Bio + Statement
Statement
McVetis' practice centres on drawing and process, driven by a deep fascination with the language of time, geology, and cosmology. He explores these themes primarily through textile-based work, particularly hand stitching, crafting intricate, shifting forms and installations. Through his meticulous making, he examines ideas of repetition and the subtle interplay of sameness and difference within it. His works map space and visually represent the passage of time. Recent projects delve into our connection to material, place, and deep time, with a poignant focus on his family's mining heritage—a lineage deeply rooted in materiality and labour.
Read the story 'Labour of Love'.
“In the use of repeating patterns that record and reveal the process of making, there is an affinity, too, with composer Steve Reich. As McVetis puts it, “Even though I am doing the same stitch over and over again […] there’s a rhythm, a flow that changes across each cube.” It is an approach that echoes Reich’s phase-shifting technique where, as a repeated phrase is perceptibly altered over time, the compositional process is rendered discernible in the music itself”
Annie Warburton
"McVetis' research explores ideas of repetition and expressions of sameness and difference within repetition. His vision communicates an enquiry into this process and lends the work a quiet, focused, contemplative feeling”.
Dr Emma Neuberg
Bio
Richard McVetis studied at Manchester School of Art before studying at the Royal College of Art, where he now teaches. McVetis has been shortlisted for several distinguished prizes, including the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, UK, 2023; the Jerwood Drawing Prize, UK, 2011 and 2017, and the international Loewe Craft Prize, 2018. In addition, McVetis has shown work nationally and internationally at several exhibitions, including Threads at Arnolfini, UK, 2023; The British Textile Biennial, UK, 2021; RENEW at Kettles Yard, UK, 2019; Loewe Craft Prize, Design Museum, London, UK, 2018; ‘Form + Motion’ – a major exhibition with the British Council, South Korea, 2017. In 2022 his solo show was at the Craft Study Centre, Farnham.
McVetis' practice centres on drawing and process, driven by a deep fascination with the language of time, geology, and cosmology. He explores these themes primarily through textile-based work, particularly hand stitching, crafting intricate, shifting forms and installations. Through his meticulous making, he examines ideas of repetition and the subtle interplay of sameness and difference within it. His works map space and visually represent the passage of time. Recent projects delve into our connection to material, place, and deep time, with a poignant focus on his family's mining heritage—a lineage deeply rooted in materiality and labour.
Read the story 'Labour of Love'.
“In the use of repeating patterns that record and reveal the process of making, there is an affinity, too, with composer Steve Reich. As McVetis puts it, “Even though I am doing the same stitch over and over again […] there’s a rhythm, a flow that changes across each cube.” It is an approach that echoes Reich’s phase-shifting technique where, as a repeated phrase is perceptibly altered over time, the compositional process is rendered discernible in the music itself”
Annie Warburton
"McVetis' research explores ideas of repetition and expressions of sameness and difference within repetition. His vision communicates an enquiry into this process and lends the work a quiet, focused, contemplative feeling”.
Dr Emma Neuberg
Bio
Richard McVetis studied at Manchester School of Art before studying at the Royal College of Art, where he now teaches. McVetis has been shortlisted for several distinguished prizes, including the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, UK, 2023; the Jerwood Drawing Prize, UK, 2011 and 2017, and the international Loewe Craft Prize, 2018. In addition, McVetis has shown work nationally and internationally at several exhibitions, including Threads at Arnolfini, UK, 2023; The British Textile Biennial, UK, 2021; RENEW at Kettles Yard, UK, 2019; Loewe Craft Prize, Design Museum, London, UK, 2018; ‘Form + Motion’ – a major exhibition with the British Council, South Korea, 2017. In 2022 his solo show was at the Craft Study Centre, Farnham.