ATHENS, Ohio -- International textile designer, Althea McNish will present "My World of Colour: the International Inspirations and Works of a Black British Trinidadian Textile Designer," on Friday, April 11, at 3:15 p.m. in Grover Center, E304.

A reception for the designer will follow in the Marion Parson Alden Gallery. McNish has designed textiles for manufacturers all over the world and has exhibited work in London, Rome, New York, France, Amsterdam, Jamaica and Port of Spain, Trinidad. Her practice has taken in color consultancy, murals and textile hangings for public buildings and passenger liners and interior design for the Commonwealth Secretary General and the government of Trinidad and Tobago.

She has been commissioned to create murals for passenger liners the SS Oriana, the MS Nordic Empress and the MS Monarch of the Seas and her designs have been reproduced and described in a number of design journals and in several books, including "The Brush is My Language, Althea McNish, Textile Designer," a 1998 publication by Patricia Moloney.

Born and educated in Port of Spain, Trinidad and self-taught as a painter during childhood, McNish went to London for a design education, studying at the London School of Printing and with sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi, who encouraged a move into printed textiles. At the Royal College of Art she studied with john Drummon, Humphrey Spender and Roger Nicholson. After college, she was commissioned by Arthur Stewart Liberty and Zika Ascher to create designs for their internationally know firms. She now lives and works as an artist and designer in London with her husband, John Weiss, educator, architect and historian.

In 1988 she was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers and now the Chartered Society of Designers (FCSD). McNish is listed in "Who's Who," "International Women's Who's Who," and "People of Today."

McNish and her husband will be featured in conjunction with the conference "The African Diaspora in the Americas: Current Research," sponsored by the Department of African American Studies.

McNish's work is currently on display in the Marion Parson Alden Gallery on the third floor of Grover Center. The exhibit will run until April 18.

The Gallery is open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The exhibit, presentation and reception are open to the public.