Ali Güreli is an entrepreneur, cultural leader and founder and chairman of Contemporary Istanbul, one of the region’s leading contemporary art fairs. For over two decades, he has championed Istanbul as a global hub for artistic exchange, bringing together artists, institutions, collectors and international audiences. Working at the intersection of art, culture and urban development, Güreli brings valuable insight into the role of creativity in fostering dialogue, shaping cultural identity and building connections across borders.
Anders Petterson is the founder and CEO of ArtTactic Ltd, a London-based art market research and analysis company established in 2001. A pioneer in using crowd-sourcing techniques to gather art market intelligence, ArtTactic publishes global reports in collaboration with partners including Deloitte, Hiscox, Mishcon de Reya, Sophie Macpherson SML, and Sotheby’s. Anders regularly lectures on art market topics at Sotheby’s Institute, Christie’s Education, and ESA Beirut, and served as a founding board member of PAIAM from 2011 to 2021.
Chimere Cissé is an art collector and founder with over a decade of experience in the cultural sector. She launched ArtKōrero in 2021 to connect commercial engagement with the arts and recently founded STELLA Alliance to increase the visibility of women art collectors. Previously, she represented the United Nations International Trade Centre and held senior roles at Burberry, Hearst UK, Harper’s Bazaar, and ELLE. Dedicated to philanthropy, she actively supports global charities including the British Council and Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation, where she is a long-standing committee chair.
Divya Sharma is a London-based British Indian textile artist and an alumna of the Royal College of Art, London. Her practice brings together myth, memory, and the cultural world of her mother tongue, Tamil. She was recently awarded the Visual Artists Association International Scholarship Award for 2025. She has conceived and curated five shows as founder of The Neulinge Collective and the Post-Colonials Collective. She is also the founder and host of the ARTiculate podcast and broadcasts on Apple Podcasts.
Dr. Shwetal Patel is a writer and researcher working at the intersection of contemporary visual art, exhibition-making, and development studies. A founding member of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, he played a key role in launching the initiative and building its international partnerships. He holds a practice-based PhD from the Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, and lectures internationally at institutions such as the Zürich University of the Arts, the Royal College of Art, and the University of Exeter. He also serves as trustee for the Milton Keynes Museum, Coventry Biennial, and the Kakar Centre of Psychoanalysis & Culture.
Jeffrey Boloten is Director of Art Business and Enterprise Programmes at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London. He co-founded and serves as Managing Director of ArtInsight Ltd., the educational partner of art market research firm ArtTactic. With a background in law, publishing (including Penguin Books), and institutional roles at the Tate and a London art college, Jeffrey is a frequent speaker on the global art, photography, and art investment markets. He also co-directs Sotheby’s Enterprise Studio and is a founding member of PAIAM (Professional Advisors to the International Art Market).
Leo Crane is a producer, artist and educator with over 25 years of experience across physical and digital creative industries. He has founded three creative studios and in 2024, established the AI Film Academy, focusing on innovation in contemporary moving image practice. He leads courses in art and art business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and serves on the board of Animate Projects. His artistic practice spans animated film, figurative painting and experimental digital works, and his work has been widely exhibited, screened and awarded internationally. He is currently producing his debut feature film The Masterpiece of Tamagata, and is the author of Contemporary Figures in Watercolour (2021).
Mark Davy is the founder of Futurecity, a multidisciplinary agency dedicated to culture-driven placemaking. He has led private sector investment in major art projects including the Crossrail Culture Line, the Illuminated River Project, and the cultural strategy for Wembley Park. Mark is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and contributes to several boards and panels, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Advisory Panel, Hypha Studios, the Land Economic Society, the NLA Expert Panel for Culture, and the National Trust Regional Advisory Group.
Marta Orsola Sironi is a curator and critic based between Milan and London. She is co-founder and curator of MEGA Art Fair, which reimagines the art fair as an immersive, curated experience activating regenerated urban spaces with exhibitions, performances, talks, and music. Together with Mauro Mattei, she co-directs BeAdvisors Art Department, producing curated shows, cultural events, and collectors’ programmes across international art calendars. Her research focuses on decolonial feminism, identity, language, and memory, with a strong interest in urban space as a site of resistance.
Nicole Schoeni is an art dealer, collector, patron, and founder of Schoeni Projects. Previously, Nicole was the director of Schoeni Art Gallery, one of Asia's most influential art venues. Nicole has since curated the Hong Kong section of the China 8 exhibition and has consulted on arts projects such as for the Grand Lisboa Palace in Macau. She is an active patron of numerous foundations, is on the advisory team for Arts for Good Foundation, and sits on the Board of Directors of Asian Art in London.
Portuguese visual artist Paulo Arraiano explores the intersections of art, culture, nature, and technology through a multidisciplinary practice. He is co-founder of Re_Act Contemporary, an international art laboratory and residency programme based in the Azores that fosters dialogue between artists, researchers, and communities around pressing ecological, social, and cultural issues. Arraiano offers a distinctive perspective on the role of art in shaping how we understand and engage with a rapidly changing world. Portfolio
Rena Neville is Director of Corinth Consulting Ltd and Head of FCS Compliance Art Division. With over 30 years at Sotheby’s, she was the company’s first Global Compliance Director and previously served as European General Counsel and Global Head of Litigation. Today, she advises the art market on anti-money laundering compliance and is a frequent speaker on the subject, including recent talks at Harvard Law School and the Art Business Conference in Maastricht during TEFAF.
Roxane Zand is a Harvard and Oxford educated specialist in Middle Eastern art and culture. After three years at UNESCO and roles at the Iran Heritage Foundation and Asia House, she joined Sotheby’s in 2006 as Director for the Middle East and Gulf, rising to Deputy Chairman and Senior Director, before stepping down in 2020 to lead her own art advisory consultancy. She continues to serve as Arts Editor for the Encyclopaedia Islamica, advises through the Pictet Art Prize Advisory Council, and has authored several publications, including Geometry and Art: In the Modern Middle East.
Sigrid Kirk is a curator, adviser, and strategist who co-founded the Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA) in 2016. AWITA brings together women working across the arts sector through mentoring, collaboration, and a shared community. In addition, each year Kirk and her husband collaborate with Te Tuhi Gallery in Auckland to help fund an artist residency at Yorkshire Sculpture Park for Māori and Pacific Island artists. The couple are also patrons of Dundee Contemporary Arts,  Fruitmarket Gallery, Gasworks, Studio Voltaire, Iniva, and Goldsmiths CCA.
Sylwia Krason is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Lynx Magazine, an international arts publication and organisation based in London. Since 2013, she has connected bold artistic voices with global audiences, with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe and emerging markets. She is also President of the Contemporary Lynx Foundation in Warsaw and regularly serves as a juror and panel moderator at major international art events, including Art Basel. Trained in art history and arts management in Kraków, Berlin, and London, she is currently based in Paris.
Ulrich Schrauth is a curator, artist, and creative director of UBS Digital Art Museum in Hamburg. Schrauth is also the founder of VRHAM! Biennale, shaping new ways of presenting and experiencing digital Art. Working between Hamburg and London, he also heads the Immersive Programme at the British Film Institute (BFI) and serves on the British Council’s Advisory Board for Arts and Creative Economy. In addition, he curates the digital section of Art Dubai, the premier international art fair for digital media. Ulrich is a jury member for prestigious awards such as the Lumen Prize and the Fedora Digital Art Prize, and is a regular speaker at major events including the Venice Biennale, SXSW, and the Cannes Film Festival. Portfolio

