Workshops:
Being Human: a series of 3-4 x workshops that will include the following activities:
•Introduction to the project with a workshop focusing on selected textile objects from the Gawthorpe Textiles Collection (GTC). We will explore social and cultural histories of these pieces through sound, movement and making also in the context of the participants’ own biographical and sensory histories and ideas. Our aim is to explore how new values, narratives and meanings can be created and understood through community participation and interaction with collections.
•We will invite local women and groups as well as refugee and asylum seeker women groups to bring a textile piece or a photograph of an item that holds personal significance. Facilitated by a professional musician and storyteller, this interactive workshop will encourage participants to create and perform stories around their selected textile objects.
There will be a blend of making/crafting techniques. The aim is for each participant to create a unique textile sample in response to the previous workshop activities. Outcomes from the three workshops will be showcased in both an online and as a physical exhibition, including audio voice narratives and other sounds captured in the workshops, alongside still and moving image and material artefacts.
This project aims to:
• Create a safe space for local women including refugee and asylum seeker women to meet.
• Enable participants to build a peer support network, make friends, learn and share textile knowledge and skills.
• Provide an opportunity to engage in creative and practical activities and develop skills.
• Introduce participants to local history and culture including the Gawthorpe Textiles Collection, an internationally renowned collection of global textiles located near Burnley in the heart of Pennine Lancashire.
Outcomes: by taking part in our activities we hope that we will offer a safe space, the opportunity to make new friends and a way out of loneliness and isolation for local women whilst nurture the notion of belonging to a broader local community. At the same time, we would love to see participants exchange knowledge as well as learn and develop new skills. Lastly, to introduce women to the Gawthorpe Textiles Collection as a local ‘hidden gem’ that is accessible for everyone and which is embedded inf local history and culture.
Intended audience: local women as well as local refugee and asylum seeker women groups from across East Lancashire.
Refuge Repair Renewal
Refuge Repair Renewal: workshops with woman regugees and asylum seekers
We are starting two new textiles groups for refugees and asylum seekers on Wednesday and Friday mornings from 10:00 - 12:00, starting on 19th M. 2021. No specialist skills necessary. This is an opportunity to be creative, try new techniques and learn more about the history and culture of textiles in East Lancashire.
Each participant will receive a starter pack and have access to sewing machines and other equipment. There will be language support and financial support for travel to the venue.
Workshops will take place at Valley Street Community Centre, BBII 5LZ. Places are limited.
For more information and to book a place as soon as possible please contact Bev Lame: b.lamey@gawthorpetextiles.org.uk
The workshops are organised by Gawthorpe Textiles Collection and the Patterns of Migration project UCLan with support from Super Slow Way.