Seed Stitch Contemporary Textile Award 2020 is an ADC On Tour, biennial exhibition, produced and presented by Australian Design Centre in partnership with the Seed Stitch Collective.

This year the competition attracted 49 entries from NSW textile artists and the exhibition features outstanding work by the 25 finalists.

A broad selection of contemporary textiles engages material use from waste to silk, with themes ranging from artificial intelligence, to the environment and the current pandemic.

The Seed Stitch Collective 2020 is Soraya Abidin and Niki McDonald.

The collective originated in 2016 after the first SSCTA was hosted at the Warringah Creative Arts Space and was followed by the Seed Stitch Contemporary Textile Awards 2018 at Australian Design Centre.

Never Ending Thread - My Adventures with Cloth is a new exhibition by Ellen Howell. Ellen came to her art practice later in life via a commercial route that took her through design, marketing and publishing.

In 2017 Ellen was invited to India as part of a textile residency in Odisha.

The background of her practice had been in drawing, painting and mixed media. She had a passion for block printing and was searching for a way to combine her visual and textile practice.

By weaving, drawing, dyeing and mixing age-old traditions with modern techniques, Ellen's aim is to delight the viewer with unexpected stories.

She uses golden jute, Tussar, mulberry and banana silk dyed naturally and woven in the Saori style. Her cloth panels are block printed with her hand carved original designs.

A featured piece in the exhibition is a collaborative work with textile artist and designer, Michelle Tindale, who Ellen met in India and has formed a close creative relation with.

Both these exhibitions continue the relationship that Tamworth Regional Gallery has with textile art that dates back to the early 1970s.

The gallery has focused on developing an Australian textile collection that embraces all related art and craft forms.

The nationally significant collection comprises excellent examples of works that document the changes in textile practice for nearly 50 years.

These exhibitions will be open to the public by Saturday, 28 November.