TVCT meeting - Damask

Because I am working on the Christmas beaded gifts which I don't really want to show here...well I haven't much to show!

And then there is the Big Project...which I am also reluctant to show even though the entry form doesn't specify not showing it on blogs. It does say something that implies not exhibiting it, so I am not sure how restrictive they mean to be. So, I'd rather be over careful.

But here are a few photos from Saturday when we had Jane O'Brien take about her work and the history of Damask. The talk was so interesting I frantically took notes and not photos! But here is one from the afternoon where Jane was giving a mini-talk/discussion about design and what she focusses on for her collages.

Here are a few pieces of damask and some of Jane's work made in response to her studies when she studied at Windsor School of Textiles.

What she found the most interesting was the fact that the same patterns can be traced from very early China through to Middle Ages and on to modern times.

Here is her statement.

The textiles in the basket show the way she explored the pattern and reduced it to stitched out patterns that became lace like...as if the fabric was gone but the pattern remains.

I have rarely had the experience of a lecture about the history of a cloth. This talk, with images of fabric as well as images of Portraits (many from the National Gallery) showing the rich damask fabrics being worn and even the changes in the techniques used to depict the fabric in the paintings was a fascinating experience.