Mary Farmer


Mary Farmer was a UK-based weaver of tapestries and rugs, she led developments in tapestry in the late 20th century with a number of roles across higher education culminating in Course Director at the Royal College of Art. Her client list included royalty, government departments, major corporations, museum collections and private collectors.
A 2023 Government Art Collection event featured her work, both with the tapestry Buzz On at the reception by Admiralty Arch, London and a collection of works presented. The Tapestry Buzz On is now at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Whitehall and the other two commissioned works in this series, Buzz on II and Buzz On III moved to the British Embassy in Rome, Italy in 2023. An early rug, together with a contemporary tapestry are in the collection of the V&A.

Early life

Mary Farmer was born Mary Quinton Farmer on 6 August 1940 in Newbury, Berkshire, to Edith Anona Jane Farmer and Seldon Charles Forrester Farmer.
Farmer's family relocated to Beckenham, Kent in 1948/9, where she was educated at Sydenham High School. and Beckenham School of Art.
She moved to Digswell House, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire in 1964 and to Guildford, Surrey in 1967, combining home life and work studio from this point forward.

Career

Farmer's career in the arts began at Beckenham School of Art where she initially focused on painting. She trained in rug weaving with Gwen and Barbara Mullins at Graffham Weavers, combined with part-time study at Farnham and Reigate Art Schools.
Farmer was awarded a Digswell Arts Trust Fellowship, a residency programme established in Hertfordshire by Henry Morris and artist potter Hans Coper.
One of her first major commissions was a multi-segment rug for the Ambassador's residence at the British Embassy in Paris, France in 1966. The cine film recording that production process was digitally transferred from the original silent Super 8 film.
From the late 1960s through to around 1981, she taught at an undergraduate level, predominantly at West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham, Surrey, but also Ravensbourne College of Art and Design, Bromley, Kent and Liverpool Art School amongst others.
Farmer regularly showed works at the British Crafts Centre and Northern Crafts Centre, including with the Red Rose Guild.
Following her marriage to ceramicist Terry Moores they established a joint workshop and home in Boston, Lincolnshire.
Farmer was appointed Tutor in Textiles at the Royal College of Art in 1981, later being promoted to Course Leader, Tapestry. She oversaw the move into School of Fine Art in 1985, and later as Course Director of MA Tapestry until 1995. Several of her students went on to have illustrious careers of their own including Jennie Moncur, Jeni Ross, Philip Sanderson, and Jun Tomita.
She was made a Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art in 1995, at the point of her retirement and the tapestry course closure.
Throughout her academic career she was active in the art and craft of weaving rugs, tapestries and tapestry woven rugs. Many of these were shown around the world. Solo show, show with her partner ceramicist Terry Moores whose later works reached towards abstract sculptures, and group shows with or selected by many of the leading lights in the world of arts and crafts.
Her work has been selected to adorn the catalogues of Sotheby's, Christie's and most recently Lyon & Turnbull.

Memberships

Major exhibitions and shows

Details of the majority of exhibitions can be found on the ArtFacts.Net website.

