PROGRAMME OF EVENTS SEPTEMBER 7–30 2017 Pennine Lancashire is shaped by textiles; they are woven through its social and urban fabric. By the end of the 19th century the area, stretching along the banks of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, was producing 85% of the world’s cotton goods and it was this global trade that brought thousands of workers to drive its mills over the ensuing centuries, building a creative, industrious and diverse population that shapes the area today. Drawing on this rich heritage, Fabrications is the UK’s first festival that celebrates and explores textiles and the textile industry through the eyes of artists. Taking place in galleries, museums and former textile mills across Blackburn, Hyndburn, Burnley and Pendle throughout September, the festival presents something for everyone with exhibitions, residencies, workshops, a craft fair hosted by Selvedge magazine and major art installations and performances including the premiere of Suzanne Lacy’s film produced with the people of Pendle. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARTISTS & EVENTS VIST FABRICATIONS.ORG.UK 3 FABRICATIONS.ORG.UK CONTENTS 4 LOCATIONS 6 PERFORMANCE & INSTALLATIONS 8 EXHIBITIONS 13 EVENTS 15 ARTIST TOURS 17 WORKSHOPS 19 HERITAGE OPEN DAYS 20 LIST BY DATE 21 VENUE DETAILS AND PRACTICAL STUFF 23 THANKS Cover, page 3 and back cover photography by: Catherine Caton Design by: sourcecreative.co.uk 4 A Colne Barrowford B LOCATIONS Pendle M65 Nelson C/D Brierfield Leeds & Liverpool Canal E Padiham F Burnley G/H M65 I Leeds & Liverpool Canal J K/L Accrington BlackburnM/N/O M65 A FABRICATIONS.ORG.UK Barrowford Colne Pendle B M65 VENUES Nelson A Higherford Mill C/D B Pendle Heritage Centre C Northlight (Formerly Brierfield Mill) Brierfield D Brierfield Town Hall Leeds & Liverpool Canal E Gawthorpe Hall E F Sandygate Square Padiham G Weaver’s Triangle Visitors Centre H Burnley Mechanics F Burnley G/H I Towneley Hall M65 J Gatty Park K Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery I L Cotton Exchange Leeds & Liverpool Canal M The Making Rooms J N Prism Contemporary Gallery O Community Clothing K/L Accrington BlackburnM/N/O M65 6 PERFORMANCE AND INSTALLATIONS THE CIRCLE AND THE SQUARE —— Fri 15th—Sat 23rd Sep —— Weekdays 4—7pm BRIERFIELD C D —— Weekends 10am—4pm This new film installation is the result of artist,Suzanne Northlight, Brierfield Lacy working with the people of Pendle, Lancashire, & Brierfield Town Hall, exploring the cultural and spiritual backgrounds of the Brierfield community and the socio-economic circumstances that —— FREE brought them together and now seemingly conspire to keep them apart. The Circle and The Square is a moving testament to this process that culminated last year when, over three days in September 2016, the community came together to film themselves in the huge empty spaces of Brierfield Mill where many used to work. Using the two vocal forms of Shape Note singing and Sufi chanting, the installation includes multi-vocal conversations about the past, present and future of the region following the demise of the textile industry and will be accompanied by presentations of Shape Note, Dhikr, Nasheed and mill ballads. The installation will be accompanied by a project archive and resource room at Brierfield Town Hall that charts the histories of the area and its communities and tells the story of the project through films and books. Please see the website for more details and events during the installation. 7 FABRICATIONS.ORG.UK METIS : WORLD FACTORY —— Thu 28th—Sat 30th Sep —— Thu 28th 8pm BRIERFIELD C —— Fri 29th 3pm & 8pm Made in China. Sold in Britain. Worn by you. —— Sat 30th 2pm & 8pm Northlight, Brierfield Mill, From the factory floor to the catwalk, from Shanghai to Brierfield London, World Factory weaves together stories of people —— £10 FULL PRICE connected by the global textile industry, exploring mass £5 CONCESSIONS AND RESIDENTS OF PENDLE, BURNLEY, HYNDBURN production and global capitalism, METIS invites you to AND BLACKBURN (ID MAY BE play a provocative game. Which card will you draw? Will REQUESTED) —— Please see the website you be an ethical factory owner or will profits always for details come first? In the rag trade, can anyone ever really win? Featuring stunning video and a powerful score, the show gives audiences a first-hand experience of the sharp end of fast fashion. Presented for the first time out of the theatre, in the stunning space of a former textile factory, Brierfield Mill. This is a once in a lifetime interactive theatrical experience not to be missed. 