back on
another train after speaking at Make:Shift in Manchester - delegates were very positive
about my talk that had at its core in some ways a traditional yet erratic 'old
school' approach to making through gathering - its always interesting to see
what will happen when standing in front of images of one's work. The process of
talking is always interesting (organising, sifting, sorting images, reflecting
and clarifying) and it's rare to get feedback as I'm usually standing at the
front in a position of 'sort of power' so the conversations I had after the
session were so instructive and helped to place or locate my practice in this
new terrain. My panel was full of people talking about fabulous new materials
and ways of working - collaboration and hybrid approaching to understanding are
the key - obviously. The Manchester Met University were running a collaborative
workshop - they were such lovely people and I have some ace paper samples which
I intend to explore in the nano project as they have different surfaces on each
side so will fully exploit the haptic experience. Meanwhile in the Museum of
Science I got the chance to see the textile history of Manchester be performed
- the looms are set up and powered - the whole process from raw cotton to calico
is show and it was just awesome - if my textile students are reading this you
must go - in fact everybody should see it and listen to the people explaining
the process's and the wonderful way they weave the social history and trade
union activity within the demonstration. I had my bike so managed to get out
and about the city - often a mixture of Escher like moments where standing on a
steep cobbled street looking up a bridge which carries trains, there is a canal
to your side and below that a dual carriage way, all the while surrounded by brick
buildings built with civic pride, iron in the road, walls and sky, stone and warehouse
regeneration modern sheet glass - I think that I loved it. Manchester Art
Gallery had a show looking at Fashion - some good starting points for a discussion
around a number of issues as the work was very theatrical, almost beyond
catwalk. The highlight of the day outside the conference was the wonderful
Rachel Maclean at Home - disturbingly excellent art, awesome space and really
friendly, interesting, helpful people. I can't wait to see her work in Venice
next year.
