IC:Innovative Craft Blog

Textile Study Day proves ‘extraordinary’

Posted Thursday 29 January 2009, 03:07pm

Amanda Game writes:

‘Professional, informative, humorous, human’ was one of the many wonderful responses we have had from our 70 visitors to the Textile Study Day at Edinburgh College of Art/Dovecot last Saturday. Despite the lecture theatre being ‘a tad cold’ (a rather polite comment for the breath-visible temperature) our three morning speakers, Sue Prichard; Alan Shaw and Deirdre Nelson kept audience and each other captivated, entertained and informed. 

We learnt about the importance of improvisation – whether through dusting the cornices of a 30-ft high museum gallery; adapting the internal workings of £600,000 worth of digital print machinery or embroidering shirts to improve the mood of Australian customs officials – in achieving extraordinary events. We were drawn into a wealth of visual imagery ranging from volunteers patiently sorting of piles of pebbles in the V&A; a Glaswegian courier proudly displaying his digitally-printed, sporran-integrated tartan shorts and shots of lively auctions of bottles of Australian rain water. 

After a varied diet of sandwiches in the office and a few anxious moments in which Jenny Findlay, the IC administrator, conjured up a missing projector and several missing chairs, we regrouped in the Dovecot building to hear Sara Brennan and Moyna Flannigan in conversation alongside Sara’s tapestries (apologies for the roar of the air conditioning) and then moved upstairs to the Weaving Floor for an improvised session with Douglas Grierson and Jo Barker around colour, yarn and tapestry. Cups of tea and handling sessions of hanks of wool, were followed by a preview, by Matt Hulse and Deirdre Nelson of his Filmcraft weekend (30 Jan – 1 Feb).  Some 20 plus then moved to the Scottish Gallery to have a special viewing of Jo Barker’s beautiful tapestry show. A hardy few continued the extraordinary conversations, stimulated by this extraordinary day, well into the night.

All in all it felt like a fabulous collaborative effort, with real substance, beautiful objects and interesting people. Thanks to all and see you at Filmcraft.