The Art Station in Saxmundham invites you to dive headfirst into a riotous, exhilarating new exhibition presented by the Anglian Embassy (Blackwater Polytechnic in collaboration with the Grange Projects) — two insanely imaginative collectives whose playful, hands-on spirit blasts straight through the barriers of art and expectation. Their impact far outstrips their size. No holds barred.

Saturday 4 – Saturday 25 October 2025
Open 10am – 4pm weekdays, 12pm – 4pm Saturdays, closed Sundays
The Art Station, 48 High Street, Saxmundham, Suffolk IP17 1AB

Saturday 18 October 4pm – 6pm
Performances from Plowman and Cummins, Nukleopatra and Stuart Bowditch
The Old Bank, 24 High Street, Saxmundham, Suffolk IP17 1AE

Opening party Friday 3 October 6pm – 8pm. All welcome

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Freddie Robins has won the prestigious Brenda M. King Prize for Critical Writing in Textiles 2025, awarded by The Textile Society, for her essay Softness is Power: A feminist discussion and subversion of softness.

“Within this essay Robins explores and questions the art world’s acceptance of the ‘soft stuff’. Despite the resurgence of interest in textiles in recent years, and the more prevalent utilisation of textiles by ‘fine artists’ as well as ‘textile artists’ it seems that there is still a reluctance to accept and acknowledge the physical characteristics of textile work. This ‘debate’ is not new, it has been discussed in many forums, but more from the craft and textile perspectives than from the fine art perspective. Freddie Robins’ essay demonstrates that this investigation is valid and ongoing, providing an interesting and pertinent summary of ‘soft stuff’ and how it is viewed within the contemporary art world.”

The essay will be published in The Textile Society’s annual journal Text No.52.

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The Forgotten Her Story is a platform dedicated to celebrating uniquely female achievements in craftsmanship, artistry and creativity.

Founded by Manuela Wirth, The Forgotten Her Story offers an intimate glimpse into the life and creative process of one extraordinary woman each month, celebrating her legacy and contribution to our cultural landscape. We share the stories of some of the most fascinating women of our time – remarkable artists, craftswomen and thinkers you may never have encountered.

In this chapter Celia Pym is in conversation with Freddie Robins in Celia’s Islington-based studio, recorded exclusively for The Forgotten Her Story in February of 2025.

www.theforgottenherstory.com/celia-pym

Freddie Robins is featured in TEXTILE FINE ART – Conversations with Artists Creating by Hand by Helen Adams textilecurator.com, with foreward by Ann Coxon. Published by Laurence King, London 2025.

“This volume brings together the work of 50 contemporary artists who use textiles. All are linked through their commitment to creating by hand but each brings a unique perspective. Through their conversations with textile curator, Helen Adams, we discover the artists’ pathways, motivations and inspirations in their own words.”
www.laurenceking.com

Other new publications featuring Freddie Robins:

Brink (a chapter authored by Freddie Robins and Zoe Laughlin) in Contemporary Thinking on Play, edited by Victoria de Rijke & Rebecca Sinker, published by Springer Nature, Cham, Switzerland, 2025.
www.springer.com

Narrative Textiles: Tell your story in mixed media and stitch by Ailish Henderson, published by Batsford, London, 2024.
www.batsfordbooks.com

Any, Body, Home
5 July – 31 August 2025
Private View: 6:00pm 24 July 2025 book free tickets for Private View here

Warrington Museum & Art Gallery, Bold St, Warrington WA1 1JG
Open Wednesday-Friday 10 am–4:30 pm, Saturday 10 am–4 pm, Sunday 11 am–3 pm, Monday & Tuesday closed
Entrance free

Featuring works by Natalie Baxter, Susie Green, Marie Jones, Ivy Kalungi, Rachel Maclean, Flo Perry, Amalia Pica, Freddie Robins, Emily Speed, and Katie Tomlinson, the exhibition spans painting, sculpture, film, installation, and performance.

Any, Body, Home questions and reimagines the domestic, spotlighting narratives around power, identity, beauty, labour, memory and belonging. It looks beyond the windows through which we often view the world, opening up intimate and critical reflections on how “home” is experienced, shaped, and claimed.

