Freda Victoria Brierley (née Selway; born 1942) is a New Zealand textile artist.[1]

Freda Brierley
Born
Freda Victoria Selway

1942 (age 81–82)
Dundee, Scotland
Known forTextile art
Spouse
Ken Brierley
(m. 1967; died 2023)

Early life and family

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Brierley was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1942.[1] The only child of Jane and Fred Selway, she was taught embroidery by her mother.[2][3] As a child, Brierley wanted to go to art school, but instead trained as a nurse and joined the Royal Navy as a sister in Queen Alexandra's Nursing Service.[2]

In 1967, she married Ken Brierley, a New Zealander serving in the Royal Navy who rose to the rank of lieutenant commander and was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1978 Queen's Birthday Honours.[3][4]

Textile career

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In 1982, Brierley moved to New Zealand, settling in Devonport, Auckland, when her husband transferred from the Royal Navy to the Royal New Zealand Navy.[2][3] Here she was finally able to enter art school, graduating in 1993 with a Diploma (Fine Arts) from Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design.[1] Her work has been exhibited at the Barbican in London in 1995, and from November 2004 to March 2005 at the Auckland War Memorial Museum in the exhibition 'Freda Brierley – A Weaver's Tale and Historical Quilts.'[1][5]

Later life

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Brierley's husband, Ken, died in 2023.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Schamroth, Helen (1998). 100 New Zealand Craft Artists. Auckland: Godwit Press. p. 11. ISBN 1869620364.
  2. ^ a b c Packer, Ann (2006). Stitch: Contemporary New Zealand Textile Artists. Auckland: Random House New Zealand. p. 21. ISBN 9781869417888.
  3. ^ a b c Vieth, Maire (30 October 2015). "Stitching her story from Dundee to Devonport". Devonport Flagstaff. pp. 18–19. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  4. ^ "No. 47549". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 June 1978. p. 6233.
  5. ^ "Auckland Museum goes quilt crazy!". Scoop. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  6. ^ "Kenneth Brierley obituary". The New Zealand Herald. 20 May 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2023.