MHAIRI KILLIN and PAMELA CONACHER report on the experiences of the Highlands & Islands contingent at the Stroud International Textile Festival

FIVE MAKERS from Shetland, Orkney, Iona and Lochaber, together with Hazel Hughson from Shetland Arts, and Pamela Conacher and Avril Souter from HI-Arts attended the opening of the Stroud International Textile Festival at the end of April 2010.

Over the next couple of days we had a chance to attend talks, visit exhibitions and participate in a networking dinner with the organisers, together with Irish and Scottish makers. This was only the start of the festival. and the diverse programme runs until the 21 May 2010.

Now in it’s fifth year, the festival has a strong Scottish presence for 2010 with Deirdre Nelson as Artist in Residence and Sara Brennan, Jo Barker and Norma Starszakowna as main exhibitors.

We had been invited to show and retail work as Made in the Highlands at Made in Stroud and we were delighted to have this opportunity to visit the festival and look at ways we can build on this relationship in future years.

The chance for such a far flung group of makers to get together and share ideas and experiences was an integral part of the visit and essential in our planning.

We had an inspiring and informative visit and we would like to thank the organisers, and in particular the Director, Lizzi Walton, for all their assistance and kindness before and during our visit.

Support and funding for the visit came from HI-Arts Craft Development and Shetland Arts Craft Development.

Iona-based maker Mhairi Killin shares her thoughts on the trip below.

Pamela Conacher

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WITH EXHIBITIONS, talks, workshops and a two-day conference, Stroud International Festival is an exceptional event for anyone involved in the increasingly diverse field of textile art and design to attend.

For practitioners like me who are based at the geographical edges of Scotland, the opportunity to exhibit work and visit SIT has been particularly important for a variety of reasons – the visual stimulus of seeing diverse textile work first hand happens very rarely for me and is crucial for personal development, and meeting an equally diverse range of artists and makers through open, invited discussions about their practice is invaluable in terms of sharing ideas and understanding creative process.

In addition, the chance to attend talks by individuals involved in studying the cultural and political role of textiles (Dr. Jessica Hemmings), developing textiles as a tool for rural development (Andy Ross, Creative Industries Shetland) and making textile art for exhibition and to commission (Sara Brennan and Jo Barker) afforded a broad insight into national and international contemporary projects and practitioners as well as the critical debate which surrounds the subject .

There was a strong Scottish presence and very high standards in the work shown in the main exhibition venues; Deirdre Nelson, Sara Brennan, Jo Barker, Norma Starszakowna. Elsewhere in the satellite venues which ranged from shop windows, cafes and civic buildings the standard of work in terms of ideas, execution and presentation was more varied.

The Made in Stroud shop hosted the work from our group, and despite the overcrowded setting and diverse range of work we were showing, our work still came across strongly, sat well together and provided us all with exposure to a new audience. In terms of researching contexts for my own work, however, I would hope that any future involvement with SIT would be in a gallery rather than a retail context.

The enjoyment and learning experienced in the informal networking that resulted from spending time with our group from Shetland, Orkney and the Highlands was one of the main positives of the trip. It was energising and inspiring to exchange stories with such a lively, committed and creative group of women.

In particular, discussions with Lizza Hume about balancing the demands of running a creative business in a remote location with personal artistic development was both affirming and cathartic.

This, combined with the support and structure which Pamela, Hazel and Avril gave the group through their personal understanding of creative practice, combined with professional experience of funding, sourcing and enabling innovative projects, is perhaps typical of the less obvious benefits which such a trip creates through the personalities involved. I will be very happy if I can maintain contact with the other members of the group and keep informed on how their work develops.

We were made to feel very welcome at Stroud by the festival director, Lizzie Walton and her team. I hope that we brought our own distinctive voice to the festival, and that as well as being educated we managed to do some educating through our presence and work.

For the future, given the positive response to our work, I would like to see an invitation to be more involved with a higher profile in terms of venue, and I’m sure there is scope to put together a proposal to this end.

It would be wonderful to see a similar event in Scotland. The obvious difficulty is the breadth of geographical area and lack of suitable venues outside the central belt. Hosting the main festival in one location, for example, Shetland, with satellite exhibitions/talks/events throughout the inner and outer Hebrides and Orkney would be a huge undertaking.

It would probably be more realistic to stage an initial International event in one location inviting makers and artists from throughout Scotland to attend and exhibit. Assessment of the success and potential of this could then be the starting point for further more ambitious ideas.

© Mhairi Killin, 2010

The makers who attended and exhibited their work were:

• Mhairi Killin: www.mhairikillin.com
• Wendy Inkster: www.burrabears.co.uk
• Andrea Williamson: www.andreawilliamson.co.uk
• Jen Deschenes: www.jendeschenes.co.uk
• Lizza Hume: www.humesweethume.co.uk
• Jennifer Cantwell: www.sporran-nation.co.uk (Jennifer exhibited work but was unable to attend).

Other Links:

• Stroud International Textile Festival
• Text-Isles
• Shetland Arts – Crafts
• HI-Arts Craft Development
• Pamela Conacher – Stroud Blog