New Brewery Arts Make It weekend

A Celebration of Making
20 and 21 June 2009

 

New Brewery Arts in Cirencester hosted a weekend of woolly events as a finale to the exhibition Sheep - from lamb to loom by Kate Lynch and Alastair Goolden.

 

WOOL DANCE

 

Saturday’s events kicked off at 11am with a colourful Wool Dance to lively music in the courtyard.  Woollen flowers made by the schoolchildren of Cirencester were transformed into a beautiful and unique felt carpet, created by the power of dancing feet.   

 

The finished carpet will be on display at New Brewery Arts as soon as it is dry!

 

COAT IN A DAY

 

At 5.20am on Sunday morning, the summer solstice, the first of three Jacob sheep was shorn. By 5.30 the spinners were spinning the yarn. At ten minutes to midnight that same day, the handloom weavers threw the last shuttle on their three metres of woven hound’s-tooth twill cloth.

 
Sponsored by Arts Council England, the Worshipful Company of Weavers and the Clothworkers’ Company, Coat in a Day was a contemporary ‘spin’ on a wager that first took place in 1811 between a landowner and a cloth merchant.

 

The original challenge was to get the fleece off the sheep and washed, the wool spun, the cloth woven and a gentleman’s hunting coat cut, stitched and lined in the span of a single sunrise to sunset.
 
Fiona Haser, artistic programmer at New Brewery Arts says, “ the original wager would have been an industrial-sized challenge to match. On our smaller scale we were delighted to be able to complete our cloth in the day.” Instead of sticking slavishly to the original style of the coat, our resident textile designers Dorothy Reglar and Liz Lippiatt designed a thoroughly modern garment. 
 
Twenty-five members of the Gloucestershire Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, led by ace spinner Frances Taylor, combed and spun the fleeces for a solid thirteen hours in front of a crowd of fascinated onlookers. Exhausted but happy they left at 8pm as the weavers, Sarah Beadsmoore and Tim Parry-Williams, continued their task into the night.
 
We demonstrated these ancient textile processes in front of a public audience and our coat will be finished and shown in the main gallery at New Brewery Arts from 29 August until 10 September when it will be auctioned as part of our Charity Arts Auction.

 

The Make It celebration was held in partnership with the I Love Cirencester weekend.  

 

More photographs on these links:

 

Make It weekend at New Brewery Arts

 

Coat in a Day at New Brewery Arts

ABOUT NEW BREWERY ARTS

New Brewery Arts is Gloucestershire’s hub of visual and performing arts and crafts – inspiring learning and culture for the enrichment of all, regardless of age, ability or privilege.  A centre for excellence, our central location makes us a must for any visitor to Cirencester, the Cotswolds, and the South West.

At New Brewery Arts we extend a very warm welcome to everyone. We aim to make your visit an enjoyable and memorable experience - be it taking in an exhibition, visiting the resident makers in one of our 12 world class craft studios, enrolling in one of our many classes, enjoying a performance, selecting that special gift in our gallery shop or having lunch in our café.

SPACES FOR HIRE

New Brewery Arts has a variety of spaces for hire including the theatre, education studios and gallery. Contact us on 01285 657181 or email admin@newbreweryarts.org.uk to discuss your requirements.

CHARITY STATUS

New Brewery Arts is a registered charity
Registration number 900036

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