A Textile Assembly reflections
A full circle exhibition for two textile lovers
It’s been a whole MONTH since we swung open the doors to ~ A Textile Assembly ~ curated by us here at Craft Show for Staffordshire St, a community space and gallery in Peckham. The sunshine and a whole lot of you streamed in over the week. We had the best time seeing you all take your time to wander the space, take a book into Johanna Hoffbeck’s patchwork tent and soak up the textile stories.Â
It was our first show exclusively celebrating the craft of textiles, though we couldn’t resist sneaking in some medium-bending ceramics and even some delicate work made of milk… We’ve long dreamt of an exhibition of our favourite textile makers and Staffordshire St offered up the perfect opportunity, with a space almost made for a textiles exhibition. We wrapped around and threaded through beautiful industrial beams, with pieces floating away from the walls offering glimpses of the back.
~ A Textile Assembly ~ was a full circle moment for us, having met on our Textile Design BA all those (15!) years ago. To us, textiles are worth celebrating and there’s plenty of work to be done to make sure they get the attention and gallery space that they deserve.Â
One of the most special parts of putting on a show like this, for us, are the moments before and after the show, when we’re in the quiet gallery getting to know the work that so many wonderful makers have trusted us with. It’s such a joy to get so close and to hold (with very clean hands) these beautiful works that we often only get to see online. We always have this in mind when we open the doors too. We want you to get close to these wonderful textile pieces, to see all the stitches and get a glimpse of the back, which can be just as intriguing as the front and might even let you ponder how it’s been made.
Watch our film celebrating A Textile Assembly here.
There’s lots more to come from us on this too over the next few months. As you might have noticed, this time we’re writing to you from Substack. You can expect some more regular contact from us along with lots of your favourite makers, celebrating craft and the act of making. Up next, come along to the summer’s Degree shows with us.
A Textile Assembly reading list
A new and interesting part of collaborating with Staffordshire St was formalising and sharing some of the things we normally keep to ourselves when putting on a show. Our favourite was a reading list to support the show.Â
We take huge inspiration from writers and books. Books about craft, textiles and the art of making all form the basis from where our shows and workshops jump from but we’d never thought to put together a formal reading list for a show before Staffordshire St asked us to sit down and write one. Choosing just 10 wasn’t easy.
We had many of the books in the gallery space for you to flick through whilst you take in the show. We’ll share more from the long list that we whittled it down from over the next few months too. Â
Women’s Work: From feminine arts to feminist art by Ferren Gipson, whose beautiful quilts were on show as a part of A Textile Assembly
Many Hands Make a Quilt by Jess Bailey for Common Threads Press
The Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood and the Mind-Baby Problem by Julie Phillips
Diasporic Threads: Black Women, Fibre and Textiles by Dr. Sharbreon Plummer for Common Threads Press
The Embroiderers directed by Maeve Brennan, a film you can find online
Textile Structures by Helen Hutton
De-/Anti-/Post-colonial Feminisms in Contemporary Art and Textile Crafts by Katy Deepwell
Siri Hustvedt on Artemisia Gentileschi, Louise Bourgeois, and more on The Great Women Artists podcast
Having and Being Had by Eula Biss
Fray: Art and Textile Politics (2017) by Julia Bryan-Wilson
Need more craft?
Don’t miss this summer’s BA Degree shows, we’re heading here this weekend
We’re looking forward to Cockpit open studios in Deptford this weekÂ
There’s also a very special Garden Party at Cockpit this ThursdayÂ
You can now take a look at all Ferren Gipson’s quilts online
A virtual lecture on queering the loom
If you’re in Bruton this weekend
Woo Jin Joo stitching in her studio at Cockpit Deptford, we’re excited to visit her this weekend.
Craft book shelf
Books about craft are a huge inspiration for us here at Craft Show. We're always on the look out for particularly good ones and have a real soft-spot for a 1970s craft book. You'll see their influence in our writing and when we get to teach and lead workshops.
This week we’re having a look through an old favourite, practical encyclopedia of crafts, which was borrowed from grandparents and we never want to return it. It has an incredible array of projects, sampling different crafts and looking at ways to reuse waste materials you may already have. It’s everything we love in a craft book.
We pulled this one out looking for inspiration for an appliqué workshop Chloe is teaching this week, and it has not failed us. The book was previously owned by the incredibly named Noelle Peach, who had the most wonderful stickers to label her books. If anyone knows where we can get our hands on something similar, let us know.
