Leek, Staffordshire League of Artisans is excited to announce a landmark collaboration with Jaipur’s Nila House, Lady Bamford Foundation, for Leek Textile Week 2024, taking place from September 23rd-29th. This week-long event celebrates the rich textile heritage of Leek and its historical connections with Indian artisans, shining a spotlight on the innovative fusion of tradition and contemporary design in textile art.
Central to the week’s events is the “Rewoven Horizons: The Era of Indian Textiles” exhibition at The Nicholson Museum & Art Gallery. This meticulously curated display features hand-woven masterpieces and the interactive art installation “In the Weaver’s Shoe,” where visitors can experience the intricate art of traditional weaving first hand. Live demonstrations by master artisan from India and workshops on ancient crafts will further enrich this cultural exchange, underscoring the enduring beauty and significance of Indian textiles and their deep-rooted connections with Leek.
Nila House, congratulates League of Artisans on launching this wonderful initiative and fostering meaningful cultural connections, expressing:
“We are truly delighted to join Leek Textile Week and contribute to the celebration of our shared textile heritage. The event beautifully aligns with our mission to honour, support and preserve the living textile traditions in India. It is a privilege to carry forward the vision of Lady Carole Bamford, whose 25-year dream and dedicated support have shaped Nila House into what it is today. We look forward to this wonderful opportunity to showcase our work and further strengthen our cultural connections.”
Leek Textile Week will feature a diverse range of community-focused activities, talks, and exhibitions that weave together the threads of the past and present, creating new connections with artisans whose expertise once transformed the local industry. The event coincides with Sustainable Fashion Week in the UK, positioning Leek as a regional hub for sustainability in fashion and textiles.
Highlights of the week include:
- Artist Commissions and Installations:
- Deborah Bowness will bring wallpaper to the streets with her site-specific outdoor paste-ups entitled “If Walls Could Talk,” inspired by oral histories of Leek’s textile workers.
- Amber Cooper-Davies will create looping animated illustrations, projected in one of Leek’s historic mill buildings, to accompany local oral histories.
- Harry Pizzey will act as the Heritage Collector, travelling the town to gather stories from Leek’s cultural and textile past, which will be displayed in a portable cabinet of curiosities.
- Exhibitions:
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- Also at The Nicholson, The Reward of Labour is a high-end fashion collection inspired by North Staffordshire’s industrial past. Cate Victoria will bring The Exhibition of Natural Fibres to the bar area of The Foxlowe Arts Centre.
- Upstairs at The Gallery, participants can contribute to a collaborative map of Leek by sewing, printing, or embroidering their textile memories and journeys, with textiles from Leek’s textile past and present also on display.
- Workshops, Talks, and Films:
- A comprehensive workshop and talk programme featuring embroidery, drop spinning, flax spinning and weaving, writing, poetry, block printing, natural dyeing, and more.
- Walking tours with local historian Cath Walton and an exploration of clothing and nature at the Roaches, led by Kate Fletcher, a leading global expert in design for sustainability
- A special Poetry and Prose Evening, as well as screenings of archival films, including a new film commission of Revd Geoffrey Staton, a former dyeworks apprentice.
- Natural Dye Workshops:
- Inspired by the legacy of Thomas Wardle, members of the local community have been growing woad and Japanese indigo. Natural dye experts Elisabeth Viguie Culshaw and Kate Turnbull will help the growers turn their plants into dye, with a further workshop for students from Buxton & Leek College, both generously supported by Staffordshire Community Foundation.
- Embroidery Talks and Workshops:
- In tribute to the work of Elizabeth Wardle, founder of the Leek Embroidery Society, there will be an opportunity to learn their heritage stitches with Lorna Knight, and a a unique opportunity to see St Edward’s Church embroideries. The prudish Victorian men at the V&A omitted certain parts of the male anatomy when they sent hand-coloured images of the original Bayeux Tapestry to Leek! Medieval embroidery specialist Tanya Bentham of Opus Anglicanum brings them back with a Medieval Rudies workshop and a fascinating talk on medieval textiles. Hoop & Fred lead a botanical embroidery workshop and there will be talks by local experts throughout the week.
- Special Screening and Conversation:
- A screening of The Nettle Dress followed by a discussion with maker of the dress, textile artist Allan Brown, film director Dylan Howitt, and Kate Fletcher, global expert in design for sustainability. The nettle dress featured in the film will be on display.
Carry Somers, League of Artisans Director of Advocacy and Programmes, said: Commerce, creativity, the Arts and Crafts Movement, Gothic Revivalism and Aestheticism all found their home in Leek, creating a centre of textile excellence and cultural collaboration. Our aim is to bring alive this heritage for new audiences, inspiring creative action as we learn lessons from the past. I hope Leek Textile Week will become an established event in the region’s cultural calendar.
Full details, along with booking information for talks and workshops can be found at www.leagueofartisans.org/events Print brochures, including Art Trail locations, will be available at The Foxlowe and throughout town.
Leek Textile Week is made possible with public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England, alongside support from OUTSIDE Arts, Nila House, Staffordshire Community Foundation, Leek Town Council, and Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce.
