Cecilia Charlton (b. 1985, New York, USA) is a Glasgow-based American artist, currently pursuing a PhD at the Glasgow School of Art. She maintains a practice between London and Glasgow.
Charlton’s practice is focused on the processes of weaving, embroidery, spinning, and natural dyeing, incorporating historically-rooted technical methods to explore geometry, colour, and the role of the subconscious. By creating hand-made pieces engaged with the history of textiles, Charlton also considers themes of feminism, human history, and transcendence.
Charlton describes her practice as spanning the social sphere of textile mediums, installation, and art, where the work remains open to the universal while still remaining personal. Her recent pieces have conceptually expanded for further consideration of traditional craft practices, ecological systems, and sociopolotical events.
Charlton holds a BFA from Hunter College, New York (2015) and an MA from the Royal College of Art, London (2018).
Charlton has exhibited in the UK and internationally, with recent solo exhibitions including: Memory Garden, Garden Museum, London UK, 2023; Syzygy, Candida Stevens Gallery, 2023; Mammoth Loop, SPACE Ilford, 2021. Group exhibitions include Pattern Cutters, Ragged School Museum, London UK, 2025; Colours Uncovered, Harewood House, Leeds UK, 2024; SURGE: The Eastwing Biennial, Courtauld Institute, London, 2018; Rogue Objects, University College London, London, 2018.
Charlton has received numerous awards, including the Arts Council England Project Grant (2024), Lithuanian Cultural Council Mobility Grant (2025), the Brookfield Properties Craft Award (shortlisted, 2022), Jerwood Makers Open Award (2021), Fulbright UK Scholarship (shortlisted, 2015), and the Ellen Battel Stockel Fellowship as part of the Yale University Norfolk Residency (2014).
Her work is held in the public collections of the National Museum of Lithuania, Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation, London School of Economics, and NHS/ Bart’s Trust as well as private collections. She has also been featured in notable publications such as the Wall Street Journal, El Pais, Crafts Magazine, The Times, The Guardian, Vogue UK, the Financial Times, and ‘Textile Fine Art’ by Helen Adams.
