Tissuthèque

I was very fortunate this week to travel to Roubaix, France with Bradford School of Art. During my trip I visited the wonderful Tissuthèque textile archive at Musee la Piscine. The archivist, Norah, brought out some wonderful items for us to see. Although it was a brief visit I found it very inspiring and have some further lines of research in mind, but for now that's under wraps while I work on other things. Not long now until Lasting Impressions...

The museum of broken things

It wasn't until yesterday that I realised I hadn't walked along the riverbank since before the flooding. Perhaps that meant I hadn't fully come to terms with the scale of events, the power of the river and the effect on us all. It's been a tiring, stressful period and I think I needed to see the river again.

I love to collect. The act of beachcombing or mudlarking slows me down. It makes me focus. It makes my brain work at things in a very primative (in a good way) manner. I think there is something about the act of sorting and searching that helps me settle and regain my composure.

Yesterday I enjoyed findng the usual 19th century pottery fragments in and amongst the horrible 21st century filth, washed up on the riverbank. But the other thing I have previously observed in numbers are shoe and leather parts. Never before have I found a whole shoe though, which made me think I wonder how old these are? The sheer numbers suggest this is the rubbish from a cobblers. I know there was a tannery just upstream until around 1900/1908; I wonder if there was a leatherworker there too?

If anyone has any thoughts let me know.

'Stuff'

I recently spent some time at my Mum's house, helping her sort things out in preparation for a house move. She has unwittingly become the inheritor of generations of 'stuff'. You can interpret that word as you like, but I see it as a positive word. As an example we found this rather lovely envelope in my Grandmother's hand:

In case you can't make it out, it reads 'Grandad Lovejoys Treasures from his pockets'. So that would be my Great, great grandfather I suppose.

There can be no doubt that my interest in found objects comes from my Mum's side of the family.

I have also claimed a pair of simple jet earrings that belonged to my great, great grandmother Ellen Lickman (below). In fact I think she is wearing them in this photo. I have never really owned any old jewellery before, and I really feel the weight of history wearing them. I am rather interested in that sensation... possibly something to explore.

Archives and narratives

A couple of weeks ago I made a trip to Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley, Leeds.  The mill no longer produces the fine worsted cloth it was once renowned for, but holds so many connections with its manufacturing past. Large parts of the mill have been turned into commercial units but there is also a wonderful gallery space and an archive, which are both open to the public.

My visit was the start of researching a new body of work, but with no specific direction it is always an uncertain experience. Will I find something that sparks my curiosity? How will I know what to look for? Despite uncertainty I am starting to feel that things are strangely slotting into place from the different projects I have been working on. In particular the research I did with Bradford College Textile Archive, which culminated in the installation 'Draft' for the Pick & Mix exhibition and also the research paper I delivered last week at the Infinite & Various conference in Bradford. Out of a great tangle a thread emerges... I am looking forward to untangling this one.

Inspiration From Historical Textiles

Last weekend I enjoyed teaching a two-day workshop at my studio in Saltaire, West Yorkshire. The theme 'Inspiration from Historical Textiles' allowed me to dig out some of my textile treasures. My lovely students also brought some absolute treats of their own too. We spent the weekend talking about textiles, making cyanotype prints of textiles, drawing from textiles and stitching into textile. Obsessed; surely not!

Below are a few highlights. If you are interested in coming to one of my workshops you can find more information here.

Festival Finds

In the past year or two during Saltaire Festival and Saltaire Arts Trail I have found myself demonstrating or exhibiting and therefore missing out on the festivities. This year I didn't get round to planning anything in the studio, so apologies to anyone who popped in t the butterfly rooms looking for me.

Instead I have had a little look around and found myself a few treasures yesterday with some lovely finds from the Rose & Brown Vintage Fair. Many of these lovely old sewing silk reels are in perfect condition, as good as the day they were made.

I have been searching for locally produced sewing thread reels for a little while, since I came across a reference to the magnitude of the local thread industry. Lister's mill in Bradford were 'world leaders' in sewing silks and exported them all around the world. But from what I can gather by the 1930's production of sewing threads at Lister's had ceased due to competition from their nearest rivals. Around this time many smaller mills were taken over by larger concerns or pushed out of the market, so that only a few companies remained.

I find it odd that this aspect of the textile industry is seldom mentioned locally, where the focus is usually on Worsted production. So it is really special to find these little treasures, that would usually be overlooked. I will be doing a little more 'digging' into this subject for  future project so any intersting pointers would be gratefully received.

If you are also a lover of old cotton reels you might find this thought provoking.

Intangible histories

A visit to Armley Mills Industrial Museum in Leeds earlier this week was an absolute delight. We are hoping to work with the museum and artist David Bridges on a future project for our students.