The works in Any, Body, Home are bound by a shared concern with the domestic and the bodily — how spaces shape us, and how we shape them. From architectural spaces that mirror cultural displacement to garments that speak of inherited roles, from homes of control and violence to sites of care and ritual, the exhibition reveals the domestic as both sanctuary and site of struggle. The body, often central — whether adorned, trapped, performing, or dissolving into its surroundings — becomes a vessel for storytelling and resistance. Together, these works disrupt conventional ideas of femininity and homemaking, offering alternative, sometimes subversive narratives that challenge what it means to dwell, to nurture, and to belong.

Curated by Culture Warrington Associate Artist Marie Jones.

Warrington Museum & Art Gallery

Freddie Robins will be exhibiting with the Blackwater Polytechnic as part of the Anglian Embassy at Juxtapose Art Fair, Aarhus, Denmark.

Juxtapose Art Fair 2025
13 – 15 June
Godsbanen, Rå Hal, Karen Wegeners Gade 4, 8000 Aarhus

Friday 13 June 16:00-20:00, Saturday 14 & Sunday 15 June 12:00-17:00

Free Entrance

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Freddie Robins will be exhibiting with the Blackwater Polytechnic as part of the Anglian Embassy at Sluice Expo 2025, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland hosted by the Technical Museum of East Iceland

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Freddie Robins will be exhibiting with the Blackwater Polytechnic as part of the Anglian Embassy at Supermarket Art Fair, SKHLM Skärholmen Centrum, Stockholm, Sweden

Thursday 3 April to Saturday 5 April 12.00 – 20.00
Sunday 6 April 12.00 – 18.00

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The Anglian Embassy, a collaboration between Blackwater Polytechnic (Braintree), 303 Projects (Lowestoft), Grange Projects (Great Cressingham), Original Projects, Possible Worlds, and Red Herring Press (Great Yarmouth), will showcase East Anglian artists at Supermarket in Stockholm. Ben Coode-Adams and Sophie Giller have developed, designed and built our stand.

We are committed to establishing practical, long-term partnerships with artist-run organisations in East Anglia for mutual benefit and to share skills, resources, and creative people. Our coastline and hinterland are now studded with artist-run projects. This project will serve as a strategic roadmap for future collaborations, empowering artist-run spaces to be bold and effective in supporting artists to create ambitious new work.

Through this initiative, we will introduce our region on an international stage. We are eager to revitalise connections with our close neighbours—organisations and individuals around the North Sea who share our rich heritage. After all, Antwerp is nearer to us than Manchester. Participating in this expo is a cost-effective approach and a powerful way to connect with organisations and individuals who can create opportunities for us to advance projects both locally and abroad, making the most of our resources.

Our region is in the midst of a transformative revolution in green energy, population growth, and gravel extraction. While we experience our own Industrial Revolution and urbanisation—albeit two centuries later than everyone else—we find ourselves culturally and politically unprepared. Our ecologically fragile coastline hosts 90 million migrating birds on fast-eroding mudflats and salt marshes. This project will engage our counterparts across the North Sea who are facing similar challenges.

Our objectives are clear: elevate the profile of our region’s visual arts both internally and externally, create a forum to discuss our shared cultural orbit around the North Sea, and initiate collaborative international projects through networking.

Ultimately, we aspire to cultivate an atmosphere of inclusion and support that empowers all artists—regardless of their background—to flourish and enhance the vibrant artistic landscape of our region. By uniting our efforts and resources, we will not only reinforce our local arts community but also make a meaningful impact on a wider scale, amplifying our voices across borders and shaping the future of the arts in the North Sea area.
Statement by Ben Coode-Adams

MEDUSA, curated by Mike Chavez-Dawson

Union Gallery
94 Teesdale Street
London
E2 6PU

Preview Saturday 22 February 2025 1-6pm
Exhibition runs until 22 March 2025
Open Thursday – Saturday 12-6pm and by appointment
020 8281 4448
sales@uniongallery.com
uniongallery.com

Featuring:
Ada Bond
Brass Art
Jane Chavez-Dawson
Mike Chavez-Dawson & AI, with Rebecca Davy
Karen Densham
Sarah Hardacre
Sam Owen Hall
Hilary Jack
Rachel Goodyear
Ruth Murray
Freddie Robins
Angela Tait
Nye Thompson
Jessica Voorsanger
Jude Wainwright
Evita Ziemele

Read the review by Jo Manby in the Fourdrinier here