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ARTIST & FELTMAKER

Sarah Waters​

1966

New Forest, England

Sarah is a contemporary textile artist with a passion for feltmaking that originates from her love of sheep. Her earliest memories are of collecting pieces of wool caught on fences and twisting them into long threads. Sheep, wool and farming are in her blood, her DNA.

Sarah’s work reflects a deep, almost primeval desire to connect with the land, exploring layers, fluidity and hidden streams of energy deep within the earth, alongside the importance of sustainability and longevity of the landscape on which we live.

Using both traditional and innovative techniques she aims to show the diversity and qualities of feltmaking, eager to push the boundaries of the technique. She is passionate about using British Wool, which lends itself to a variety of disciplines within the textile world, working with local and sustainable fleeces where possible.

Felt is an ancient art for modern day living, felt making is a passion, her life and in her soul. Sarah’s work is not only functional but has colour, texture and tactile qualities, impressive in its sheer scale, she creates momentous wallhangings, installations and artworks.

Sarah has been looking at the history of British rural land by drawing and researching standing stones, the ancient markers of the countryside. This culminated in 2017 in her exhibition ‘Stone’ that toured across the UK and Canada; part of the Richard Demarco Archive’s ‘Homage to Joseph Beuys’, a two-person exhibition in the Demarco Wing of Summerhall Art Centre, Edinburgh, in 2018 and in Dunoon Burgh Hall in 2019; and in 2025 a site responsive exhibition ‘Reflections from the Land’, a collaboration with four artists .

