thinking and approach to making as being very painterly.