8 EXHIBITIONS SUNDAY BEST —— —— Sun 24th—Sat 30th Sep CERISE WARD, HELEN OXLEY AND CLARE EVANS —— 1 —4pm D Brierfield Town Hall, BRIERFIELD Brierfield —— FREE Sunday Best takes us on a journey through Pendle’s clothing history capturing personal recollections of style and dress from residents recalling their memories of fashion from the early 1950’s to the late 1980s. The charming and insightful stories that create Sunday Best came as a result of months of 1:1 recording sessions in homes, workplaces, day care centres, colleges and schools, where people told their sometimes humorous or hard won clothing histories. These stories became a social commentary on fashion choices bespoke to the Pendle area, brought to life in an archive collection. Sunday Best stands not only as a fashion archive but a reminder of Pendle’s colourful, inventive and creative spirit. 9 FABRICATIONS.ORG.UK A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME... —— Thu 7th Sep—Tue 14th Nov DEBBIE SMYTH —— Wed—Sat 12—4.45pm K Blackburn Museum and Art BLACKBURN Gallery, Blackburn —— FREE Debbie Smyth is a textile artist most identifiable by her statement thread drawings; these playful yet sophisticated contemporary artworks are created by stretching a network of threads between accurately plotted pins. Her work beautifully blurs the boundaries between fine art drawings and textile art, flat and 3D work, illustration and embroidery, literally lifting the drawn line off the page in a series of “pin and thread” drawings for Fabrications. Debbie will be in residence at Blackburn’s historic Museum and Art Gallery during the summer of 2017, exploring their eclectic and fascinating collections; culminating in a dynamic, site responsive art work, that can be witnessed, growing within the museum’s beautiful watercolour gallery space. Many thanks to Blackburn Yarn Dyers and Three Bears Yarn for supply of the yarn for this project. 10 EXHIBITIONS LUMINARY —— SERENA PARTRIDGE —— Thu 7th Sep— Sun 5th Nov PADIHAM E —— Wed—Sun 12—5pm Luminary presents embroidered installations by Serena Gawthorpe Hall, Padiham Partridge inspired by Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth and the —— £4 ADULTS textile collection she created. In this 50th anniversary £3 CONCESSIONS year of Miss Rachel’s death, Luminary celebrates her CHILDREN/NT as maker, teacher and collector. It is presented in her MEMBERS FREE home, Gawthorpe Hall, an Elizabethan gem in the heart of industrial Lancashire. Serena Partridge creates small-scale accessories and garments inspired by historical costume and storytelling. Her works are presented as museum acquisitions, encased with labels that blur boundaries between fact and fiction. Luminary is a Gawthorpe Textiles Collection commission and part of Meeting Point2 by Arts&Heritage; presenting 10 new artist commissions in museums across the North East, North West and Yorkshire. Meeting Point2 is funded by Arts Council England Museum Resilience Fund. 11 FABRICATIONS.ORG.UK THE SOCIAL FABRIC —— HUMAN HANDS PRESENT —— GRENNAN & SPERANDIO BELLA MAY LEONARD BURNLEY I BLACKBURN L Earlier this year, four employees of Burnley fabric This collection of work explores architectural structure, company Panaz had their lives, loves and work pattern and embellishment with unfamiliar threads and experiences turned into four new patterns for fabrics and embroidery methods in contrasting contexts: from the wallpaper for their homes. industrial mattress factory of Silentnight to rural folk art found in the French Alps. Brought together in Blackburn’s Fascinated by the connection between homelife, historic Cotton Exchange, this work celebrates the personality and work environments, Grennan and presence of the human hand and the importance of Sperandio asked the four employees to become clients for investing time and creating opportunity for playful these bespoke products. construction and making. The artists invited Glenn, Peter, Martine and Anita to Originally commissioned for Art in Manufacturing, National Festival of Making 2017 become the centre of their work, holding intensive design sessions in their kitchens, living rooms and workplaces. —— Thu 7th—Sat 23rd Sep They created patterns featuring coy carp, Whitesnake, —— Wed—Sat 12—4.45pm Tibetan mandalas and King Charles Spaniels. The four Cotton Exchange, Blackburn new fabrics and wallpaper were used as upholstery, —— FREE curtains, bed linen and on living room walls and are now presented in response to items in the collection at Towneley Hall. Originally commissioned for —— Thu 7th—Sat 30th Sep Art in Manufacturing, National Festival of Making 2017 —— Sat—Wed 12—5pm Thu 12.30—5pm Towneley Hall, Burnley —— FREE ENTRY —— PARKING CHARGES APPLY 12 EXHIBITIONS SHARED THREADS AT THE RECOLLECTION THROUGH MECHANICS THREAD——SARAH EARNSHAW BURNLEY H BLACKBURN N Local textile designer, Lisa Scarlet Ryan has been Recent BA Fine Art Graduate from Blackburn College leading workshops with communities in Burnley Sarah Earnshaw exhibits her thread based works. to produce this vibrant exhibition of experimental Developed around