Zoë Burt is an artist, designer, collaborator, educator and author. Current themes explore the connection between ecology, botanical colour, activism and sustainability. She has two daughters and lives in South London.
Education & qualifications:
- PgCert in Art, Design and Communication from University of the Arts, London, 2017
- Grow Your Own Colour, Plumpton Agricultural College, studying plants that yield colour, tutored by Sue Craig and Jenny Dean, 2016
- The Slow Design School, theoretical studies, textual analyses, applied practise & research, exhibitions, tutor Dr. Emma Neuberg, 2012 – 2013
- Community Arts Leader Programme, Investigating Pattern – the role of an artist in arts education, 2009
- Central St. Martins, BA in Textiles, specialising in print, 1990-1993
- Camberwell College of Art and Design, 1 year Foundation, 1989
Fashion & Textile Print designer for 15 years 1992 – 2009:
I began as a freelance print designer in New York and after graduating from Central St, Martin, became a print and fashion designer in London. I designed commercial fashion collections for men, women and children.
Clients included: MTV, Komodo, French Connection, Great Plains, Converse, House of Fraser, no added sugar. I offered trend consultancy for various clients and liased with factories in Portugal, Italy and Hong Kong. Textile designs sold internationally via agents in Paris, New York and Japan.
Bespoke creative workshops 2007 – present
Clients include: Bergen Arboretum, Norway, Cement Fields – a visual art organisation working with communities alongside River Thames, Chelsea Physic Garden, Daylesford Organic Farm, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Feltham Arts, Fulham Palace Gardens, Garden Museum, Geological Society, Global Action Plan, Gudrun Sjoden, Horatio’s Garden NHS, Kew Gardens, Linnean Society, London Design Week, The Petrie Museum, Pumphouse Gallery, The Remakery, Royal Horticultural Society RHS, Royal Museums Greenwich, The South London Botanical Institute, Tate Britain, Urban Growth, West Worthing Museum.
Artist-in-Residence from 2009 – present:
- Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture MoDA : Textile research in practice, linked to sustainability with Ceres, 2019 https://moda.mdx.ac.uk/2019/09/09/ceres-artists-in-residence-final/
- V&A Fashioned from Nature, Artists Open House, April 2018
- Ambrosia House, Bergen, Norway, residency May 2017 and May 2018
- The London Printworks Trust, Textile residency, 2012 – 2013
- Studio at The Elephant – resident for climate change week 2011
- 198 Gallery & 45 collective, Brixton market participatory cyanotype workshops documenting the market and Lightbodies exhibition, 2010
- Brockwell Lido, Lightbodies cyanotype portraits 2009 funded by fusion and The Heritage Lottery
Exhibitions 2009 – present:
- Dulwich Open House, group show, 10 Poplar Walk, London May 13th & 14th 2023
- Wreathed, textile and jewellery tutor group show, Morley Gallery, December 2022
- Dulwich Open House, group show, The South London Botanical Institute, May 14th & 15th 2022
- R.K.Burt Gallery, Cultural Patterns, group show, 2019
- No Format Gallery ,The Nature of Cities, group show, 2018
- Dulwich Open House, group show, The South London Botanical Institute, 2018
- The Garden Museum with Morley College, The Curiosity Project, group textiles show, 2017
- Textiles Hub London, My Nature, an exhibition of Flora and Fauna in Contemporary European Textile Design and Practice, group show, 2017
- The South London Botanical institute, Textiles and Botany, group show, 2017
- Brockwell Hall, London Linen, a slow fashion tale of Urban Flax, 2015
- The Garden Museum, group show, “Home Front” 2015
- Pumphouse Gallery, “Making Places”, 1st prize for school collaboration 2014
- The South London Botanical Institute, Seeds of Fashion exhibition 2013
- 198 Gallery, Brixton market, solo show, Lightbody cyanotype portraits 2010
- Brockwell Lido, Lightbodies, cyanotype portraits, 2009
Design & artwork sold at craft fairs, events, pop-ups & markets 2015 – 2019: The Remakery – REUSE lab, Herne Hill Farmers Market, Crafty Fox, Greenwich market, Women of the World festival: Southbank
Teaching 1996 – present:
- Programme Manager Textiles, Morley College, London (January 2022 – present)
- Morley College (2015 – present) – Tutor in the Textiles department: Advanced Textile Workshop, Seasonal Natural Dyeing and Sustainable Textiles, Cyanotype & Blueprinting & HND Fashion unit. Collaboration with Permablitz London to create a dye garden 2017.
- West Dean, College of Arts and Conservation, Short courses tutor: Nature Journal, Creative Connections, Textile Foundation: Natural Dyeing – online (December 2021 – present)
- University of the Arts: London College of Fashion & Chelsea: tutor on the short courses unit since 2007 – 2019 for various print, fashion, textiles and portfolio courses in the studio and on-line. BA Fashion & Textiles visiting tutor 2011. Central St. Martins project tutor MA textiles 1996.
- Birmingham City University visiting lecturer in Sustainable Fashion and Textiles for MA students since, invited to give lectures, presentations and facilitate discussions, 2018 & 2019
Podcast:
https://moda.mdx.ac.uk/conversations/podcast-1-1-home-planet/
Editorial in print: 2015 – 2020:
- Warp and Weft, newsletter of the London Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers issue 277 – May 2020 – Ceres Collective – Printing with Natural Dyes
- no serial number magazine, Craft, heritage, environment Summer 2018 “Discovering Sustainability in Textiles with Zoë Burt” p.44
- no serial number magazine The Dye Garden, September 2017 p.56
- Sustainable Fashion journal, August 2017
- featured in FT “I grew a linen garment from scratch”, 8th May 2015
Editorial online:
- Hand/Eye magazine
The Return of Urban Flax, April 2015
Books:
- Nature Journal (2018) creative seasonal recipes in collaboration with Marianne Wie, sold at V&A for the Fashioned from Nature exhibition, Kew, Dulwich Picture Gallery and online loveyoursketchbook.com
- Light & Water (2009) Zoë Burt and the users of Brockwell lido, blurb