b. 1934, Edinburgh; lives and works in London, Venice and Cortona, Italy

1956-58 British School in Rome
1955-56 Accademia di Brera, Milan (awarded an Italian government scholarship)
1951-55 Bath Academy of Art, Corsham
Joslyn Tilson is a sculptor and a weaver. As the daughter of Flavia Birrell, and Alastair Morton, an abstract painter, weaver, and head of the fabric firm Edinburgh Weavers, it’s not surprising to learn she works with thread. As a weaver, she makes very precise miniature works which have subtle variations and flashes of colour. By contrast, her sculptural forms are rounded and substantial, with uneven matt surfaces, and are often uncoloured, or rusty hued. They often contain architectural ‘conceits’, such as a doorway set within a doorway (as in a De Chirico painting – a favourite of hers).
For her contribution to Cure3, Tilson has used her cube to house a flight of stairs, Fondamenta Gherardini from her beloved Venice. There is something so powerful about a simple ageless staircase being housed within a ‘museum like’ vitrine. These are the steps that you find all over city; the conduit between all buildings and the canal system, the umbilical cord of the city. However because the subject is Venice, there is an underlining question about the preservation of the piece: how long can this lifeline survive, is it already an antique, can we find a solution to saving Venice - just as we ask the same question about finding a cure for Parkinson’s.


Portrait courtesy Jake Tilson