I was so excited by the richness of sensory source material.
Layers of dust, grime and oil and the patina of age, touch and work.

Art for All

A visit to Manchester earlier this week and I stumbled upon a delightful little exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery. The exhibition, Art For All shows a small portion of works collected by philanthropist Thomas Horsfall (1844-1932), a pioneer of art gallery education from Manchester. He created a vast collection to found Manchester Art Museum, which he set up in 1884. Designed to expose the working class people of Manchester to the beauty of nature Horsfall was a passionate advocate of art as a means educating and enriching everyday life.

"...we are all of us living under conditions which make a strong love of beauty very rare." Thomas Horsfall, The Study of Beauty 1883

The exhibition was co-curated by children from a local school, complete with their own imaginative observations on the artworks selected. I found the exhibition really quite moving and inspirational, perhaps because of my own experiences of teaching.

 "If we have a strong love of beauty, the most beautiful things we see become part of ourselves." Thomas Horsfall, The Study of Beauty, 1883 

I love this photograph (above) of the Nature Study Room at the Art Museum, complete with aviary. What a wonderful setting for teaching drawing.

Blooming stitches

I was lucky enough to be invited to deliver a workshop today at Harewood House. Our embroidery took inspiration from Princess Mary's personal possessions to create satin stitched monograms. It was a slightly surreal experience seeing behind the scenes at Harewood and a privaledge to be working in such beautiful surroundings. I had great company from six keen learners and the expertise of Tara and Zoe to share their knowledge of Harewood and it's former residents.

I have another workshop at Harewood coming very soon, this time investigating 'Repair & Disrepair'. I am really looking forward to it as we will be learning about caring for historic textiles from Harewood's housekeeper as well as 'playing' with techniques to creatively distress and mend fabrics. Places are still available - if you would like to book a place you can visit the website or call the Harewood box office 0113 218 1000.

Cloth & Memory 2

I was lucky enough to be invited to the opening of Cloth & Memory 2 an exhibition of international textile artists at Salts Mill yesterday. The artists were invited to respond to the rich history of the mill and in particular the spinning room at the top of the mill, a space not normally open to the public. The exhibition is shown in the same space; 168 metres long the room was described as the largest in the world in 1853.

Walking in I wasn't sure whether to look at the room or the artworks; both were fascinating, revealing more the longer I looked. I found myself drawn to details and surfaces, sensory tactile elements in the building and in the works. Intimate responses to time and place.

Yoriko Yoneyama

Hannah Leighton-Boyce

Katsura Takasuka

Caroline Bartlett

Diana Harrison

The exhibition deserves time to view and I feel as though I want to look quietly when there is no one there. I will return when it is quiet to take my time.

Cloth & Memory 2

18th August - 3rd November 2013

at Salts Mill, Saltaire, West Yorkshire

There are also many special events to coincide with the exhibition.

Inspiration from Historical Textiles

Verbal and visible histories told through textiles; observing, printing, stitching and drawing. During yesterdays workshop we used a variety of different ways to study old textiles, seeing things in new ways and capturing unexpected details. The surprises revealed by cyanotype printing were fascinating, edges and layers of cloth, textures, stitches and fibres shown in wonderful detail. Finding news ways of looking can be so inspiring.

Letters from Harewood

I visited Harewood House near Leeds today to research a forthcoming workshop based at the grand house. We have been looking at examples of monograms and handwriting belonging to Princess Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood (1897 – 1965), who made Harewood her home for 36 years. The Princess's monogram can be found on many of her personal belongings and also in the rooms she used at Harewood. It will be lovely to teach a workshop responding to such interesting personal artefacts and doubly so because of my research into the Prince's Shirt.

For further information about the workshop; Letters From Harewood: Inspired by the HRH Princess Mary collection

The Prince's Shirt

Laundry mark from the 'Prince's Shirt', Hannah Lamb 2013

So at the turn of the year I promised to share some of the projects I have been quietly working on in the background. Firstly I told you about Visible Mending but the other thing I have been keeping fairly quiet about is my research project into the 'Prince's Shirt'. The shirt belongs to a member of my family and we know very little about it apart from that it was supposed to belong to a Prince. Above you can see just what a fine quality garment it is... and is that a tiny crown cross-stitched there?

The research project is being supported by Bradford College, and will involve some in depth costume, textile and historical research. So I have set up a blog to chart my progress, document the research process and share discoveries with a wider audience. It really promises to be something of a detective story and I would love to share the story with you.

So I would love it if you would take a look at the blog and please leave any comments. Also if you have any thoughts or suggestions on research leads I would love to hear from you.

The Prince's Shirt blog

Patches

Little digital print silk patches, appliqued onto 'Visible Mending'. I feel the contrast of textures works well with these but still think there is work to be done. However time is evaporating fast; decisions and stitches need to speed up.