Mary Farmer exhibition timeline

Mary Farmers work was incorporated in over 250 exhibitions, so only ones significant to her career are shown here. This included several landmark tours by internationally renowned institutions. More detail can be found in a Timeline created in association with the 2024 exhibition Mary Farmer: A life in Tapestry.
DateTitleVenue
1965Twelve Artists – Exhibition of Painting, Sculpture, Print making, Stained Glass, Weaving, CeramicsTrade Union Congress Building, Great Russell Street, London
1965 - 7Weaving for WallsVictoria and Albert Museum, London, touring exhibition
1965Christmas Exhibition and visit by HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and sale of 2 rugs to the DukeCrafts Centre of Great Britain, London
1969–71British Designer Craftsmen Organised by UK Crafts Council / World Crafts Council. Patron: HRH Prince Philip, Duke of EdinburghCirculated by the Smithsonian Institution
1977Rugs for Churches Commission of kneelers for Liverpool CathedralCrafts Advisory Committee Gallery, 12 Waterloo Place, London, England and
  • The National Theatre Foyers, South Bank, London, England
    • 1979Hand-woven Tapestries and RugsNewbury Spring Festival, Newbury, Berkshire, England
    1979Mary Farmer Solo Exhibition Connaught Gallery, Cranleigh School, Cranleigh, Surrey, England
    1979Mary Farmer: Tapestries, Rugs, Carpets Solo ExhibitionSouth Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell, Berkshire, England
    1981Textiles Today selected by Marianne StraubKettles Yard, Cambridge, England and tour
    1981–2Contemporary British TapestrySainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, England and tour
    1982The Maker's Eye selector and exhibitorCrafts Council Gallery, London, England
    1982Textiles and PotteryWells Centre, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, England
    1983-5A closer look at rugsCrafts Council Gallery, London, England and tour
    1985Tapestries by Mary Farmer, Ceramics by Terry MooresBritish Crafts Centre, Earlham Street, London, England
    1985A Collection in the MakingCrafts Council Gallery, London, England
    1985Eight Contemporary Textile Artists from England Organised by Peter Shahbenderian and the Galerie FilambuleGalerie Filambule, Lausanne, Switzerland
    1987-8Wall to Wall – Textiles for InteriorsCornerhouse, Manchester, England and tour
    1996–7Woven Image - Contemporary British TapestryBarbican Centre, London, England and tour
    2003 - 2024 Contemporary Craft GalleryHove Museum of Creativity, Hove, England
    2019 - 2020Moving forward: the Crafts Study Centre at 50Crafts Study Centre, Farnham, Surrey, England
    2020 -1The Crafts Study Centre at 50 - RemixCrafts Study Centre, Farnham, Surrey, England
    1 Feb 2021DeathFollowing exhibitions were held posthumously
    2021Maker's Eye: Stories of CraftCrafts Council Gallery, London, England
    2024Mary Farmer: A Life in Tapestry Solo ExhibitionCrafts Study Centre, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, Surrey, England
    2024Living in a Material WorldLyon & Turnbull, 22 Connaught Street, London, W2 2AF in collaboration with the Crafts Study Centre, Farnham, Surrey, England
    2024The Warehouse, Boston, Lincolnshire, and BeyondFydell House, Boston, Lincolnshire, England
    2024 Contemporary Craft Gallery, all Mary Farmer Collection artworks now displayed including a rare video of her working Hove Museum of Creativity, Hove, England
    2025 - 6Picking up the Thread: the Past, Present and Future of Tapestry Invited Artist to the following venues:

    External examiner

    Later career and legacy

    In 1990 Farmer suffered a severe shoulder injury which significantly curtailed her weaving career.
    The MA Tapestry Course at the Royal College of Art closed in 1995 and Farmer went into retirement after over a decade of the challenging situation with the course's sustainability.
    Ann Sutton made a number of pieces of her collection available in the Modern Made auction in 2023, including a significant piece, the tapestry, Float 1) by Farmer. Interest in the work and contribution that Farmer made to art in the late 20th century.
    A reception was held in November 2023 at the Government Art Collection adjacent to Admiralty Arch as a memorial to Farmer, featuring the Tapestry Buzz On which has been in their collection since 1977. Whilst exposure of these pieces is normally limited to government, diplomats and their staff, with a piece currently at Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Whitehall, London and the other two at the British Embassy in Rome, Italy. However, their viewing was restricted to GCHQ, Cheltenham staff from 2011 to 2019 and whilst viewing may have been restricted, their presence did not escape The Times, although they attributed them to the wrong Mary Farmer.

    Works in public collections

    Works in corporate collections

    Later personal life and death

    Her husband, Terry Moores, died in 2014.
    Mary Farmer remained largely independent into later life; however, she suffered acute illness during the COVID-19 pandemic and died on 1 February 2021 in Boston, Lincolnshire.