Layers

2022

Kaleidoscope
In to the Earth

2021

Strata

2021

Highlights

Residencies & Awards

2019   Juried full Member of the Society of Designer Craftsmen
2016   Craft & Design magazine selected maker 2016 finalist: Textiles & Needlecrafts

2016   Salisbury Contemporary Craft and Heritage Festival ‘Best Local Maker’ Award

1992   Runner Up – Daily Mail Young Countrywoman of the Year
1988   NatWest and NFU Venture Cash winner – £1000 research project into fine wool production culminating with a speech in front of                        500VIPS and HRH Princess Royal at the NatWest tower in London
1988   Winner – Graduate Enterprise Program, Bristol

Selected Exhibition 

2025   Reflections from the Land – Selected for a collaborative exhibition at Spudworks, Sway, Hampshire

2023   Selected for a solo exhibition at the World of Threads Festival Toronto, Canada

2023   ‘Illuminate’ Group touring exhibition with Art Textiles Made in Britain London and Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Shows

2023   Felt artwork included as a part of Decorex, Europe’s largest design show, Olympia, London

2022   Selected for 12th “From Lausanne to Beijing” International Fiber Art Biennial with Yunnan Minzu University and Yunnan Provincial                         Museum.
2022   ‘Above:Below’ Solo exhibition, Farfield Mill, Sedbergh, Cumbria
2022   ‘Found’ ATMB, Group exhibition, Ilminster Art Gallery, Somerset

2021   ‘Found’ ATMB, Queen Street Gallery, Neath
2021   ‘Found’ Group exhibition, festival of Quilts, NEC, Birmingham with ArtTextiles:MadeInBritain (ATMB)

2021   ‘Excellence’, Oxmarket Gallery, Chichester. Selected for Society of Designer Craftsmen group exhibition. Joint curator.
2021   Selected for ‘Flux Review’ online exhibition
2021   Selected work for Boomer Gallery, London (online and book publication)

2021   ‘Reconnect’ International Feltmakers Association online
2021   Above:Below Solo exhibition, Farfield Mill, Sedbergh, Cumbria (postponed until Sept 2022)

2020  Online virtual selected exhibitions: ‘Kaleidoscope’, International Feltmakers Association. ‘The Big Pause’, Artful Collective. ‘<<Strategy:              Get Arts>> 50th Anniversary Demarco Archive.

2019   ‘Between Warp & Weft ll ‘– Solo Show, Ashcroft Arts Centre, Fareham, Hampshire

2019   ‘Between Warp & Weft’ – Solo Show, New Forest Arts Centre, New Milton, Hampshire

2019   ‘Demarco in Dunoon: Homage to Beuys in the Celtic World of Dunoon’ – Joint exhibition with Andrew Marr, Terry Ann Newman and the
           Demarco Archive, Dunoon Burgh Hall, Scotland
2019   ‘Venus in the Landscape’- Salisbury Arts Centre
2018   World Festival of Threads, Solo Gallery (selected), Toronto, Canada
2018   ‘Homage to Beuys’ – Joint exhibition with Terry Ann Newman, Demarco Archive, Summerhall Art Centre, Edinburgh

2017   ‘Stone’ -Twisted Thread’s Knitting & Stitching Solo Show (London, Dublin and Harrogate)

2017   ‘Under the Microscope’-Joint exhibition with artist Helen Sill, Rum’s Eg Gallery, Romsey

2016   ‘From the Earth Textiles’ Exhibition, (selected), Mardley Gallery, Datchworth, Hertfordshire

2016   ‘Lithic’ alongside artist Peter Jackman, New Ashgate Gallery, Surrey
2016   MADEBrighton, Brighton
2016   Contemporary Textiles Exhibition, New Ashgate Gallery, Surrey
2016   ‘Stitched’ – Joint exhibition, Romsey Abbey, Hants
2015   ‘25x25x25’ (selected) Society of Designer Craftsmen, Mall Galleries, London

2015   Flitti ‘Black & White’ (selected) Finnish Felt Association, Jamsa, Finland
2014   10 out of 6, Degree Show, Desborough College, Eastleigh

Publications & Press

2022  ‘From Fleece to Felt’ – Felt Matters magazine, International Feltmakers Association

2021   British Fibre Art Magazine – 2 articles
2019   SEWembroiderers guild -featured article
2018   FiberArtsNow, US – (Summer edition)- selected and featured felt artist
2018   Grima-Danish International Felt Magazine
2017 ‘  Stone’ -Felt Matter magazine, International Feltmakers Association
2016   Worldwide Colours of Felt by Ellen Bakker – work included
2016   Felt Collars –Workshop on the Web
2015   Who and I? – Felt Matters, International Feltmakers Magazine
2014   Indigo Dyeing -Felt Matters, International Feltmakers Magazine

2022   We Are, Royal Photographic Society – Women in Photography Magazine

2021   The Wick

2021   Arterritory

2020  House of Bandits Press included Vogue, Love Magazine, Evening Standard

2020   Mission Magazine, NY

2020   Wallpaper Magazine

2020   Elephant Magazine

2020   ShowStudio

2019   Uncertain States, We are #30

2018   Sculporvox Volumne 2

2018   Report, Kultur Kontakt Austria

2017   Screen Shot Magazine Issue 02

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