IC:Innovative Craft Blog

Cloth and Culture Now – a review

Posted Monday 26 January 2009, 05:17pm

Amanda Game writes:

Thank you to Edinburgh tapestry weaver, Fiona Hutchison, for her review, below, of the 2008 Cloth and Culture Now event in Manchester. Interesting to see how many speakers have a Scottish connection: University of St Andrews, University of Aberdeen and, as we emerge from IC’s first successful Textile Study Day (24 January), we hope to be continuing these textile connections in many ways here in Edinburgh.

Cloth and Culture Now: Exhibition and Conference
Held at Whitworth Gallery, Manchester. November 2008
Report by Edinburgh tapestry weaver, Fiona Hutchison

The ‘Cloth and Culture Now’ exhibition, curated by Lesley Millar, showed the work of artists from Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, UK and Japan. In making this selection, Millar was looking to find countries that had created links between their recognised traditional techniques and a developing contemporary art textile practice.

This was not an exhibition of folk art or old traditions re-worked, although many of the artists made reference to their countries’ textile traditions and the role they played, both economically and culturally. The works on show grew instead out of a very personal response by the artists to questions of identity as revealed through their nations’ history and culture. Although geographical borders and demarcations between different cultures are blurring, it was still possible to see the links these artists have made to traditional practice.

In looking around the exhibition, there was an immense sense of quality, not just in the ideas, but also in the manipulation of materials and execution of the work. The making skills involved in many of the works was impressive. A broad range of textile techniques was represented, from the beautifully constructed ‘Robbing Peter’ (installation in woven tapestry) by Shelley Goldsmith (UK) to the work of Ieva Krümina (Latvia) who has developed her own technique with polyethylene rubbish bags and print.

In contrast, the woven optical fibre work ‘Reflective Surface’ by Helena Hietanen (Finland) took you into another dimension of light and space, while the work of the Japanese artists did not disappoint. Masae Bamba used ‘Shiborizome’, a tie dying technique to create ‘Flame’, an installation of vibrant orange silk that flickered across the gallery wall. Hideaki Kizaki draws his inspiration from natural and sustainable materials, in this case woven jute.  In his sculpture ‘Cocoon’, the natural characteristics and strength of the jute give the work a powerful presence.

Mare Kelpman (Estonia) made use of 21st-century technologies of laser cutting in her work exploring the wealth of traditional Estonian embroidery patterns. Last, but by no means least, was the work of Lithuanian artists Eglè Granda Bogdaniené, and Lina Joniké. Bogdaniené works primarily with tapestry, cloth and felt but will use whatever technique she feels appropriate. In her work ‘Zemnya’ (The Lithuanian goddess of harvest) a human figure, constructed from tufted fruit and vegetables, is laid out on a white carpet ready for a funeral. This work illustrates the close relationship Lithuanians have with the earth. Similarly Joniké work ‘Memory of Architecture’, a digital print on canvas with hand embroidered forget-me-not flowers, reflects back to childhood memories of people and places, and of how they relate to the land.

As much of the work in this exhibition was a personal statement, I was pleased to see that work was not hung in national groupings but as the work and space dictated.

The exhibition ended with a one-day conference ‘A Sense of Place: Art and the Construction of Identity’. The conference examined the role of material culture (with focus on textiles) in constructing, national, local and folk identities.

Dr Jeremy Howard (University of St Andrews) opened the conference with a talk ‘Embroidering the Truth’, introducing us to art textiles from the 1900s onwards. ‘Cloth, Clay and Identity in Wales’, presented by Dr Moira Vincentelli (University of Aberystwyth), was an entertaining look at Welsh identity, through the costume and customs and gentrification of tea drinking. The morning finished with Lesley Millar in conversation with two of the exhibitors, Kadri Vilires (Estonia) and Severiji Incirauskaité-Kriauneviciené (Lithuania).

After a good lunch, and a chance to network with the other delegates, Professor Anne Douglas (Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen) gave an ‘Invitation for Something to Happen’. She introduced the idea of co-creation/improvisation as a way of working with traditional culture, exploring a knitting project in Shetland. ‘The Maakin Lab’ www.maakinlab.org
Velta Raudzep from The Museum of Decorative Arts, Riga brought delegates up to date on the shaping of Latvian identity in the 20th century and showing us examples from their collection.
Finally Yvonn Dröge Wendle (Netherlands) presented a whirlwind tour of the world in search of the origins of red and white checked fabrics we know as Gingham. The Universal Pattern Project. www.universalpattern.nl reveals that it is indeed a universal pattern, popping up all over the world, in different colours, and each country claiming it as their own.

The afternoon ended with the usual Q&A session and delegates were able to quiz artists, speakers and the curator. One of the questions directed at Lesley Millar was, after the success of this exhibition what was to be her next project? The answer – a project/collaboration between Norway and Japan. So hopefully we will have another great exhibition to look forward to.
Lesley Millar’s research/exhibition has inspired experienced practitioners and students alike. They have done much to generate new interest in the art of textiles. Many willingly made the journey south to see these exhibitions, but it would be good to see them shown in Scotland. Perhaps with the new gallery spaces at Innovative Craft/Dovecot Studio we can attract these exhibitions north of the border?

More information and exhibition images from ‘Cloth and Culture Now’ can be found at www.clothandculturenow.com