Stitchin' Bints: exhibition

Showing posts with label exhibition. Show all posts

Field to Fashion at Museum of Making, Derby

Field to Fashion is a free exhibition with accompanying events celebrating British wool.

Derby Silk Mill is an important part of Derby's history. It is now home to the Museum of Making, which itself is well worth a visit. One notable permanent exhibit is this beautiful loom. Sadly none of the looms from the Silk Mill survive. This one was used by Bowmer Bond to produce narrow cotton bands.

Part of the Field to Fashion exhibition is a residency by Ismo aka bythebarnie who we found weaving

The exhibition itself specifically focuses on British wool; it's sponsored by British Wool and John Smedley as well as Art Fund and Rolls Royce. Touching and feeling is encouraged.

Besides the educational displays about British breeds and the journey of wool from sheep to sweater, there's a pleasing amount of knitwear and art on display.

Makers' Month, The Forum, Norwich, 9 to 24 Feb 2019

The Makers' Month at The Forum, Norwich, is now a well-established event which gives makers the chance to exhibit their work and demonstrate their skills, and gives people the opportunity to try a variety of crafts. There are different activities each day, here is a programme.

Seen here are members of the five Norfolk guilds of Spinners Weavers and Dyers.

The star of the show this year is a knit/crochet diorama featuring Yarmouth's Golden Mile, set in the '70s. There are so many memories here, from the Joyland snails to the acts on Wellington and Britannia piers. It was made by Margaret Seaman and friends. She has made it to raise money for a palliative care charity. There is a wonderful video report here on the ITV news site.

Many other works are on show, including the Norwich Castle Tapestry Project, which aims to create the story of East Anglian rebellions in the style of the Bayeux tapestry.

This was the first time that I'd seen tablet weaving in real life, I found it fascinating and was pleased to be allowed to have a go. This is something I'd love to do at home. Part of the appeal is that the tools are very simple and can be home-made.

Makers' Month at Norwich Forum

Makers' Month at the Norwich Forum has become an event to look forward to each year.

The forum has a very large open space with a gallery and also within the building are places to eat and drink, BBC Radio Norfolk's studios and the library (remember those?)

During Makers' Month it's filled with demonstrations, 'have a go', bookable workshops, art and craft exhibits and this year the Woman’s Hour Craft Prize Exhibition. They sometimes have fibre contributors such as alpacas for you to meet but there were none there on the day that we visited this year.

Here ares some pictures that I took this time.

On the theme of 'nostalgia', the centrepiece is a life-size sculpture of her Majesty (coronation era) in mixed media (mostly knitted). She was made by Petal and Purl, a craft group from Caston, Norfolk. The dress was originally white satin and included seed pearls, crystals, silks and gold and silver thread. This replica has been crafted from knitted strips, fabric painted emblems, crocheted leaves, pearls, beads and threads of many sorts. The facial features are needle felted.

This knitted scene contains characters of all sorts, good and evil!

This huge crocheted mandala topped the roof of the 'Nudiknits' cinema. Yes, they were showing the Nidiknits film and there were many of us old people giggling at that. The mandala was best viewed from the gallery.