The Ground of Things: Dawn Bendick x FJ Hakimian I Panel Talk: 12 May

Charles Burnand Gallery presents The Ground of Things, a new exhibition by American, Kent-based artist Dawn Bendick. Marking a pivotal expansion of her practice into textile, the exhibition introduces Bendick's first body of hand-made rugs, developed in close collaboration with New York-based carpet and tapestry specialists F.J. Hakimian and realised by master artisans in Nepal, alongside new large-scale sculptural glass works.

 

Best known for her sculptural practice in kiln-formed glass, Bendick approaches textile through the same lens of material intelligence, precision, and chromatic control. Her rugs translate a sculptural way of thinking into woven form - works that occupy the ground while retaining a strong sense of volume, rhythm, and presence. Colour is treated not as surface decoration, but as structure, depth, and movement.

 

Bendick's engagement with textile has deep roots, spanning early studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, professional work within the fashion and interiors industries, and later experimentation with digital sound and animation. This trajectory led her to the Material Futures programme at Central Saint Martins, where she began working with light, programming, and glass, developing her now-signature use of dichroic materials. The Ground of Things draws these threads together, positioning textile not as a departure, but as a natural extension of her sculptural practice.

 

The rugs are produced through F.J. Hakimian's Custom Carpets programme by a Tibetan rug-making workshop in Nepal, operating within a lineage rooted in traditional Tibetan weaving techniques. Crafted from wool and silk using methods such as Senneh looping and small-batch pot dyeing, each work reflects a meticulous, multi-stage process and a deep respect for material and craft.

 

Alongside the rugs, the exhibition features new kiln-formed glass sculptures, fully cast in England using a technique deeply embedded in British craft heritage. Presented across two gallery spaces, The Ground of Things brings glass, textile, colour, and form into dialogue, offering a meditation on how sculptural thinking can move seamlessly between mediums with clarity and authority.